Tips for Seniors and Alumni Applying to Law School
Start planning early—ideally in January of the year in which you plan to apply. This will ensure that you have an adequate amount of time to prepare for the LSAT (ideally spending 180-200 hours or more preparing), and have time to investigate fee waivers, scholarships and research law schools using the criteria that are important to YOU.
That does NOT mean it’s a good idea to be one of the first to submit your application! You may read on Reddit that it’s advantageous to apply as soon as applications open—in September or October—law schools may even encourage you to do this. It was true a few years ago that some applicants who applied in September and early October were admitted when, had they applied later in the cycle, they probably would not have been. That was the first year that law schools experienced a big uptick in applications. That year, applications were down until late December – January and by then many law schools had admitted students and at the end, wound up overenrolling their classes. They are not making this mistake again!! Of course they’d like to see applications come in early, but that does not translate into an applicant receiving a decision early, or a more favorable decision than if they applied in late November or December. The only people getting admitted in September and December are the ones who are “clear admits”—it’s almost as if they are being admitted to their safeties, not their dream schools. So please, be realistic and strategic: don’t put undo pressure on yourself or your letter writers and more importantly, do not sacrifice the quality of your application by focusing on being first in the door. Do not sacrifice improving your application for the sake of applying early.
Law schools admit students on a rolling basis. Unlike the undergrad application process, it’s usually important to apply well in advance of the application deadline. Well in advance means late-November to mid-December. Do not sacrifice improving your application for the sake of applying early. There is very little reason to apply in September or October unless a school is clearly a safety for you. This advice applies only to selective law schools. There are many law schools where an application submitted after December is perfectly fine. See me for questions.
Become financially literate about law school financial aid and student debt. Financial aid is often awarded based on what schools deem “academic merit” meaning your LSAT score and undergraduate GPA. However, this can be nuanced and I can help you strategize where to apply. Ideally, you want to apply to schools that are safeties, targets and reaches. Most students apply to 10-12 schools.
Pay attention to a school’s bar passage rate and employment outcomes for full-time, long-term bar passage required jobs. You may believe that you will be on the right side of these statistics, but understanding what they mean and how schools compare is important.
BE FLEXIBLE WITH YOUR PLANS. If you can realistically expect to score higher on the LSAT if you spend more time preparing, then be prepared to wait a year and apply in the next admission cycle. You may save yourself thousands of dollars in tuition and get into a law school that you are excited to attend. Waiting a year will not have any significant impact on your legal career, but it may on your long-term financial well-being.
Read and utilize these three resources
AccessLex – an essential resource for interactive lessons, webinars, worksheets, checklists and free one-on-one financial strategy coaching offered by a well-respected, qualified organization. And it’s all free!
Law School Wizard (home of LST on LSAC website)—the go-to site for researching schools as well as coming up with your application strategy. It will even estimate your anticipated scholarship and admissions chances based upon the info you provide. You much create a free LSAC account to use.
Law School Admissions Council – publisher of the LSAT, portal you much use to submit your application components and apply to law school, a clearinghouse for all the pieces of the application process.
The most important thing: Whatever decisions you receive from law school admissions does not define you, your worth, or your prospects for career success and fulfillment. Seriously. I have heard from many admissions officers who have turned down hundreds of students who could have been admitted and succeeded at their schools. And it was not that the class they did admit was so much better qualified or is destined to become “better” lawyers. You probably know people from high school who did not get admitted to Bowdoin that you thought would and nonetheless have gone on to have a great college experience. Whatever self-care and compassion look like for you, please practice it in your law school application process. Creating that space to separate who you are from the contents of an admissions decision is great practice for living a well-balanced life ahead.