Schmooves1 '23–'24 app cycle Class of 2027 class year

Not a ton of wisdom here you can’t find on reddit or podcasts or whatnot. Don’t be afraid to retake your LSAT. Shoot your shot. Only apply places you’d be happy to attend. Disregard rankings, or better yet create your own: https://myrankbyspivey.com

I guess my only real insights are for fellow low-income applicants. Don’t count yourself out of a T-14 because you cant afford an LSAT tutor, 7Sage course, or admissions consultant. Put in the work it takes to achieve mastery on your own. Utilize every free or low-cost tool at your disposal–Khan Academy, interviews/blogs with or from admissions officers, your local library’s LSAT prep books, etc. I know Kaplan doesn’t have the best rep for LSAT preparation but my library had a giant Kaplan prep book that contained a ton of practice problems with descriptive solutions and it was super helpful even though I didn’t use their techniques.

My LSAT regimen–4.5 months, started in the summer before the application cycle.
First month: Khan Academy only, practiced 20 minutes daily with a longer hour-ish session twice a week. Only took two practice tests during this month–my diagnostic and one near the end- Second month: Bought a used logic games bible for $20 since Khan academy kept giving me repeated games. Turned my focus mainly to logic games since it was my area of highest growth potential

• Third month: Took all four free tests on LawHub, took my first real LSAT. Got a 168. Was pretty happy, but my highest practice score was in the mid 170s so I decided to retake in November even though it would push my applications later into the cycle.
• Fourth/Fifth month: Paid like a hundred bucks for LawHub advantage and began drilling entire tests at least once a week as well as only taking a logic games section from one of the earlier exams on Lawhub multiple times a week. Retook and got my 176.

Things I would do differently if I could do it all again:
Take more time with my apps, tailor each one to the school better. Michigan was always my first choice and that seemed to be the only school jumping out of its seat to accept me I think as a result of writing a very Michigan-specific application. As the cycle wound down and I got more WLs from top schools I couldn’t help but think about what I could’ve done better with those apps. - I am still thrilled about the result even though I almost certainly underperformed my stats. I had no solid softs to speak of though, and if I did it all again I would’ve focused more on experiences ahead of time and developed a well rounded application instead of just a stat-heavy one. Happy to walk away with only two R’s, but getting waitlist after waitlist was a little mentally taxing.