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How to avoid LSAT mistakes
Law School Admissions: Applying Next Cycle
Many law schools will accept the June LSAT. Consider that a lot of schools are going to extend their application deadlines and the LSAT dates they'll accept.
Some students have an urgent need to apply in this cycle and start in the fall.
But most students are in a much better position to use this as an opportunity to slow down, take a break, and apply at the beginning of the next cycle.
If you apply at the beginning, you have better odds of getting in and you could get more scholarship money.
So, for many students, there is a silver lining. You can give yourself another couple months to study for the LSAT and truly master it, taking it in July, August, or October, then applying at the beginning of next cycle.
Most students would benefit from retaking the LSAT. I typically recommend that students retake it at least once when they feel ready. If you could do just a couple points better, even through luck alone, it only stands to benefit you because law schools do not average multiple LSAT scores. They only take the highest.
Say you deserve a 160, got a 161, then retake it getting a 163. That's what you will be applying with for admissions and scholarship money.
And if you go down, no big deal because they only take the highest. It’s fine to wait for another cycle and take it again later this summer. If you're taking it for the first time in the summer, maybe take it again in the fall.
Another factor I discuss in the National Law Journal is the opportunity to wait out the recession - whether you apply this cycle or next:
(As for LSAT retakes, know that 3-4 times is totally fine. 5-6 or more starts to look a little flaky. If that’s your situation, write an addendum explaining why you had to retake it so many times. Admission officers are understanding, especially given the digital LSAT transition and the new LSAT-Flex. There have been a lot more retakes and cancellations than in the past.)
3 videos to pump you up for the LSAT
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Law School Deposit Deadlines
Once the deposit deadlines hit and schools find they didn't get as many applicants as they were hoping for, what happens next? They turn to their waitlists.
And if you're at the top of their mind because you just reached out a day or week ago, there’s a great chance you could be chosen. It just depends on the type of student they want.
Watch the deadlines and take advantage.
(Note: if a law school says not to send a letter of continued interest, don't.)
Starting Law School This Year vs Next
I have the feeling that a lot of law schools will be online in the fall. Based on my reading of the coronavirus situation, in-person simply won't be possible, if stay-at-home orders continue, and if there are further waves of coronavirus.
I have the feeling that a lot of law schools will be online in the fall. Based on my reading of the coronavirus situation, in-person simply won't be possible, if stay-at-home orders continue, and if there are further waves of coronavirus.So, if that's the case, then law school might be online in August, but I don't think they will delay the start of the semester.
If you're considering starting law school this fall, you might not want to start online, and you might not want to pay the same amount for starting online versus in-person. Some may want to wait a cycle, in order to have a bit more certainty about what law school will be like.
Alternatively, and I talked about this in an interview for the National Law Journal, some will want to go to law school now, in part to wait out another recession. That could be a reasonable and popular course of action (similar to in the 2008 recession).
Lots of law schools will be extending deadlines, even to account for the July LSAT, and quite possibly, even to account for the August LSAT. (This means you might start law school a week or two late if your August LSAT scores boost you up enough.)
Deadlines are fluid -- they're not fixed.
Law schools don't exist to enforce these deadlines. They want to get bodies in seats. They want to get tuition dollars. They have massive overhead they have to maintain. For that reason, they will bend and even break their previous deadlines to allow new folks to come in.
I've never really understood the idea of these deadlines being so early anyway. Why should the deadline be in February, when law school's not starting for another six months?
If they could have somebody else come along, with a higher LSAT score, higher GPA, numbers that would raise their medians, why wouldn't they consider that applicant? They've got plenty of time to move them into the system, and allow them to start. I don't really see the reason for it.
LSAC LSAT Cancellation Fees + Coronavirus
LSAC has been good about waiving fees for LSAT test date changes due to coronavirus.
Of course, they're obligated to waive those fees -- someone who signed up for the April LSAT did not necessarily sign up to do the May online LSAT-Flex, and they might not be able to take that exam.
So LSAC is waiving fees for those particular situations -- they're not looking to keep your money for something that you didn't sign up for.
If you're waiting on a refund from them, be patient. They are inundated with emails and phone calls right now, but they will ultimately give you your money back, they're not looking to keep your fee for something that you did not sign up for.
Is LSAT-Flex Harder?
Will LSAT-Flex be harder? Will it have tougher questions? I don't see why it would.
They are looking to make this experience, overall, equal in difficulty to other administrations of the LSAT, whether the digital tablet LSAT or the older (and international) paper and pencil LSAT.
Theoretically, if the online at-home LSAT-Flex were such an easier experience -- doing three sections, not five, the comfort of your own home ---
And if students performed significantly better on the LSAT-Flex --
would LSAC have to include more difficult questions to account for that?
Maybe.
However, I'm not entirely convinced that it would be that much easier, for the average student, to the point that it would require including much more difficult questions.
If anything, they'd provide questions of roughly equal difficulty, and then they might adjust the raw score conversions a little bit. In other words - you'd need to get more questions correct to get a particular scale score out of 180.
I'm not sure there would be such a difference in performance, to warrant that. Remember that, this is not a content change. The difficulty of the questions should be the same -- it's only the delivery mechanism that is different.
LSAT-Flex Cost + LSAC Fee Waivers
LSAT-Flex Cost + LSAC Fee Waivers
They're charging $200 for it, just like the regular LSAT. While they're saving money on testing centers and proctors, they still have to pay ProctorU to handle the security.
They're also getting tons of questions from applicants about the online LSAT-Flex, and that's a labor cost in customer support.
I wouldn't be looking to LSAC to be reducing fees anytime soon. The trend line on what LSAC charges for anything has only gone in one direction, as far as I've seen, so I wouldn't count on any pricing getting lower.
However, you can apply for a fee waiver, if you have or think you have financial need, you could save hundreds of dollars, at the very least.
By the way, also apply for law school application fee waivers -- that could save you a ton of money, too. All you have to do ask. just shoot them an email. They aren't strangers to being asked for those fee waivers, and it could save you tons of money, especially if you're applying to lots of schools -- definitely worth asking.
2020 Law School Application Deadlines
Students are understandably very concerned about deadlines.
A lot of law schools will be taking results of both the June LSAT (if it happens) and the July LSAT.
Since the April LSAT was recently canceled, law schools are going to be extending those deadlines, if they haven't already, because their job is not to enforce these deadlines, their job is to fill the seats.
So if they've got to move things back due to the LSAT being delayed, they will extend those deadlines. The July LSAT could be good for some folks to start law school a month later or in the spring.
There are obviously benefits to applying early rather than later -- in general, I would say applying earlier is better, but some folks would (very reasonably) argue that this cycle those rules are thrown out the window due to the coronavirus situation.
Online LSAT-Flex I How to Study
Do some practice runs -- take a practice test online with the Official LSAT Prep Plus with a friend watching you on Skype/Zoom on the other end to simulate the online proctoring with ProctorU.
You could also get a group together and do a Zoom call, where you take practice tests together and watch each other, to have the feeling of not being alone in this process and also to have the feeling that somebody might be watching you and holding you accountable.
Another thing you could do that's popular on YouTube is doing a "study with me" session, where you livestream yourself in front of your desk on camera, studying for the LSAT.
Another thing you could do that's popular on YouTube is doing a "study with me" session, where you livestream yourself in front of your desk on camera, studying for the LSAT.
However, you don't have to have your face on camera, if you're shy about that. Instead, you could have the camera stationed over your desk, to simulate that experience, just a little bit.
You're doing this on computer, whether desktop or laptop, not on an iPad, which is somewhat ironic since the digital LSAT was on a tablet for the in-person administrations. That's no longer the case with the online LSAT-Flex being on desktop.
The look and feel will be the same, but obviously on a computer, you're not using a touchscreen. You'll be doing it with a keyboard and mouse instead.
How Law School Admissions Views LSAT-Flex
Will law school admissions look down on LSAT-Flex takers if they've already gotten a low score on the regular LSAT?
Let's say, your in-person score was low, your LSAT-Flex score is higher.
No, they won't look down on it.
They'll know you took the LSAT-Flex, but it's not a huge deal.
Law schools are confident in LSAC's ability to administer a valid and reliable admission test. They're confident that a 75-question exam can be equivalent to -- or equated with -- a 100-question exam.
Obviously, there are pros and cons to doing a shorter LSAT at home vs a longer one in-person, but law schools want the number.
They have incentive to care only about the number because that's what goes to the ABA -- meaning that's what's factored into the US News Rankings. So, don't worry about it.
(The admissions professionals in a previous LSAC webinar, as well as those I've spoken with directly, all say they will consider LSAT-Flex scores equal to those earned on the paper and Digital LSATs.)
I wish LSAC wasn't annotating LSAT-Flex scores with an asterisk - it adds a lot of unnecessary stress for students (especially considering they used to add an asterisk to accommodated scores until settlements forced them to stop).
However, if anything, this will remind admissions you took a new LSAT format during a global crisis. It provides a bit of context. Your score is still your score, of course, regardless of the format.
(The admissions professionals in a previous LSAC webinar, as well as those I've spoken with directly, all say they will consider LSAT-Flex scores equal to those earned on the paper and Digital LSATs.)
I wish LSAC wasn't annotating LSAT-Flex scores with an asterisk - it adds a lot of unnecessary stress for students (especially considering they used to add an asterisk to accommodated scores until settlements forced them to stop).
However, if anything, this will remind admissions you took a new LSAT format during a global crisis. It provides a bit of context. Your score is still your score, of course, regardless of the format.
tl;dr Just get the score, the number is what matters the most at the end of the day.
