LSAT Retake Scholarship Increase: LSAT Diaries

This installment of LSAT Diaries comes from Hilda A., who improved from 142 on her initial diagnostic to 157 on the October 2011 LSAT, then to a 161 on the February 2012 LSAT.

In her second LSAT diary (see her first), she talks how she got a full ride to law school as a result of her LSAT retake, as well as the lessons she learned from the law school admission process.

If you want to be in LSAT Diaries, please email me at LSATUnplugged@gmail.com. (You can be in LSAT Diaries whether you've taken the exam already or not.)

Please thank Hilda for sharing her story below in the comments!

Hilda's LSAT Diary:

While I'm not allowed to disclose much information about the February LSAT [ed. February LSATs are undisclosed], I can say it was hell.  I left the testing center completely crushed. I was just hoping to not have done worse than my previous score, 157.  When my score was released on March 7, I was pleased to have gotten a 161.  Immediately after sending out a new CAS report to the schools waiting for my new score, I was admitted to the University of San Francisco, University of San Diego, and Santa Clara.  Shortly after that (within 2 weeks), I was put on a waitlist at both UC Hastings and Loyola.

The best thing that came out of retaking the LSAT was that Chapman's scholarship offer increased from 40% to 100%.  I fell in love with the school when I visited, along with the faculty and the overall atmosphere.  I cannot wait to start this journey and see where it takes me.  I'm really excited for the outcome, but I'm more looking forward to the path that's going to take me there.  I plan on focusing solely on my studies as a 1L but will dedicate a lot of time to public interest during my last two years in hopes of giving back to our community.

I didn't mention this earlier, but I was rejected from UC Irvine in January, before putting my application on hold. They were my top choice of law school and when January came around and I still hadn't heard anything, I called the Dean of Admissions and asked her if I could put my application on hold. She said she'd wait on my new score before making a decision.  My boyfriend was admitted there and attended all of the events. He took me as a guest, so I interacted with the admissions team there and got to know them better.

Recently, when I still hadn't heard anything from them, I contacted the assistant dean of admissions, and that's when I found out that they had made a mistake.  They had made my decision before ever putting my application on hold and had not sent me the letter.  Now they said they will re-evaluate my application in mid-August.  While this was all a miscommunication, I'm kind of discouraged and lost a bit of interest in their school.  Everything worked out for the best in the end though.  Although I retook the LSAT mainly for them, my score increase got me accepted to other great schools, and it increased my offer from Chapman to a full ride, and that's where I will be studying this fall!

My biggest piece of advice for future prospective law students in the same, or similar, situation is to give yourself some time that's just for you so that you're not overwhelmed. But don't waste time doing aimless things like using social networking sites or watching T.V.  During the semester, I had to juggle five classes and to be honest, I ended up with 1 A and 4 Bs. I could have done so much better if it wasn't for the LSAT and other responsibilities.  I would pick and choose the assignments that I would be reading and do a lot of cramming right before tests.

About 85% of my attention went to law school related things. I had gotten my personal statement taken care of in August and had people look over it so it didn't have to take up much of my time once school started.  As for letters of recommendations, I asked two of my teachers and my boss and they were all happy to do it so I was lucky in that aspect.  One of my professors kept putting it off and it became a little bit frustrating, but in the end it worked out well.

As for the application, I spent about two hours filling out all the information, uploading my resume, and assigning letters of recommendations to each of the different schools.  That way, that part of the process was taken care of and all I had to do was update my score once I found out.  As for work, I would try to squeeze in practice LSAT problems during my free time when we didn't have clients in the office and my coworkers were understanding about it.  With all of this came a severe decrease in the amount of time I spent with friends and family.  The process was crazy, stressful, and hectic, but I'm happy with where I am now!

Photo by bobaubuchon