Strategy Advice

[dufresne9]

Alright, I'm seeking a little bit of advice and a little bit of information. I prepared for the LSAT in May and was consistently hitting 171-174 on practices. My official score in June ended up as a 169, darn code-switching. As my GPA is a 3.9 I was initially satisfied with how the admissions game was playing out but as the summer has wore on I am feeling the itch to retake. Greedy perhaps, but I'm beginning to think the difference between a 169 and a 171 could amount to thousands of dollars in merit money and even perhaps a bump from a 7-14 to a 4-6.

However, I want to get my applications in before the big October LSAT rush. Does anybody know how schools handle someone with an official test score but may or may not retake? Do I have to let schools know, or can I hide it for the schools I should be able to get into with my 169? Is there a chance I can be sneaky and throw my 169 to schools in the 10-20 range and get an early decision among the early pool and then play back at them with a higher LSAT score in order to score some money? Assuming I get waitlisted to a few places is it allowable to retake the LSAT to enhance my chances? I'm pretty confident in bumping up my average score 1-2 points, but don't want to bother if I don't have to. Once again I understand that such talk seems trite, afterall at this range an LSAT point is equal to a lucky guess, but it seems to matter a lot in the process.

Basically what I want to do is:
(1) Get my applications in by mid September and take advantage of the 'looser' admission standards
(2) Maximize my chances at scholarship money and school prestige

I realize this question might be construed as pretty self-indulgent but any help would be appreciated.

[jmontegna]

You are worrying way too f-ing much man.  Number 1, chill out.  I am in the exact same boat as you are.  A 3.9 GPA and a 169.  You are set man.  Where do you want to go?  I'm looking at Columbia, NYU, and Harvard.  My personality really fits the profile of the typical NYU student.

Anyway, you need to get a little more confidence in yourself.  I'm sure you can write a good personal statement (it can't help you, only hurt you), get some decent recommendations, get your *&^% in early, and basically follow Richard Montauk's book.  We'll get in, maybe see each other in NYC.

Peace,
Joe

[jacy85]

A 169 seems exactly where you should be.  Apply this time through, and if you don't get where you want (HYS aside, since they still may not let you in even over 170, totally hit-and-miss), then take it over.  But with a 169, you're fine.  If you'd been regularly scoring like 175-178, I'd say maybe it could be worth it, but with the range of 171-175, there's no guarantee you'd do any better, and if you take it again and only score 1 or 2 points higher, you look like a greedy feminine hygiene product.  Take a good score when you see it, man.

[lexylit]

agree with jacy. if you wait for the octobe score you'll hurt yourself just as much as the higher score would help you, so it cancesl out. and if you send in apps earlier but tell them you're retaking, they wont give a f*ck