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Looming LSAT Deadlines Mean Decisions

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If you plan on taking the December LSAT, you should know that some important deadlines are coming up:

Test Center Change by Mail, Phone, or Fax November 14, 2014
Test Center Change Online November 16, 2014
Test Date Change by Mail, Phone, or Fax November 14, 2014
Test Date Change Online November 16, 2014
LSAT Registration Refunds (partial only) November 14, 2014
Withdraw LSAT Registration – No Refund December 5, 2014

If you decide to withdraw or reschedule your LSAT, your next chance to take an LSAT is February 2015 – probably too late for this application cycle. Even if a law school accepts February 2015 LSAT scores for the current cycle, you may be at a disadvantage because very few open spots will be left, enabling law schools to be more selective.

Postponing your law school application by a year can be very depressing, especially if you’ve been studying very hard for several months now. Personally, I would wait until December 5th to decide whether or not to take the December LSAT. Sure, you’ll lose your registration fee, but at least you’ll have a more current, more representative practice LSAT score to inform your decision. Waiting until December 5th to withdraw won’t make you look bad. Just make sure you actually contact LSAC to withdraw your registration. Not showing up will make you look bad to law schools.

You’re probably hitting a plateau right now in your score improvement and bailing on the December LSAT could look like a good idea. I’ve seen plenty of students plateau at this point in their LSAT prep only to break through in the final week before the LSAT. So keep that in mind.

The other tough choice in the deadline list is test center change. Here’s an old, but probably still relevant review of Blueprint area LSAT test centers. In general, you’ll want to take your LSAT at a law school. These test centers will feature big desks, quiet environments, and law student proctors. Almost every LSAT administration brings horror stories about LSAT test centers and their proctors, so do some research before your commit to one.

Once those decisions are in the rearview, the only thing left to do is study. Hurray.