My (basically) Seven-Week Law School Application Cycle

I can't believe it's over!

Law school has been the plan for as long as I can remember, albeit my brief adolescent resolve to become a plastic surgeon (thank you, McSteamy). Pursuing a legal career is intrinsic to my identity, a natural response when asked the typical “what do you want to do with your life?”

My longstanding goal to become a lawyer started to materialize in the winter of my second year at university, when I realized that LSAT studying was an approaching reality. I stared into the blue light of my computer for hours on multiple (multiple) nights, researching law schools and learning the lore of law school admissions. As a textbook type-A, I planned a general timeline for the following two years: I would dedicate my summer to LSAT studying, test at the end of it, prepare my law school application materials the following summer, and apply as soon as applications opened in September 2023.

Law school admissions are rolling, so I knew that for my best shot at acceptance, I would want to apply as early as possible in the admissions cycle. The cycle spans from September to March, and the sooner applicants send their applications in, the faster they should expect to hear back.

It’s hilarious to think I had it all figured out in the winter of 2022. Little did I know I was strapping into a rollercoaster — not a direct — ride to law school.

As you might recall from last week’s post, my goal to take the LSAT once did not hold. I took it five times, the final in January 2024, months after I planned to apply to law school. I applied to most of my schools on January 31st, within the hour of receiving my score.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. I’ve gotten a few questions about how I decided where to apply to law school, as well as where I ended up applying, so I suppose we should start there.