I JUST signed up here to talk about writing the LSAT with an infant. My son is 6 months and having him motivated me to better our lives and apply to law school. I wrote it in Dec 07 when my boy was 4 months - I am nursing and co-sleeping and he wakes me to feed every 1-2 hours at night still. So I am always exhausted and usually stay in bed till 10 or 11 am. Plus I had never left him for so long and he hates drinking from a bottle, so I was an emotional mess, in tears about leaving him. I scored 160 on the test. All my practise tests were in the 167-174 range, with the 5 or so before the test all over 170. But I wrote them with my son nearby, breat fed him on the break, etc. etc. etc. I only applied for one law school, the one in my hometown (I'm in Canada) since I can't move due to needing my mother's help with my son, my husband's job is here, we own a home, and we can't afford to move for school. The only criteria they use for regular acceptance are a combination of GPA and LSAT. My GPA is 3.5. They have the last two years' data on their site for who was accepted, and for 06-07, everyone in my GPA range with a 160-164 LSAT got in, but for 07-08, in the 3.5 - 3.74 GPA range, of 22 applicants, only 16 were accepted, and I'm at the bottom of the range. So, I re-wrote the test in Feb 08 when my boy was 6 mos (my school will only take the higher score.) I found that I had way less motivation to study the second time around and as I was getting really good scores, there was nowhere to really improve. I re-did the Dec. 07 test and scored 169. I was mentally much more prepared to leave my son, and more relaxed (in addition to constantly waking to nurse, I had about 2 or 3 hours where I couldn't sleep due to stressing over the test, and I was too nervous to eat before. This time, I slept better and had a good breakfast, and I was not crying.) At the test, a woman was in front of me in line who had a 6 y-o, 4 y-0 and 2 y-o and she thought I was crazy to take the test while nursing an infant. Anyway, I feel I did better, but we'll see (i didn't think I would get a 160, and I did.) If I get a 165, based on previous years, I am almost certain of getting in, and 167-168 would be even better! If I don't get in, I am thinking of doing one more test in June for next year, since it is later in the day and my son may have changed his habits by then. There is also a special application category that I would try (didn't use it this year as I was sure I wouldn't need it because my practise scores we so good.) Then I will be staying home with the baby I think.... but in Canada we have 1 year paid maternity leave, and if I went to school next year, I'd be on a student loan. With no maternity benefits and no loan, how will I live? Go back to work, spend all my money on daycare, and never see my son? Also, I'm already 32 and I want to get school done already! So I am praying that I do get in....
If I would have thought of it, I would have done the test last year while I was pregnant.... but I needed the motivation of my son to even consider it. The downside is that I worked full-time and another part-time job while I was pregnant and wouldn't have had the time to study that I had after he was born... even with a newborn, I was able to squeeze in more time than I could have seen myself doing with my jobs.
Having been pregnant and had a newborn, I can definitely say that, in terms of physical comforts, etc. I would DEFINITELY have written the test at 8 mos. pregnant over with a newborn. LSAC does not accomodate breast feedinge tc. at all so I doubt they accomodate pregnancy. With pregnancy, at 8 mos, my biggest issue would have been having to pee. I would limit liquids that day and wear Depends or at least a pad or two - seriously! You lose time if you leave to pee so I would not do that. Eating-wise, I would have been fine eating before and at the break. I think I was a little fatigued and forgetful, but not nearly as bad as with a baby... but everyone is different. Plus once you have the baby, you are constantly worrying/thinking about them. In pregnancy, that worry is more abstract so you really only have to take care of yourself. I would practise sitting at a desk for 3-4 hours writing practise tests in the weeks before just to make sure that your back can take it - at least you are off your feet if they are getting swollen.
I also was not that big ever during my pregnancy - and I am a fairly small person. I don't think sitting at a desk would have been an issue. I gained only 20 lbs and wore my own clothes until the 3rd tri - but that 20 lbs was ALL sitting on my bladder, LOL. So everything just depends.
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