<p>When should one apply to law schools? When should one take the LSATs? I know these sound like stupid questions, but from my research, the information I've found have just been about the time of the year applications are submitted and the times of the year the LSATs are offered, not when as an undergrad they should be done. How does it work? ARe they both (application and LSATs) done during the senior year of college (given there will be no time off between university and law school)? Or should they be done earlier? Should the LSATs be taken before submitting applications, or vice versa? Thanks everyone.</p>
<p>Well - I'm a huge fan of taking time off between college and law school, but, that aside, my timetable (assume that you want to start l.s. in August '06):</p>
<p>*June - take LSATs
*July, August - get applications, research schools, etc
*September and October '05: fill out and mail in apps. Apply Early Action any place that will let you do it (without committment)
*October - re-take LSAT if you truly, truly bombed and know that you can do significantly better
*You'll hear from schools from December '05 to August '06. As it's rolling admissions, you should get your apps in early - your chances of getting in are much better then.</p>
<p>I recommend taking the LSAT before researching law schools and applying for a simple reason. The LSAT is so important that you can't figure out which schools to apply to until you have that score. You just won't be able to fill in reach, match, and safety schools without it. Just assume that you have a 3.4 coming out of college. If you have a 170 LSAT, you're looking quite good for almost all law schools except for the top seven or eight or so. Now, take that same 3.4 and pair with a 155 LSAT - and you're looking at second and third-tier schools. (This is just what I've seen from going through the process and seeing friends go through the process.) </p>
<p>So - get an LSAT score so you at least make some good decisions about where to apply. </p>
<p>The June LSAT is the only one administered at 12:30; the others are at 8:30 (or 8?) am. If you aren't a morning person, take it in June. Spend second semester junior year and then May/early June studying for it.</p>
<p>Stupid question, but what's the highest score you can get on the LSATs?</p>
<p>180.</p>
<p>They are scored from 120 to 180, by percentile (so the same score is always the same percentile). The median is a 151; I think that 157 or 158 is the 74th percentile; 165, the 95th percentile, and 170, the 99th percentile. So you can see that roughly half the people who take the test are clustered into about a 12 point range. That is why it's often so important to study - because the extra few points can mean a huge difference in percentile.</p>