Along with attempting to ward off the cold by perfecting their various recipes for chili and chicken noodle soup, law school admissions officers are in a bit of a lather, rinse, repeat mode: it’s January so it’s more file reading, more decisions, and more wondering if perhaps the soup would taste better if they chopped up the carrots a little more. So let’s jump right in for a quick update on the news and stats for this week in admissions.

National App Figures and LSAT Registrations

We made a bit of a deal in last week’s post that we had hit a stasis point. This was because app totals and apps from students in the T14 test band (i.e.,170-174) were flat from the week before. We also pointed to January 31st as the next time things would likely change on those fronts since that’s the date when the January LSAT scores go live. Well, even though we remain a week out from that date, the app numbers have moved just a little.

Last week, national applicants were up 4.2% while applications were down 1.8%. Our numbers this week per LSAC’s Current Volume Summaries report show a smidge of a change:

The 0.1% increase in applicants isn’t much, but the 0.6% increase in applications is a little interesting given both the time of year (i.e., getting later in the cycle) and the fact that the boost didn’t coincide with a regular national bellwether date (e.g., an LSAT score release, the first of a month, etc).

Meanwhile, 170-174 applications were down 4.7% last week but now are coming in at:

-4.0%. That’s still “down” but that’s another interesting jump in just one week without any national bellwether occurring. It’ll be interesting to see what happens with these numbers after the January LSAT scores go live!

More Decisions Coming

It was another busy week of schools issuing decisions … and of people wondering where their decisions are. They’re coming! Some schools have been slower to issue decisions this year because of the larger trends that we’ve been tracking since this summer—most notably the fallout from the Students for Fair Admissions decision, having to evaluate new optional statements (because of SFFA), and an initial decline in apps from all those new optional statements and because of significant issues with both the August and September LSATs. But just as we’ve been tracking the national numbers, so have law schools. They’re aware of their past data, the percentage of their total app pool that they’ve typically received by this time, and the usual amount of apps that arrive in the coming weeks before their deadlines. They’re also aware of the upcoming timeline:

- Every school’s deposit deadline is between April 1 and May 1.

- The best way to recruit admitted students and encourage them to deposit are admitted student visit days. Those events have to happen sometime before the deposit deadline, so March 15 through April 15 is the big window.

- You can’t have an admitted student program without admitted students. The latest you can reasonably expect a critical mass of admitted students to make travel plans is about one month prior to the event.

- Ergo, most schools need to have issued the majority of their pre-waitlist admissions decisions by the window between February 15 and March 1.

Put another way, even the schools that haven’t yet issued non-Early Decision admits yet (like Columbia and Chicago) know that they need to get moving in the next few weeks. So if you’re still waiting on decisions—trust us that they’re coming!

Upcoming Law Fairs

If you’re one of our readers from SEC country, you still have a few chances to chat with admissions reps at law fairs in your backyard this week:

January 24

January 25

January 26

And a quick reminder that LSAC’s next Digital Forum will be on February 2 with a registration deadline of January 31. It’s a great chance to “e-meet” admissions reps, learn a bit more about their schools, and either ingratiate yourselves to them (e.g., current applicants) or get some good material to incorporate into your apps (e.g., you last-minute applicants and students who are applying in the next cycle).

7Sage Admissions Classes

And another quick reminder for our readers looking ahead to the next admissions cycle (or those in need of immediate triage!) that we are continuing our Zoom admissions courses next week. We will go through each part of a typical application to discuss how admissions officers use each aspect in their evaluation. Hopefully this will help to demystify the process and give you a bit of guidance going forward! This upcoming week’s sessions will be on addenda and interviews.