Ten Things I Wish I Knew as a Law School Applicant
If I could talk to myself one year ago...
It’s impossible to think that only one year ago, I was applying to law school. While this has felt like the fastest year of my life, the enormity of change and growth I’ve experienced also makes it seem as though a hell of a lot more time has passed. If you’re in the thick of law school admissions, I promise you it will be over before you know it!
Whether you’re applying in this cycle or later on, I wanted to share tidbits of advice I wish I’d received as I applied myself. Law school admissions is a frustratingly gate-kept process that just about made me crazy — it was months of feeling like someone was hiding the ball from me and pining for the answers. While there are no hard-and-fast rules to this whirlwind of a process, there are certainly things you can know to make it both easier on yourself and more rewarding.
Applying early in the cycle isn’t always worth it.
Law school admissions are rolling, and so it is generally advised to apply as early as possible in the cycle. In theory, the earlier you apply, the sooner admissions officers will read your application, and the sooner you’ll hear back. However, if applying earlier compromises — in any way — the quality of your application, don’t do it! Your most thoughtful and detailed application will outperform a rushed application, every time.
The same goes for the LSAT. Lots of applicants (myself included) find themselves at the crossroads of deciding whether to apply earlier in the cycle with a lower LSAT score or, after retesting, later on with a higher score. I learned the hard way that a higher score matters infinitely more than an early application. After all, law schools don’t report when in the admissions cycle their 1L students applied — they report what their median LSAT and GPAs are. So no, a 170 in September does NOT equal a 175 in January. If you have it in you to take another test, I would definitely encourage it.
As a final note on this point, I’d also add that applying “early” in the cycle — what I would consider to be anytime before Thanksgiving — does not necessarily guarantee an earlier response. In my days of intense Reddit-lurking (more on that later…), I read posts from hundreds of applicants who applied in October and didn’t hear back until March or April. It’s a crap-shoot, and you can only control the quality of what you submit. Lean into that control and deliver your best application.
What you might think is an insignificant accomplishment, job, or interest is likely very meaningful to admissions officers.