u/reallybro_usesearch

i'm just gonna say it - retake in september! a few months of studying and you could be getting good scholarships at top schools.

unless you 1) have absolutely no time to prepare (pretty sure anyone can steal an hour a day, even working full time) or 2) have already prepared thoroughly and tested above your PT range, there's absolutely no downside to retaking and huge potential upside.

reverse splitting is less common because people realize the above and retake to get their LSAT in line with their GPA.

if it's non-punitive, and you don't have a ton of them, it won't matter in the slightest. if you have a ton of non-punitive withdrawals, it might be a slight negative, but it will count as any soft does (i.e. not much).

if it's punitive, it will count as an F for LSAC purposes, which can obviously have a material impact on your GPA.

with respect, taking on $200k+ in debt for a degree that will give you no better than a coinflip of obtaining any legal job will probably greatly increase your bills. attending stetson at sticker, for example, is financially suicidal and you should really do some more research before committing to that plan

edit: at minimum, play around with this page to get a view of what stetson grads actually get for their $200k

1) look at this. as you've been repeatedly told, nearly half of all stetson grads are not employed in legal positions 10 months after graduation, and almost 10% are literally unemployed at this time. if by "infamous" you mean "will try to talk people out of making the terrible decision to spend 3 years and $200k+ for a coinflip at getting a legal job," you are correct.

2) anecdotes about judges prove nothing. further, these judges you mention presumably went to law school 15+ years ago, when law school tuition was dramatically lower and the legal market was very different. when they went to law school, it very well may have been a good idea to go to stetson. today, for most people, this is not the case.

3) nobody has at any point stated that everyone that goes to stetson is stupid, that there are no good outcomes for stetson grads, etc. we're just pointing out - based on the cold hard facts - that the average stetson grad in 2017 has very little to show for his/her time and money.

what do you want to do with your law degree? do you have a guaranteed legal job for after you graduate?

look at the profiles here. barry and florida coastal are among the very worst schools in the country and you should not go there even if they pay you to do so.

stetson is also a very poor school in terms of employment outcomes, but might be worth attending on a full scholarship with extremely modest post-graduation goals.

fiu has the best stats of them all but again, without a substantial scholarship and very modest post-graduation plans or a guaranteed job, it's really not worth it.

please understand i'm not trying to be harsh, but in today's world the cost of law school and shrinking legal employment market means that just obtaining a law degree is no longer a guaranteed ticket to improving your position. the three schools that only have FT programs (uf, fsu, um) are honestly the only three schools in FL that are a good idea to attend under most circumstances.

T14- The top 14 schools in the rankings, always the same 14 schools, except for that one time that Texas tied for 14th

lol revision time?

i contacted a professor i hadn't spoken to in years

i didn't know him well ever - i'd be surprised if he would have recognized me even when i was taking his class

it worked out totally fine, he wrote a great rec (he showed it to me) and i got into many good schools

don't sweat it, profs get these requests all the time

You're not a non-traditional applicant - you're only a few years out of undergrad. Your work experience is pretty normal for admissions purposes, and being from a rural town won't matter (other than to the extent you write about it in a diversity statement, and even then it won't matter much).

Of your softs, the only important one is your URM status, which is very important. You could potentially get into T25 schools now, but raising your LSAT into the 160s will make T14 schools possible and put you in a much better position for scholarships.

Good luck!

I'm wondering if HYS is possible for me

yes

if going to HYS would significantly increase my job prospects

possibly especially if Y

schools where I would have a good shot at a full tuition scholarship

nyu & columbia. also apply to rest of t13

no idea about ED's effect on admissions probability. as mentioned it will likely guarantee you'd pay sticker, but with those numbers you'd be paying sticker anyway if you managed an acceptance. columbia values LSAT relative to GPA much more than does NYU.

URM means underrepresented relative to the proportion of the US population, not "subject to discrimination" etc. whether that's a good way to distribute admissions boosts is certainly up for debate, but as a factual matter most americans of ME descent come from groups that are overrepresented in US higher education. for example iranian-americans are among the most-educated groups in the US; per this arab-americans receive graduate degrees at nearly twice the rate of native-born americans, as do syrian-americans

NYU is also fairly certain a pretty good chance with slightly less very little or no money

3.7/170 is at 25th percentile for GPA and a point above LSAT median. per LST 57% of the student body paid sticker in 2015-16.

depends completely on the school

Got it. Can't speak to why the percentile score would have changed, but would definitely recommend retaking if you scored substantially below your PT range. Good luck!

Yes, that would be a good idea. Mention your new LSAT score if it's higher.

from the sidebar, credit u/graeme_b

nobody here works in admissions, so our answers are as good as yours. stanford is obviously an extremely selective school. you should try consulting the sidebar resources, including mylsn, and then make a decision as to whether you're willing to risk the application fee.

there are 206 aba-approved law schools. you should probably just look at the websites for the schools you're considering.

you were mostly right - it does get registered as an absence and schools can see you missed it. just didn't get counted against your three-take limit.

You will definitely not be in as strong of a position as you would be applying with a September LSAT. As long as you have all your materials ready to go, you should still be generally OK if you apply right after you get your score. For some more data you can play around with this tool to see admissions outcomes by school by application month.

(Also, you should try using the search bar. This question was literally posted yesterday.)

even under the old policy absences didn't count toward your takes (only post-exam cancellations did). agree that OP should write a short addendum.

r/iamverysmart

if you believe you'll improve from 161 to mid-160s, i'd take the september LSAT and apply the day you get scores back.

no schools average, other people ITT are incorrect. take as many times as you need to get the best possible score. if you have a dramatic difference in scores, write an addendum explaining the circumstances. people say not to retake if you are very close to your PT average because the marginal benefit of an extra LSAT point may not be worth the prep time to get it.

you might have better luck asking in r/lawschool. congrats on the engagement!