Law School Admissions

It's almost the end of February, and you have all the time in the world to deal with your law school applications, right? Wrong. By the time we hear from people in the fall, or even as early as June, they've missed a lot of lead time to get their application strategy and logistics in order. Here are ten things to start thinking about now:

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At Harvard, where the author got her law degree, she shows up on the business-school campus and asks random students if they know any introverts.

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I'm sure this is just about the last thing in the world you want to be doing right now, but it's a good time to start pulling your documents together to prepare for your law school financial aid applications.

Here are some interesting stats from a recent post by Equal Justice Works:

It's no surprise... that most law students borrow to finance their legal education (88.

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In the past, workers with average skills, doing an average job, could earn an average lifestyle.

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I'm no longer surprised by the number of law school applicants who report that their professors make them write their own recommendation letters.

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Around this time of year, many applicants are hearing back from law schools. While a final decision is usually welcome (even a rejection eliminates the frustration of waiting...), there are some situations where a school's response does nothing but add to your uncertainty.

Typically, these "limbo" responses from schools fall into two categories: waitlists and holds.

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What's the ideal LSAT timeline? Your mileage may vary, and your LSAT instructor will be able to give you advice customized to your individual situation. But in a perfect world, here's how I like to work backwards from the end goal:

Plan to submit your applications in early November (or even sooner, but early November is plenty early).

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The holidays can be a mixed bag for law school applicants.

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It's Tough Love Season* here Chez Ivey, and right around the holidays, it's time for my annual public service announcement to applicants, wherein I say some version of "STOP ACTING LIKE A CRAZY PERSON." (All-caps this year!)

Last year I wrote a whole blog post about how waiting is the hardest part, with a Tom Petty/Eddie Vedder video and everything!

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What's the fastest way to tank your legal career before it even starts? Being found guilty by LSAC of "misconduct or irregularity" in the application process.

LSAC has a helpful page on its website explaining what that means. In part:

What constitutes misconduct or an irregularity?

The submission, even by mistake, as part of the law school admission process of any information that is false, inconsistent, or misleading, or the omission of information that may result in a false or misleading conclusion, or the violation of any regulation governing the law school admission process, including any violation of LSAT test center regulations.

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A short post for today, but an important reminder this time of year for all the law school procrastinators out there:

Talking about doing something is much easier than actually doing it.

If you've been talking about your applications since September but are only now getting around to writing your first drafts, that's a sign that you're looking for excuses not to get them done. Some tough love:

• Stop spending all that time on discussion boards.

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At a time when the media and even Congress are scrutinizing claims by law schools about their graduates' employability and earning power, these application questions caught my eye:

Student Indebtedness

1. Please list all of your outstanding educational loans. List amount, type, lender name, and total amount.

2. Have you ever defaulted on any educational loan?

Law school applications don't typically ask you to provide information about your indebtendess (except in the separate, optional financial aid application).

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Take a walk down memory lane with me.

In hindsight, my biggest frustration when I applied to law school many years ago was something that should have been easy to check off the list: the Dean's Certification.

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I've written before that in your application essays, you must answer the question they're asking you, not the one you wish they had asked. Here's a related problem I often see: Rather than ignoring the question entirely, you might answer only part of the question and ignore the harder (and more interesting) bits.

Here are two examples, one from the MBA world, and one from the law school world:

• "What matters most to you, and why?" (Stanford GSB)

• "Say more about your interest in the University of Michigan Law School. What do you believe Michigan has to offer to you and you to Michigan?" (Michigan Law School)

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If you've already submitted your applications, you're probably checking their status at your various schools. Perhaps a bit compulsively? That's OK, as long as you're checking your status online and not bugging a real person on the other end every six minutes.

This time of year, the most important status update for you to confirm is that your application has been marked complete.

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My applications are out, and already I have a couple of answers back (both admits, thankfully). Since I have no idea what I'm doing, I thought you could answer two etiquette questions for me: 

1. Is it acceptable to send a short thank you email to the admissions dean after receiving your decision? Or is that generally not advised?

 2.

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I had an interesting conversation recently with a big-wig at an LSAT prep company. He observed that many people applying to law school are highly verbal, and one of the ways they have been able to get ahead in life was in part by sweet-talking their way around problems. These people with great verbal facility then sometimes hit a wall that is new to them: they can't sweet-talk their way into success on the LSAT. The LSAT is cruel (and ruthlessly effective) that way.

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Picking up where I left off (Big Rule #1 for writing your law school essays), and continuing with the larger theme of learning how to decode your application instructions:

Big Rule # 2: Identify the Right Essay Type and Stay True to It.

The second most important thing you need to know when approaching your required law school application essays is that you need to pay attention to the essay question and make sure you are answering that question—not that other school’s question, and not the question you wish were being asked.

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Are the character count limitations in some of your law school applications killing you? If you are struggling with instructions that tell you to list your extracurricular activities or honors/awards (including description!) in 500 characters or less, you are not alone. Here are some real examples:

• List your important scholastic or academic honors including scholarships, fellowships, prizes, honor societies, etc. (maximum characters 500)

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Good people can give you bad advice about your applications? Really? Says who?

The dean of admissions at Stanford's business school, for one. "Good People Can Give Bad Advice" is a headline in a post by Dean Derrick Bolton on Stanford GSB's admissions website, and I'm sharing his advice here because (1) it's great advice and (2) it applies just as well to law school and even college admissions. (Did you read that recent NYT article about the race to line up fancy and expensive summer experiences in service of college applications? If so, read on.)

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Here's a question frequently asked by law school applicants, with variations on a theme:

My LSAT instructor says I have to write about public service in my personal statement.

My mom says I have to explain why I switched majors in my personal statement.

My dad says I should write about The Law in my personal statement.

My friend who's a 2L says I have to write about a big dilemma in my personal statement.

Do you agree?

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I took my first LSAT last year in Oct and got 157...which was disappointing.  I honestly didn't put much effort into studying, so I retook it this June and got 167. I'm still not happy with the score, because I got most of the questions wrong in the Reading Comp section, and I feel like I can improve a lot more, since I only got 1 or 2 wrong on the Games and Reasoning sections.  I want to take it one more time, but my concern is that it might not be viewed favorably by the schools. I have a 3.65 GPA and with the score of 167, it seems like I don't really have a good chance at the T14 schools. 

If I do set my mind on retaking, I know I can put in the time and effort to improve the score. 

How do schools view 3 LSAT scores? If I do end up taking it again, at least what score should I be shooting for to get into T14?  

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