LSAT January or Februrary

[Eathwen]

Hello, due to personal reasons I couldn't take the LSAT in the fall. Would taking the LSAT in februrary vs January put me at a disadvantage? I'm not sure what date is best to take it. Applying to Queens, Western, York. 3.82 B2, 3.79 cGpa. .

[scooter]

Earlier would be better, but if you feel you're going to score lower in January then it would be better to have the extra study time and do February. 

[Eathwen]

4 minutes ago, scooter said:

Earlier would be better, but if you feel you're going to score lower in January then it would be better to have the extra study time and do February. 

What disadvantage do you think doing it in februrary will give me? 

[MapleLeafs]

1 hour ago, Eathwen said:

What disadvantage do you think doing it in februrary will give me? 

It's better to write in January as it gives schools an extra month to review your application. I was in a similar boat, where I applied without an LSAT score and kind of took a risk. However, your GPA is good so I think as long as you score around 160 you should get accepted somewhere. 

Edited October 23, 2021 by MapleLeafs

[Renerik]

1 hour ago, Eathwen said:

Applying to Queens, Western, York.

The February LSAT is the last acceptable session for Western and Queens, but Osgoode (York) only accepts up to the January LSAT. So not writing in January would disqualify you from York.

[GGrievous]

It's never ideal to take January, it puts you under review later when spots are taken and even worse if some personal reasons come up again and you aren't able to take it, or if something happens during the test and you don't get the score you were hoping for you're SOL until next cycle. I would take the one before January and use the January date as a back up. If you have to you have to, but it's risky. 

Edited October 23, 2021 by Barry

[scooter]

40 minutes ago, Barry said:

I would take the one before January and use the January date as a back up.

At this point, I don't think this is an option for OP.

1 hour ago, Eathwen said:

What disadvantage do you think doing it in februrary will give me? 

@Eathwen, the admissions committees will begin reviewing applications once the deadline closes on November 1st. However, yours will not be reviewed until you have your LSAT score. Writing in January or February means that some people who already wrote the LSAT will be admitted before your file is reviewed. The advantage of writing in January is you are getting reviewed earlier, and in theory there are more spots available in the program at that point.

Like I said though, a good LSAT score submitted one month later is probably better than an earlier but worse LSAT score. 

[Eathwen]

@scooter

@Barry

@Renerik

@MapleLeafs

Thank you for all your responses, I will keep all of this in mind. Sincerely I thank you all. I was unable to do the test earlier and plan on doing it this time no matter what (unless of course it is highly probable my result is catastrophic)

Edited October 23, 2021 by Eathwen