You Got Your LSAT Score, Now What?

Apply Smartly
http://www.top-law-schools.com/rankings.html has a nice breakdown of LSAT and GPA quartiles for schools. Make sure you know your LSAC GPA!!
• “Safety” schools- BOTH your numbers are above the school’s 75th percentile. You’ll probably get scholarship offers from these schools.
• Schools where you are competitive- BOTH your numbers are within the school’s 25th and 75th percentiles. **Not a guarantee of outright admission. Morgan was within USC’s LSAT and GPA quartiles and was waitlisted, but got in **
• Schools where you are on the fence- one of your numbers is within the school’s 25th and 75th percentiles (or above) and the other number is below the 25th percentile. Look at the ranges of each number, tighter range means they put more weight on that number. Hopefully the better of your two numbers is the one they weigh more. If not, you become less competitive. WRITE A GREAT PERSONAL STATEMENT.
• Reach schools- BOTH your numbers are below the school’s 25th percentile.

When to Retake
The reality is that most people see very little improvement in their score after retaking. Make an honest assessment of your efforts the first time around. Did you study hard the first time? Did you underestimate the test and prep for it like the SAT? Or did you really dedicate yourself to studying. If you underestimated the test, consider retaking.
Retake if:
• “Bad Day” on exam day? Understand the difference between a complete disaster and a mild disaster. Complete disaster = late to the test, sick, motorcycle gang outside the test center. Mild disaster = were you just distracted, normal test anxiety, etc. Mild disasters might just repeat themselves the next time you take the test, probably not worth retaking.
• You did not prepare LONG enough. The LSAT is one of the harder, if not hardest standardized tests. It may take some people longer than 3-4 months to get their best score. If you didn’t devote the requisite time to it, consider retaking.
• You did not prep smart. Whatever your situation, you cannot study the same way when you retake because clearly something didn’t work
• Consider the admissions policies of your target Law School(s). Do they average or take the higher score? If they average, any improvement you see will effectively be cut in half, so think seriously about whether retaking is worth it.

When to Write an Addendum•
• You only have 1 score and something terrible happened on test day
• If you are just a bad standardized test taker, be careful. But if you are normally a good test taker and can provide evidence of this (old tests), consider writing an addendum about the disaster.
• You retake and there is more than a 3 point difference between the scores
•DO NOT try to givet an excuse, just FACTS!