Categories: Advice, Law School Admission Deadlines, LSAT; Rolling Admissions, Rolling Admissions, Starting in January
Tags: applying to law school in December, applying to law school in January, law school application, law school application timeline
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For those of you who just took the LSAT, or those of you who have simply been procrastinating, here is a plan to help you move through the application process as speedily as possible without freaking out that you are late in the game.
December 5,6,7: Brainstorm ideas for your personal statement. Review the following resources before getting started:
December 8,9: Make sure all letters of rec are received by LSAC or in the mail. Same with transcripts.
December 10 – 16 Fine tune your personal statement draft. This may include using the services of a law school admission consultant, but if not then be sure to at least have someone proofread it before you submit it. December 17-19 Revisit your resume.
December 20-23 – If you are going to need an addendum to explain a moral character infraction or undergraduate GPA or other episode, work on it now. Here is Chapter 9 of The Law School Admission Game, which covers how to explain weaknesses in a way that doesn’t open up a can of worms. If you plan to write an LSAT addendum, you should wait until you have your December score. Otherwise you don’t know how to spin your argument.
Late December/early January – when LSAT scores come out, come up with your schools list and create a spreadsheet of each school, the essay prompt(s) and requirements, and start working your way down them. I generally recommend doing the easier ones (those without optional or secondary essays) first. Aim to do 2 applications per day. Again, make sure to proofread them – especially the first one you fill out – so that errors don’t sneak in and ruin all of your hard work on everything else.
I’m happy to take questions!
Categories: Law School Admission Deadlines, LSAT, Rolling Admissions
Tags: Applying to Law School with a December LSAT score, December LSAT
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We’re two weeks away from the December LSAT. This is make it or break it time. If you aren’t hitting in the range where you need to be hitting, you might want to consider waiting and taking the February or June LSAT and applying early in the next admission cycle rather than late in this one with a score you’re unhappy with. As I write more extensively about in The Law School Admission Game, February is a less than ideal time to take the LSAT for admission the same year. Of course, applications are down overall this year so it is less lethal this year than in others, but only for those who have scores that schools will find competitive. It’s not the way to get into a reach school.
For those of you who take the December LSAT, here’s how you should plan out your time in the next 6 weeks:
In late November: make sure transcripts and letters of rec are on their way (hopefully received) by LSAC/CAS.
December 3: LSAT
December 4-25: work on and finalize your personal statement, resume, optional essays and addenda (just not an LSAT addendum because you can’t explain your LSAT history without knowing your most recent score).
Late December: once you have your score, finalize your schools list and start filling out applications. There is no rush over winter break: law schools are closed and no one is moving your file around to review it.
Early January: submit applications. Aim to be done in the first two weeks of January.
This is absolutely a strategy for success – people get into amazing law schools on this timeline, so don’t panic. This post should put you at ease about your decision to take the December LSAT if you are confident you can raise your score (or if you need a score on the board, of course). Let me know if you have any questions.
Categories: Advice, Law School Admission Deadlines, Law School Admission Trends, Rolling Admissions
Tags: law school discussion forum, top law schools, waiting for law school admission decisions
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I’m hearing from a lot of my law school admission consulting clients today about their aggravation with the waiting game. They’ve applied to law school and they just want me to tell them where they’ll get into law school, to devise a mathematical calculation that proves where they’ll be admitted and where they won’t.
I am happy to spend time talking with these clients and to let them know that there are good days and bad days in this process, that one school’s rejection doesn’t mean that every other school ranked higher will also result in a rejection, to tell people they are strong enough to handle this. One of my most professional, business-oriented clients today told me today that this lack of predictability meant the system was messed up, and since I know he reads this blog (he often quotes my own advice back to me) I wanted to share what I didn’t get to say – or think to say – during our conversation:
The unpredictable nature of getting into law school, the fact that your index alone does not dictate your end result, is the reason to LOVE the system. For those of you with a split – high GPA/low LSAT or low LSAT/high GPA, or just those who apply to reach schools, the fact that there isn’t a numerical calculation that mandates your response means you have a SHOT. It means you get the opportunity to show who you are beyond the numbers, it means the hard work you put into your essays, resume, letters of rec, addenda, etc. have the possibility of paying off.
This is the time of year when people start hearing from law schools, and when you start by hearing a rejection it can be deflating, or at least feel deflating. But remember, this is just a bad day. That’s all it is. Use it as an excuse to treat yourself to a movie or mocha mint latte, but don’t start applying to law schools furiously out of fear. Be confident in the fact that you put serious thought into your schools list and hold tight. Thanks to the Internet and cell phone age, you could hear any minute that you’ve been admitted to law school. Just hang tight. And, when that happens, please do celebrate! Another movie! Another mocha mint latte! Don’t just say, “ok, Next????” or “Where’s my scholarship???”
If you let yourself get psyched out during this process, how will you be strong when you’re a 1L surrounded by competitive people who all seem to be more brilliant, more on top of things, and more likely to succeed than you because they claim to know all the secrets of success? How will you deal with waiting for law school exam grades, job offers, bar examination results? Use this time as your dress rehearsal for those future waiting games. You can do this.
Categories: Application Timeline, Law School Admission Deadlines, LSAT; Rolling Admissions, Rolling Admissions
Tags: law school applications, Rolling Admissions
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It’s September 4th and it’s official. A Fall 2010 law school applicant has sent me an application to review before submitting it. The Fall 2010 application season officially begins!
I hesitate to post this because I know it will make many of my readers paranoid – ‘OMG! I need to submit my applications THIS week! Who cares if the LSAT is 3 weeks away?! I’m mortgaging my future by not applying RIGHT THIS MINUTE.”
Let me assure you, any thoughts like this are absolutely extreme and unnecessary. I dedicate an entire chapter in my book to “Working the Rolling Admission Process” but the important thing to read right now is:
“…do you need to apply on the first possible day? No. Should you? No. Here’s why: first, law school admission officers are off recruiting people to apply to their law schools.They aren’t spending time in September reviewing very many files.” The Law School Admission Game: Play Like an Expert, p. 48.
Therefore, don’t sacrifice quality for speed. Take a few weeks to build a strong application and then submit it. Do things right; this is much more important than being the first application submitted.
In the case of the client who just sent me his first four applications, I can assure you -his materials are quality in addition to quick.
Categories: Advice, Application Timeline, Rolling Admissions
Tags: law school admission, law school application
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It’s been a scary process to redesign and redirect the Law School Expert blog. So please beg my pardon while I launch a few experiments over the next few days to see how things are working.
I’ll try to combine my experiments with pithy insights into the law school application process for you.
Today’s tip: If you haven’t heard from a school and you applied 6-8 weeks ago, follow up with a single phone call to inquire.
Categories: Rolling Admissions
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What should you do with your February 2008 LSAT score? Are you hoping to apply for Fall 2008? You’ll probably be ok at safety schools but anywhere that you’re mid-range or reaching is going to end up with a wait list response at best. This is the joy of rolling admissions.
It might be a better strategy to wait until Fall 2009 entry. You can really work to create impressive applications, strengthen your LORs and resumes, improve your GPA, and apply early (September/October) for the next admission cycle. This can definitely help you to be a more competitive applicant.
If you decide to do this, don’t put law school on the back-burner. Be proactive and get yourself on a time-line. The summer will be here before you know it.
P.S. I am currently accepting law school admission consulting clients for Fall 2009 and will accept fewer than 150 this year. Sign up early.
P.P.S. Trends I’m noticing: The following schools seem to be gunning it for improvement in rankings (based on the fact that they are turning down people this year that I think they would have admitted last year): Boston College, George Washington University, Northeastern, and George Mason.
Categories: Rolling Admissions
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This is one of the best parts of my job as a law school admission coach – hearing back from my clients when there is good news to share. This week, some of the law schools that admitted my wonderful clients include:
Fordham
Boalt Hall (UC Berkeley)
U. New Mexico
Baylor
ASU
Rutgers
Villanova
Baltimore
Barry
St. Mary’s
And, if you applied in September/October and haven’t yet heard, don’t worry. Letters are just starting to go out…. This list is just the tip of the iceberg and I look forward to reporting your successes one day very soon!
P.S. For everyone out there who received a rejection letter from Georgetown this week, know that you’re not alone. They must have sent them out in a big batch this weekend….
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Ann K. Levine, Esq., former director of law school admissions for two ABA approved law schools, is a law school admission consultant and owner of Law School Expert,
