Welcome to the latest installment of Law Admissions Q&A, a monthly feature that provides law school admissions advice to readers who send in questions and admissions profiles.
If you have a question about law school, email us for a chance to be featured next month.
This week, I will discuss the Law School Admission Council’s recent policy changes to LSAT administration and address strategies for negotiating scholarships in the middle of your law school career.
[Ask these questions to determine whether law school is the right move.]
I have been waitlisted at my top-choice school. If I don’t get in this cycle, I plan to retake the LSAT and reapply. I’ve already taken the LSAT three times, but I heard the LSAT three-take limit is no longer applied. Is this true? –LSAT Rumors
Dear LSAT Rumors: The rumors are true. In the past, you could only take the LSAT three times in any two-year period. But beginning with the September 2017 LSAT, LSAC will remove retesting limitations. This is tied to its plans to add additional administrations beyond the current four.
In the past, LSAC’s School Reports included LSAT scores from the past five years, limited by the number of times you could take the exam within a two-year period. Now, according to the LSAC’s website, the report will include your current score; the results from up to 12 tests since June 2012, excluding any absensces or cancellations; your average score and percentile rank; and your score band, which shows your estimated proficiency level if your score was earned on the 120-180 scale.
Score bands reflect the precision of the LSAT and are reported to emphasize that your LSAT score is an estimate of your actual proficiency level. A score band is reported for each individual score, as well as for your average score, if available.
This means that admissions committees will have to sift through more data and are more likely to focus on your most recent score or your average score that LSAC generates. But you still have to submit all scores you earned, even if you didn’t perform as well as you expected.
[Understand how to excel at the LSAT as a second-time test-taker. ]
Try to score your best each time you sit for the LSAT and don’t take the exam before you are ready. You don’t want a low score to bring down your average.
The ideal strategy is to only take the LSAT once. With increased test-date options coming, you should be able to postpone taking the exam until you are fully prepared.
If you do need to retake, make sure to review and refine your study approach. While LSAC will soon allow you to take the LSAT an unlimited number of times, having 12 scores on your report is unlikely to impress admissions committees.
Don’t get sucked into a black hole of standardized test-taking. Make every sitting count.
I recently read your article regarding negotiating for additional merit-based scholarships funding. I actually was successful in negotiating with my current school. However, now finishing up my second year, it occurred to me that there may be an opportunity for additional funding.
I wanted to see if you had any insight regarding negotiating in the middle of one’s law school career — I have only a few bargaining chips, but I think that it may be worth a shot nonetheless. Despite my less-than-median LSAT score, I have excelled, fighting my way into the top of the class from the very first semester, becoming a member of the Law Review and receiving other glitzy accolades that one likely would not have expected from an applicant with my LSAT numbers.
So I am thinking that perhaps my performance, combined with a precipitous rankings drop, could be a bargaining chip in meeting with the school and attempting to renegotiate my financial aid package, as I consider transferring. –Glitzy 2L
Dear Glitzy 2L: Absolutely approach your school about increasing your scholarship award. Your LSAT score should no longer be a factor that limits your funding. Instead, focus on your notable accomplishments.
[Learn how to negotiate merit-based law school financial aid.]
Contact the financial aid department. You may also want to draft some of your points to capture your negotiations in writing.
Start by explaining how much you have appreciated your law school experience. Highlight the contributions you’ve made to the campus community and the achievements you’ve accomplished. Then explain that you want to inquire about increasing your scholarship award. Make a case for why you believe an increase in funding is justified, given how much you have excelled.
While a transfer acceptance would be persuasive in your negotiating process, as a 2L, I caution against leaving your current school. It is uncommon to transfer as a 2L. Most schools would not even accept a 2L transfer application.
Even if you do gain an acceptance somewhere, it would be difficult to reestablish a strong network among students and faculty with only one year of study remaining. You would also miss out on opportunities to continue to shine in your extracurricular involvements, such as Law Review.
Rising 2Ls, though, have an opportunity to negotiate for increased scholarships using transferring as a viable bargaining chip. I have seen them receive increased funding offers because law schools do not want to see their brightest stars leave for higher ranking programs.
More from U.S. News
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Law School Q&A: LSAT Changes, Renegotiating Aid originally appeared on usnews.com
