Whispering-Dachshund '24–'25 app cycle Class of 2028 class year

Don’t be like me. Seriously… I am the poster-child of how NOT to go about this process. I chose to get around 1.5 years of work experience after college, thinking I could reach my goal LSAT (170) in a year while working in a high-stress, full-time job. I was very, VERY wrong. I knew I didn’t want to wait another year to apply to law school, so I gave the LSAT my all. I used 7Sage and studied when I got home at night, during my lunch break, and on weekends. I brute-forced the test by using up all 5 administrations, landing a 161 at my highest despite high-160s PTs and perfect sections in practice. Essentially, I held on to my chips for too long, and at the last minute, I foolishly bet them all.

Now, hindsight is 20/20. My advice to you is if you have a goal score at/above 165, and your diagnostic is a 152 or lower, PLEASE give yourself a year to study (if no job or part-time) or TWO years to study (if full-time). (Obviously, be careful with burnout. It will be challenging yet manageable if you can find healthy ways to keep your head, e.g., exercise, no alcohol, 8 hours of sleep, nutritious food, etc. Train for this like a legitimate boxing match.) And ONLY take the test 1) when you are scoring around/just above your goal score, 2) if you are pretty close, or 3) if you need at least a solid benchmark to get apps in and study just a bit more for an upcoming administration. Also, apply early. They say schools are holding cards closer to the chest nowadays, but that’s only sometimes true. Don’t risk it. Get that high score, apply early, and get good letters of recommendation (something I lucked out on) by July.

I know I’m going to be okay. If you’re having a difficult time with this, please know that I struggled with this too. My final tip is to believe in yourself. It’s cheesy, but it is so incredibly real and, worse, easy to forget. If you don’t believe in yourself, you’ll end up only scoring 9 points higher on your LSAT compared to the diagnostic you took a year before. And no one wants that.

Good luck to you. Go with God.