Is October too late?

[Dani G]

I'd like to apply to law schools for entry in Fall 2005. Am I cutting it too close to take the LSATs in October 2004?  How long does it take to get the results and have them sent to schools? Thanks.

[L1]

NO. December is too late, October is not. Ideally you would be prepared for June. If you're not 90% ready for the June exam, take it in Oct. It takes about 3 wks to get your results. You should try to mail out your apps in Nov. once you know your score. Plus, you'll end up getting invitations to apply at schools w/ a fee waiver. Take advantage of these. Apply to as many schools that you think you'd be happy going to. Plus this helps bring down the cost of applying.

If you take the exam in Dec. you'll get less of these fee waivers if any since you won't get your score till Jan.

[ruskiegirl]

October wouldn't be too late if you had the remainder of your file (LOR's, EC's, and personal statement) ready to send out by the time you get your scores back.  Most law schools have rolling admissions, which pretty much means that later applications are at a bit more of a disadvantage.  However, if you have a strong application, you shouldn't have anything to worry about. 

I took the December test and was still able to get everything in the mail by the first week of January.

[zpops]

I think the October test is fine, unless you want to make ridiculously early "early decision" deadlines at certain schools like NYU.  But you really should write your personal statement over the summer if possible.  You need to make sure it's interesting, on topic, and grammatically perfect.

[jgruber]

It also depends on how competitive the schools you apply to

I took my LSAT in February for fall 2004 admission.  I got in, but it's definitely not a competitive school

[nathanielmark]

I would love to see breakdowns for percentage of applicants by month.  i wonder how many people get there apps out in october?  Not very many i would think.  i plan on having mine in the mail the day they will take them.  hoping this will expedite decisions and improve my chances.

[zpops]

I would love to see breakdowns for percentage of applicants by month.  i wonder how many people get there apps out in october?  Not very many i would think.  i plan on having mine in the mail the day they will take them.  hoping this will expedite decisions and improve my chances.

It's a great plan, but it's very hard to follow through on.  I was going to send out all my apps the day I got my LSAT scores.  I didn't actually send them out till the begining of Novemeber.  And I didn't get Harvard out till the middle of November.  Worst of all, I didn't get Yale out until the beggining of FEBUARY! 

Here is the advice that one of my profs gave me.  If you really want to send your apps out the first day possible, then you need to fill out your apps over the summer.  Write your statement, send it to a few people, revise, send it to a few, revise. . .  When you're happy with it, give it to EVERYONE you know, and make as many changes as you need.  Figure out the perfect way to answer every question on the app, write addendums, etc after the statement is done.  Once you have everything together, have people read over them.  Then, wait a few weeks and go back to the apps. 

I've just got a feeling that you can get into a great school.  If you work at the whole application, not just the LSAT, and get it out early, you'll definitly have the edge on most applicants.   

[nathanielmark]

Thanks for the vote of confidence.  Yeah, I actually already wrote my personal statement.  i am pretty pleased with it but have yet to start getting others opinions.  i am planning to do that along with getting LORs as soon as the LSAt is behind me.  i dont think applications even get released until September or so, but I can probably formulate answers to this years apps and have them ready to cut and paste as soon as the new apps are available. 

I've just got a feeling that you can get into a great school.  If you work at the whole application, not just the LSAT, and get it out early, you'll definitly have the edge on most applicants.   

[jas9999]

that's the beauty of the lsacd on the web - it cuts and pastes common information for you. watch the lsac site for the day it will be available, and buy it the first day. if you haven't everything together, you should be able to submit your apps within a week or so.

i took the october lsat, and was fine with it. i had my score back before november 1, but lost a few weeks waiting for a transcript that had to be sent twice. send your transcript requests EARLY! i was infuriated that one of mine slowed down my applications by almost a full month.