Applying to Law School After the June LSAT

Have you decided that you want to attend law school this fall but you are just now taking the June LSAT? Although your options will be limited, not all hope is lost. Below are a few tips on what you will need to do to get the ball rolling in time for orientation.

Immediately:
These three items typically take the longest to complete on your application, therefore, you should start as early as possible to complete them.

1. Request all transcripts from you undergraduate school(s) to be sent to LSAC to be processed for your Credential Assembly Service Report
2. Choose Recommenders and ask them to submit their letters of recommendation to LSAC to be processed for your Credential Assembly Service Report

After the LSAT:

1. Complete your personal statement
2. Complete your resume
3. Gather up any documents needed for addendums (legal records, financial records, ect...) and have them on hand if the Admissions Committee requests a clarification or more information on your record.
4. Submit your application*

*A little known tip on getting a jump on the admissions process is that in many cases you can submit your application before your LSAT scores are received from LSAC, however, your application will likely not go to the Admissions Committee until after your scores are received and your application is complete. The advantage to submitting early is that the school has all the required documents except for the LSAT and after they receive your score and complete your file they can immediately send it onto the Admissions Committee.

As an aside, do not move across the country for a law school until you receive an admission offer from the school. As common sense as that sounds, it happens all the time with students who are applying at the end of the year in hopes that they will be admitted and will already have an apartment set up.

Below is a list of schools that may have application deadlines after the June LSAT. You should contact the school directly to get more information about applying.

• Appalachian School of Law
• Arizona Summit Law School
• Atlanta's John Marshall Law School
• Ave Maria School of Law
• Brooklyn Law School
• Charlotte School of Law
• Drexel University
• Elon University
• Faulkner University (Jones)
• Florida A&M University
• Florida Coastal School of Law
• Hamline University
• Indiana University--Indianapolis (McKinney)
• Liberty University
• Loyola University New Orleans
• Mississippi College
• New York Law School
• Northern Kentucky University (Chase)
• Ohio Northern University (Pettit)
• Oklahoma City University
• Pace University
• Regent University
• Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey--Camden
• Savannah Law School
• Seattle University
• Texas Southern University (Marshall)
• Thomas M. Cooley Law School
• Touro College (Fuchsberg)
• Tulane University
• University of Alabama
• University of Baltimore
• University of Connecticut
• University of Houston
• University of La Verne
• University of Miami
• University of North Dakota
• University of San Diego
• University of St. Thomas
• University of Toledo
• University of Tulsa
• Valparaiso University
• Wake Forest University
• Washington University in St. Louis
• Western State College of Law at Argosy University
• Whittier College
• William Mitchell College of Law

Which College Majors Score the Highest on the LSAT?

I came across a post today by Pepperdine Law Professor Derek Muller in which he charted the median LSAT of different college majors. The results were surprising and not surprising at the same time.

Those majors that scored the highest were from traditional humanities majors which is not too surprising since law school attracts students from humanities backgrounds. However, what is surprising is that those students who were in Criminal Justice, Social Work, and Pre-Law programs scored the lowest.

I could hypothesize, but, I do not have any direct evidence to answer why some majors performed better than others; however, you should read Prof. Muller's post for more details about how he conducted the study. It is very interesting!

Major	LSAT	UGPA
CLASSICS	159.8	3.477
POLICY STUDIES	158.8	3.435
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS	157.3	3.382
ART HISTORY	157.1	3.453
MATHEMATICS	157.0	3.332
PHILOSOPHY	156.8	3.308
INTERNATIONAL STUDIES	156.6	3.421
GOVERNMENT/SERVICE	156.3	3.352
ECONOMICS	156.2	3.307
BIOLOGY, SPECIALIZATION	155.8	3.217
MUSIC	155.6	3.432
HISTORY	155.4	3.339
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING	155.0	3.192
ANTHROPOLOGY	154.7	3.365
RELIGION/RELIGIOUS STUDIES	154.6	3.434
FOREIGN LANGUAGES	154.4	3.379
LITERATURE	153.6	3.284
ENGLISH	153.2	3.307
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES	152.7	3.255
POLITICAL SCIENCE	152.3	3.274
CHEMISTRY, GENERAL	152.1	3.267
INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDIES	151.9	3.235
SPANISH	151.9	3.394
ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING	151.8	3.196
ARTS & HUMANITIES - OTHER	151.7	3.275
FINANCE	151.7	3.297
JOURNALISM	151.5	3.315
BUSINESS & MANAGEMENT - OTHER	151.1	3.171
PSYCHOLOGY	150.6	3.226
INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS	150.5	3.266
BIOLOGY, GENERAL	149.7	3.096
COMMUNICATIONS	149.3	3.213
SOCIAL SCIENCES - OTHER	148.4	3.168
ACCOUNTING	148.3	3.283
CRIMINOLOGY	148.2	3.206
LIBERAL ARTS	148.1	3.113
SOCIOLOGY	148.0	3.165
MARKETING	147.9	3.140
LAW	147.6	3.256
PRE-LAW	147.1	3.172
BUSINESS MANAGEMENT	146.7	3.142
BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION	146.6	3.098
BUSINESS MGMT./ADMIN.	145.8	3.052
ANY AREA NOT LISTED - OTHER	145.0	3.122
SOCIAL WORK	143.4	3.257
CRIMINAL JUSTICE	143.1	3.14

Are You Thinking About Retaking the LSAT?

The Law School Admissions Council recently released an interesting article in their LSAT Technical Reports Series entitled "The Performance of Repeat Test Takers on the Law School Admissions Test: 2006-2007 through 20012-2013 Testing Years". This report shows general trends in repeat LSAT takers and can provide insightful statistics about retaking the LSAT.

The most pertinent information to a prospective law student thinking about retaking the LSAT begins on page 8 of the report in the discussion on mean score gains.

• "Second-time test takers scored an average of 2.8 points higher than they did the first time"
• "Third-time test takers scored an average of 2.2 points higher than they did the second time"

As an example of what this means, let's suppose you scored a 150 the first time you took the LSAT. If you retook the LSAT and studied hard an average increase would bring your score up to a 153 (rounding to the nearest full point). If you then took the LSAT a third time an average increase would bring your total score up another two points for a high LSAT score of 155.*

So to answer the question "Should you retake the LSAT?", the answer is probably yes; however, you will need to do your own cost/benefit analysis. Would increasing your score make a significant difference in your chances of gaining admission to the law school of your choice? Would increasing your LSAT increase scholarship opportunities? Do you have time to devote to a full study cycle? Ect...

You also need to remember that you can only take the LSAT three times within a two year period. If you do retake the LSAT do not take the endeavor lightly. There is no guarantee that you will increase your score by retaking the test. You must study hard so that you can perform your best on test day. Preparation is your only insurance to increase your score.


*an important caveat to note is that the mean score for first-time test takers is a 151.0. The mean LSAT score for second-time test takers is a 151.7. The mean LSAT for third-time test takers is a 149.4. There is a bit of an imbalance between the "mean score" and the "mean score gains" for repeaters. If the mean score gain for second-time test takers is 2.8 points then one would expect the mean LSAT score for second-time test takers to be a 153.8 (151.0 + 2.8); however, since this is not the case, the numbers suggest that those who retake the LSAT are likely to be those who scored below average (probably a mean score of 148.9 (151.7 - 2.8)) the first time and thus have the most to gain in retaking the LSAT and thus inflate the median gains; however, no reports have studied this correlation so it is an unsubstantiated assumption. Basically, the point of this note is to highlight that the mean score gains are a bit more complicated than they first appear and that there is no guarantee that you will increase your score by five points of you take the LSAT three times.

Using the LSAT to Choose a Law School (And Set Expectations)

Too many students perseverate on LSAT scores when choosing a law school (as do some law schools when choosing applicants). The LSAT is only one factor out of many that you should consider when choosing a law school and it should not be used when making a final determination on where to attend. However, it can be a useful tool in the initial stages of the admissions process when you are setting your expectations and choosing safety schools, match schools, and reach schools.

A single LSAT score falls within a range of scores which an applicant would likely earn if s/he retook the test. For example, if you scored a 159 on the LSAT and then retook the test, you would likely score between a 156 and a 162. Law schools take these ranges into consideration when choosing applicants and you should take this into consideration when choosing law schools.

In the chart below you will see schools grouped together by median LSAT score with group 1 being the highest LSAT score and group 32 being the lowest LSAT score. If you think about these groups as your options when setting your expectations, you can reduce some of the stress out of the application process.

Lets use our 159 LSAT score for an example. A 159 falls into group 14. Group 14 is now the base for selecting your match schools. There are only nine schools in group 14 so you don't have many options; however, you should expand your match schools up two groups to include groups 13 and 12 and then down two groups to include 15 and 16. Now you have 52 schools that would be a likely match school for you based on your LSAT score. You can now expect schools in groups 11 through 1 to be reach schools and schools in groups 17 through 32 to be safety schools.

Although there are always exceptions to this method, it is a useful tool when you are in the initial stages of researching law schools in order for you to help set your expectations during the application process. After you set your expectations and goals you enter a whole other phase of the admissions process and any importance you place on a school's median LSAT score should diminish.

Group	School	Bottom 25%	Median	Top 75%
1	Harvard University	170	173	175
1	Yale University	170	173	176
2	Columbia University	169	171	173
2	Stanford University	169	171	173
3	Chicago, University of	166	170	172
3	New York University	168	170	172
4	Duke University	165	169	170
4	Pennsylvania, University of	165	169	171
4	Virginia, University of	164	169	170
5	Georgetown University	163	168	169
5	Michigan, University of	165	168	170
5	Northwestern University	161	168	171
6	California-Berkeley, University of	163	167	169
6	California-Los Angeles, University of	162	167	169
6	Cornell University	165	167	167
6	Vanderbilt University	163	167	169
7	Southern California, University of	163	166	167
7	Texas At Austin, University of	163	166	168
7	Washington University	160	166	167
8	Boston University	161	165	166
8	Emory University	157	165	166
8	George Washington University	159	165	167
9	Alabama, University of	157	164	166
9	Boston College	160	164	165
9	California-Irvine, University of	162	164	166
9	Minnesota, University of	156	164	167
9	Washington And Lee University	160	164	165
9	Washington, University of	161	164	165
9	William And Mary Law School	161	164	165
10	Fordham University	161	163	165
10	Georgia, University of	158	163	164
10	Notre Dame, University of	160	163	165
11	Arizona State University	158	162	164
11	California-Davis, University of	159	162	164
11	Colorado, University of	158	162	164
11	Indiana University - Bloomington	154	162	164
11	Southern Methodist University	157	162	163
11	Wake Forest University	157	162	164
12	Brigham Young University	158	161	164
12	George Mason University	157	161	163
12	Iowa, University of	158	161	163
12	North Carolina, University of	159	161	163
12	Northeastern University	153	161	162
12	Richmond, University of	157	161	163
12	Wisconsin, University of	156	161	163
13	Arizona, University of	155	160	163
13	Baylor University	156	160	162
13	Cardozo School of Law	156	160	162
13	Florida, University of	156	160	162
13	Houston, University of	157	160	162
13	Illinois, University of	157	160	163
13	Ohio State University	157	160	162
13	Pepperdine University	154	160	162
13	Temple University	156	160	162
13	Tulane University	156	160	162
14	Brooklyn Law School	157	159	161
14	California-Hastings, University of	155	159	163
14	Case Western Reserve University	155	159	161
14	Florida State University	157	159	161
14	Georgia State University	157	159	160
14	Loyola Marymount University-Los Angeles	156	159	161
14	Maryland, University of	154	159	162
14	San Diego, University of	156	159	161
14	Utah, University of	155	159	161
15	Chapman University	155	158	160
15	Chicago-Kent College of Law	153	158	159
15	Cincinnati, University of	155	158	159
15	Connecticut, University of	154	158	160
15	Denver, University of	154	158	160
15	Lewis And Clark College	154	158	161
15	Loyola University-Chicago	155	158	160
15	Nevada - Las Vegas, University of	154	158	160
15	Oregon, University of	156	158	161
15	Penn State University	154	158	160
15	Pittsburgh, University of	154	158	161
15	Rutgers University-Camden	154	158	160
16	American University	153	157	159
16	Hawaii, University of	155	157	159
16	Kentucky, University of	154	157	160
16	Miami, University of	155	157	160
16	Michigan State University	152	157	159
16	Missouri, University of	155	157	160
16	New Hampshire University of	153	157	159
16	Oklahoma, University of	155	157	159
16	Rutgers University-Newark	154	157	159
16	Santa Clara University	155	157	160
16	Seton Hall University	152	157	159
16	Tennessee, University of	153	157	160
16	Villanova University	153	157	160
16	Wayne State University	153	157	159
17	Florida International University	151	156	158
17	Kansas, University of	153	156	159
17	Louisiana State University	153	156	159
17	Nebraska, University of	152	156	159
17	Seattle University	153	156	158
17	St. John's University	153	156	158
18	Belmont University	152	155	159
18	Drexel University	152	155	157
18	Louisville, University of	152	155	157
18	Maine, University of	152	155	158
18	Marquette University	151	155	157
18	Mississippi, University of	152	155	157
18	Saint Louis University	151	155	158
18	South Carolina, University of	153	155	158
18	St. Thomas, University of (Minnesota)	150	155	159
18	Syracuse University	152	155	156
18	Texas Tech University	152	155	158
18	Tulsa, University of	152	155	158
19	Arkansas, Fayetteville, University of	152	154	157
19	Buffalo-SUNY, University of	150	154	158
19	Catholic University of America	151	154	157
19	City University of New York	153	154	157
19	DePaul University	151	154	156
19	Gonzaga University	152	154	156
19	Hofstra University	151	154	157
19	Indiana University - Indianapolis	150	154	157
19	McGeorge School of Law	151	154	159
19	Montana, University of	151	154	157
19	New Mexico, University of	151	154	158
19	Quinnipiac University	151	154	157
19	Stetson University	152	154	158
19	William Mitchell College of Law	149	154	157
20	Akron, University Of	150	153	156
20	Albany Law School of Union University	150	153	156
20	Drake University	149	153	158
20	Hamline University	149	153	156
20	Memphis, University of	151	153	155
20	Regent University	150	153	157
20	San Francisco, University of	151	153	158
20	Washburn University	149	153	155
20	West Virginia University	151	153	157
21	Baltimore, University of	150	152	155
21	Campbell University	151	152	156
21	Cleveland State University	150	152	155
21	Creighton University	149	152	155
21	Duquesne University	150	152	155
21	Idaho, University of	148	152	156
21	Mercer University	148	152	154
21	Missouri-Kansas City, University of	150	152	155
21	Northern Kentucky University	149	152	155
21	Southwestern Law School	150	152	155
21	Texas A&M University	150	152	155
21	Toledo, University of	148	152	155
22	Savannah Law School	148	151	155
22	Arkansas, Little Rock, University of	147	151	155
22	California Western School of Law	148	151	154
22	Detroit Mercy, University of	147	151	156
22	Howard University	148	151	154
22	Liberty University	148	151	155
22	Loyola University-New Orleans	147	151	154
22	New York Law School	149	151	153
22	Pace University	147	151	153
22	South Texas College of Law	148	151	154
22	St. Mary’s University	148	151	153
22	Vermont Law School	147	151	155
22	Willamette University	148	151	154
22	Wyoming, University of	149	151	155
23	Charleston School of Law	146	150	153
23	Elon University	146	150	153
23	Golden Gate University	147	150	153
23	Northern Illinois University	146	150	153
23	Ohio Northern University	145	150	152
23	Samford University	148	150	155
23	Southern Illinois University-Carbondale	147	150	153
23	Western State College of Law	148	150	152
23	Widener University-Delaware	147	150	152
24	District of Columbia	147	149	152
24	John Marshall Law School - Atlanta	146	149	152
24	John Marshall Law School - Chicago	146	149	152
24	Mississippi College	145	149	153
24	New England Law | Boston	145	149	153
24	Nova Southeastern University	146	149	152
24	Oklahoma City University	145	149	153
24	Roger Williams University	146	149	154
24	Suffolk University	145	149	153
24	Western New England University	145	149	152
24	Whittier Law School	145	149	152
25	Capital University	145	148	151
25	Dayton, University of	145	148	150
25	Massachusetts Dartmouth, University of	145	148	151
25	North Dakota, University of	145	148	153
25	Touro College	145	148	150
25	Widener University-Harrisburg	145	148	151
26	Barry University	145	147	151
26	La Verne, University of	146	147	152
26	South Dakota, University of	144	147	150
26	St. Thomas University (Florida)	145	147	150
27	Ave Maria School of Law	141	146	148
27	Faulkner University	142	146	151
27	Florida A&M University	144	146	150
27	Thomas Jefferson School of Law	143	146	149
28	Appalachian School of Law	143	145	149
28	North Carolina Central University	142	145	149
28	Puerto Rico, University of	142	145	149
28	Thomas M. Cooley Law School	141	145	150
29	Arizona Summit Law School	141	144	148
29	Charlotte School of Law	141	144	149
29	Florida Coastal School of Law	141	144	148
29	Southern University	142	144	148
29	Texas Southern University	141	144	147
30	Valparaiso University	141	143	148
31	Inter American University Of Puerto Rico	135	138	142
32	Pontifical Catholic University Of P.R.	132	135	139