What's Going On in the Admissions Cycle Right Now?

Schools are focusing a lot more time and attention on application review, so you’ll want to make sure to check your email and spam folder for updates to ensure that you aren’t missing any communications from schools on your list. Waves of decisions and other communications should be picking up over the next couple of weeks. During this time, scholarship committees are also beginning to review admitted applicant files (this process can take longer for higher-ranked schools, while scholarship notifications may accompany admissions decisions from other schools). Some schools may require admitted candidates to complete supplemental forms that help them assess financial need before scholarship offers are made.

If you’ve submitted your applications already, make sure that you check your online status checker to confirm that your applications are processed and completed. If something is missing, you’ll be able to see that on your status checker.

FAQs from Students

Is it too soon to send a letter of continued interest (LOCI)? Possibly! If your online status checker provided you with an estimated turnaround time and you are now beyond that estimate, you could send a LOCI now, but we’re still early in the cycle. Recruitment travel ended just before the holiday break, and so many AOs are still getting their bearings in the office. If you have an update that you can send to the school—notification of a new achievement, a new employment position, or otherwise, I’d start with sending that type of update before sending a LOCI. Preserve those LOCIs to use them strategically, as you can only express your interest so many times.

Helpful Link

Did you miss our conversation with Tracy Simmons, Assistant Dean of Admissions, Financial Aid and Diversity Initiatives from the University of San Diego School of Law? We’ve posted it to our podcast! Listen here.

Discussion

I applied early decision (ED) and was deferred/rolled over into the regular decision (RD) pool. What should I do now?

For schools that roll ED candidates into the regular pool for another review, these second reads are often done by a completely different admissions officer for an unbiased evaluation. During my time at Berkeley, we often admitted close to as many “rolled over” students as students who were admitted ED.

While many candidates opt not to make any application amendments, some others decide to be more proactive in providing updates to the admissions team—just in case additional information might be helpful in getting AOs to a “yes” decision. Always make sure that you pay close attention to any instructions provided by the school—often they will provide guidance on what kinds of updates they are open to considering. For ED programs with decisions communicated in early December, these “deferred/rolled over” candidates can often expect that they’ll have final decisions on their applications by the end of January, so there’s a very short window to submit new information. It is extremely possible that admissions teams will be reading application files over the holiday break.

Provide Transcript Updates. If you have an updated transcript that provides a positive boost to your GPA, make sure to get a fresh document sent to the LSAC so that they can calculate a new cumulative GPA for you. When that happens, the LSAC will automatically provide an updated CAS report, so there’s no need to reach out to the admissions office to notify them that a new document is coming unless you want to provide context for a drastic jump and highlight the boosted score.

Provide Résumé Updates. If you’ve changed jobs, received some new honors, have some anticipated summer work that you’d like to highlight, have been selected for publication, or have some leadership experience to share, an updated résumé is always a welcomed amendment to an application.

Supplement the Application with a January LSAT Score. Some schools will allow a rolled-over application to be held in anticipation of a January LSAT score before completing the RD review. This is certainly an opportunity to improve credentials, but I’d only recommend that you do this if you are extremely confident that you’re going to outperform your previous score. If you’re unsure, or your practice tests are telling you that your score is essentially the same, the last thing that you want to do is have a new score that undermines your previous performance.

If you do decide to retake the LSAT and either want to highlight the improved score or explain a dip in performance, it’s a good time to email the admissions office an LSAT addendum right when the scores are distributed.

Just remember, if you don’t have any updates, it’s okay not to do anything. Any school that expects updates will communicate that to you—the rest will prepare to review your application when it arrives in their queue.

7Sage Guide for the LSAT Writing Sample

Stressed about this LSAT requirement? We are offering a 100% free guide to the LSAT Writing section that explains what it is, how you can prepare for it, and whether it matters at all (hint: it does)! Access the guide here.

7Sage Live Classes With J.Y. Ping and Through December

Curriculum creator and 7Sage founder J.Y. Ping has been hosting a Live Class! His course will walk through every game, passage, and question in the newly released PT93. To access the remaining class, you must be subscribed to 7Sage Monthly + Live. J.Y.’s final class will be held on the following date (from 12:00-1:30 p.m. ET):

  • December: 7th

Additionally, Live classes during the month of December have received some scheduling changes. Click here for updates.

7Sage Rewards

We are pleased to announce our new rewards system! When you purchase a 7Sage product, you earn rewards that you can use throughout your law school journey. Redeem them for LSAT Tutoring, Admissions Consulting, or our Bar Prep course. For more information, and to learn how to view rewards you’ve earned, click here.

7Sage Webinar: Admissions Deans’ Roundtable Talk

On Tuesday, December 6 at 8 p.m. ET, join 7Sage admissions consultant Tajira McCoy for the first in a series of discussions with law school admissions deans across the country. For this first conversation, hear from the admissions deans of Boston College, Emory University, Loyola University Chicago, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the University of Richmond, and the University of San Diego, as we discuss the current application cycle, some of the areas where candidates miss the mark, and advice about application submissions in terms of timelines, LSAT scores, and scholarship consideration. Register here.

Recruitment Events

  • Arizona State is offering virtual JD information sessions every other Tuesday at 9:30 a.m. MT. Register here.
  • Boston College has canceled in-person events for this semester. They are offering virtual coffee chats with current student ambassadors, which will resume in January.
  • Columbia Law is offering a virtual information session on Thursday, December 15 at 12:15 p.m. ET. Register here.
  • Duke Law is offering virtual information sessions at 2 p.m. ET on the following days (registration link here):
    • Thursday, December 8
    • Thursday, December 15
  • Fordham Law is offering a virtual admissions session on Wednesday, December 7 at 5:30 p.m. ET (register here).
  • Harvard Law is offering a virtual Q&A session Thursday, December 8 at 8 p.m. ET (register here).
  • Northeastern Law is offering outdoor law school tours, showcasing three of their law school buildings. Each tour is led by a current law student who will take Q&A during the tour. Schedule a tour here.
  • UCLA Law is offering in-person law school tours on Mondays and Fridays. They are also offering virtual law school tours on Wednesdays. Register here.
  • University of Virginia will host in-person Q&A sessions each Friday from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. ET. No registration is required.
  • WashU Law in St. Louis is offering meetings with admissions, virtual open houses, and live-streamed events. For more details and to sign up, click here. To schedule an in-person campus visit, click here.
  • Yale Law is offering one-on-one appointments with a member of the admissions office to address prospective student questions. Schedule here.