<p>Wow. Never thought I'd be back here again...</p>
<p>So I am currently a sophomore, interested in Law School. Early, I know. While I was making my graduation plans for my major declaration, I realized that I would need to decide on a LSAT month. After thinking about it, I picked June Junior year, so that I would know my score and be able to pick which schools I wanted to apply to over the summer. But there's one problem.</p>
<p>I will be in Japan from August 2015 - the end of June 2016.</p>
<p>So this brings in a paradox. I will be in Japan when the LSAT is offered in the US, and then I will be back home when it is offered in Tokyo. I also don't really want to study for the LSAT when I'm in a foreign country, trying to become fluent in a language that is not tested on the LSAT haha.</p>
<p>So should I chance taking it only in October 2016 and hope that I do as well as my practice test when preparing my applications? Or should I take it this June? Or should I just find a hotel or a youth hostel and stay for the 2 -7 days and take the test in Tokyo? Would that look strange to Law Schools considering its nearly two years before I actually would be attending?</p>
<p>Why are you in such a rush? Law isn’t going anywhere. Spend your undergrad keeping your GPA up. Study for the LSAT after you graduate and are (hopefully) taking some time to get some work experience. </p>
<p>Speaking of experience, have you interned in a law office or otherwise had experience with the practice of law?</p>
<p>My sister is a lawyer so I’ve been around law my whole life. I’ve never interned at a law office; my friends who have said that they were basically just administrative assistant-assistants so I didn’t see the point in trying for last summer. But I have done mock trial which I know is not anywhere near a real world experience, but I feel like it’s enough to know I’m interested.</p>
<p>Also it’s not a rush perse - I would just rather get the test out of the way and worry about applications when the time comes. I plan on deferring and doing a fellowship, or maybe JET or TFA, for a year or two if I can.</p>
<p>I just don’t want to mess up my chances if come senior year I want to apply and go straight in, and I end up reaching too high (or too low) because I don’t know my LSAT. Hence the question.</p>
<p>Interns will do some coffee getting, but they also get a chance to see at least one section of law practice as it really is. I highly recommend you get that realistic picture before you commit several years and thousands of dollars to a profession. It won’t show you what, for example, transactional law looks like, but at least you’ll go in on something more than your own preconceptions. </p>
<p>Law applications are really easy since the only things they care about are GPA and LSAT. You have to write a couple of short essays that no one will read, which by that time should be simple. Doing the LSAT early is fine so long as you have time to study for it properly. LSATs have a five-year shelf life but you probably won’t take longer than that in applying to law school. If you’re desperate to get it done while still in undergrad, take a light class load your junior year and take a prep course.</p>
<p>The junior year was my plan, but I don’t know if I can take a prep course in Tokyo. Thanks for the advice, though! I might have to be flexible either in my abroad plans or in my LSAT date. </p>
<p>Taking it senior year, when you’re back from Japan, is fine too. There’s no good reason to overload yourself. Since you can only take the LSAT a few times in a two year period, and since retakes are not uncommon, it’s silly to waste a chance when you’re not in a good position to make the best of it. Waiting until your senior year will still let you take it in undergrad, which for some reason you seem keen on.</p>
<p>Take a timed, unofficial LSAT (Princeton Review or Kaplan offer them) to figure out whether or not you need to take a prep course. If you do, just take the LSAT when you return from Japan. If that means you have to do the LSAT in October of your senior year, there is still plenty of time to get your applications in. (In fact, if you are doing a prep course, you should have a very good idea of what your score will be and can send your application in pending receipt of the LSAT). </p>
<p>Don’t rush it: it’s a waste of time and money. </p>
<p>I took the LSAT in the fall of my senior year. That was ideal because I also spent junior year abroad, which wasn’t particularly academically challenging, and so I was not burned out like I would have been from a regular year in college. I was thus able to study really hard over the summer. </p>
In making a decision, be aware that law schools do not uniformly use your highest LSAT test score if you take more than one LSAT. A number do, but many still hold the lower scores against you. Thus, it is best to take the LSAT once and score high which can weigh in favor of waiting to take the test after junior year or in senior year if intent is to attend law school right after college. And there is no score choice with LSAT. The testing agency will provide all your LSAT test scores to law schools.
@drusba: Some schools used to average LSAT scores. I can’t think of one that still does. Not since USNWR said that only the highest score counts. And that was before the massive drop in LSAT takers.
Despite any incentive to do so, there are still many law schools that do not follow the highest score rule and you need to check each law school to determine what it actually does. For example NYU still averages scores, see http://www.law.nyu.edu/jdadmissions/applicants/jdapplicationfaq#7, and most of the T14 still consider lower scores against you.
@drusba: I’m more than willing to believe they say they average. They also say they evaluate applicants “holistically.” The data support a much simpler picture: they care about your GPA and highest LSAT score, with space left over essentially only for URMs.
Doesn’t the test score expire within 3 years? If you know you are going straight through to law school from undergrad, then maybe take it now. If you are not sure, then I would wait.
I would not go straight through. That is what I did and I wish I had worked before law school. Law school will always be there. You should consider being a paralegal at a firm before committing yourself to law school.
Absolutely not. NYU has a class that is so large that they are begging for test scores above median.
There are just not enough 17x’s to go around.
And there is the out – for NYU. Any score above median would then fall into the ‘special snowflake’ category.
HLS is in the same boat. They have to accept the vast majority of test scores above their median; it is statistically impossible for them to do otherwise, or else see their median drop like a rock. HLS is so large that they have no choice (since many high testers will take the $$$ at a lower T14 or matriculate to YLS, SLS.
OTOH, I have no doubt that for the two ‘tiny’ classes, YLS and SLS, a one-time pony can be a plus factor.