<p>Well, the good news is that if I retake in February, I still meet even the early decision deadlines at most of the schools I am considering. All of them also said that they don’t average scores, but just take the highest. This made me decide against cancelling my December scores.</p>
<p>I’m not viewing Santa Clara as a realistic chance unless my December score is above 150, and even then it’ll be a tough squeeze even for the night program. I’m mostly applying just to see if I luck out. I won’t even try if I can’t get past 150.</p>
<p>I’m pretty sure I can prepare better because I’ll have a month and a half off of school before the February test. I didn’t prepare well for this December test due to the stress of school causing me to put off studying, and the October test I didn’t because I had to deal with an unexpected family emergency over the summer.</p>
<p>Taking a year off of school isn’t an option for me. I have student loans I need to worry about. If I take time off, they’ll go into repayment after 6 months of being out of school. This would require me to get a job just to pay them off, and that’ll start a cycle that cause most people to never go back to school. I’ll consider your advice if I can get them deferred longer, though.</p>
<p>I’m looking into non-ABA schools. Some of them aren’t that bad, and they are accredited by the State Bar of California. I’m really using them as a stepping stone to transfer to a better school later on. Santa Clara doesn’t require the LSAT for transfer students. Even if I don’t eventually transfer, I’ll still have completed my goal of getting a JD. It just might take an extra year.</p>
<p>As far as financial aid goes, being an independent student only makes my income lower, since I don’t have any income outside of my financial aid.</p>