What's Going On in the Admissions Cycle Right Now?
Some schools are now into the application review process and are issuing decisions. Other schools, though they may have started review, are waiting to begin issuing decisions in batches after Thanksgiving (after recruitment season concludes) or after they’ve completed their Early Decision review.
October is by far the busiest month for recruitment, and communications with admissions offices may slow down due to a particular office’s bandwidth during travel. Take advantage of information sessions and open houses to connect with the schools on your list, and catch them at LSAC forums and local events if your top schools are outside of your region.
FAQs from Students
What do AOs consider when they’re reviewing applications? Institutional goals, campus culture, programmatic offerings, scholarship dollars, and diversity are just some of the factors that AOs may consider. For a more detailed view of The Other Side of the Desk, listen to this podcast episode as former law school admissions professionals share their respective processes.
Helpful Link
7Sage admissions consultants and the founders of Law School Data joined forces for Chance-a-Palooza, where they discussed predictions based on numerical indicators, soft factors, and admissions perspectives. Want to listen in? Click here.
Discussion
There’s a temptation for some applicants to contact admissions offices once applications have been submitted. Sometimes, candidates believe that if they remain fresh on the minds of the AOs, they will help influence a positive outcome. However, there are recommended practices when reaching out to the admissions offices to provide updates, to check status, and to communicate continued interest.
Providing Updates
Typically, once applications are received, law schools will provide instructions on how to update your application, should you need to amend a portion of your application or provide an updated document. Some schools allow updates via a special email address for applicants. Others restrict updates to their online status checker page or apply timelines for when updates are allowed.
Common application amendments are corrections to questions that were originally answered incorrectly. Most often, these have to do with the Character & Fitness section of the application—candidates get clarity on what should be included and then realize that they should have answered “yes” and included a written statement. Things like this can often be emailed into the admissions office with an explanation as to what needs to be changed and the required statement. Internally, the admissions office will attach both the explanation and the statement to the application file.
It is important to note that not all schools allow additional attachments after you’ve submitted an application, so I cannot stress enough the importance of reading through the application instructions fully—if an addendum is left off with the plan of submitting it later, you may not have the opportunity depending on the requirements set by a specific institution. Read carefully and plan accordingly.
Similarly, if you get a new job or receive a promotion, you may be able to provide the admissions office with an updated résumé, which they will attach to your application file. Just make sure that you pay close attention to any update instructions that a school has provided.
Checking Status
As much as admissions officers stress their openness to walk-ins and emails, I would not recommend that you use these opportunities to check the status of your application. The vast majority of law schools will provide applicants with a link to an online status checker, including login information, within a couple of business days of receiving an application. This status checker operates in real time, and the moment that an update is made to the status, that is reflected within the status checker, thereby removing the need to call for status or to stop by for an update.
Trust that the status reflected there is correct, and unless there’s a status of “Incomplete” and you know you’ve submitted everything to finalize your application (and the office has actually had time to process anything you’ve recently submitted), then there’s not really a need to contact the office to check status. During the application review part of the year, AOs are traveling, meeting with applicants one-on-one, providing tours, planning events, collaborating with other departments, and (of course) assessing applications both for admissions and possible scholarship. The status checker page often provides you with a typical timeline in which you can expect a decision or update, so it’s best to set your expectations to those timelines with the understanding that these are estimates, and that any number of circumstances can cause a delay in communicating a decision.
Use this page to determine if any documents are missing, if you need to update the admissions office with a new mailing address or phone number, and for updates from the admissions office. Not only does this page show updates to the application status, messaging from the admissions office often changes based on an update in the status of your application file.
Until an application is marked complete, it will not be assigned to an admissions officer or committee member for review. There’s no partial review while they wait for missing documents, and most offices will not reconsider their final decisions after they’ve been issued. If you are registered for a future LSAT, AOs can see that in their system, and many will automatically hold your app in anticipation of that score. However, if you email the office and ask the office to review your application based on the score(s) you already have on file, you should anticipate that they will not reconsider your application once a new score comes out.
It’s important to note that sometimes AOs will hang onto an application that they like but, for whatever reason, they aren’t ready to decide one way or another. Sometimes, this means that they hold it beyond the communicated timetable in which the school normally issues a decision. This is NOT a bad thing! This can be the difference between a fast no and a delayed yes. It’s extremely hard to be patient with this process, we know, but AOs are often looking for the right set of circumstances that will allow them to admit an applicant that they’ve been holding.
Communicating Continued Interest
We’re going to get into this much more as the cycle continues, but this early in the application process, a letter of continued interest would not be necessary. Most often, these letters are welcomed when we get into the spring and summer months and law schools are trying to determine who on the waitlist is still interested in being considered for admission. However, some schools will begin to invite these letters from current applicants as well after a substantial amount of time has passed.
Pay special attention to any communicated instructions about LOCIs—some schools will provide guidelines for them, while some will instruct candidates not to send them unsolicited. For now, we’re in a waiting pattern; I wouldn’t suggest even considering one until you’re beyond the 6- to 8-week window. When you are ready to consider writing one, we have a module that provides some guidelines.
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 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 Study Group Breakout
Are you looking for an easy way to find people to study with? Or do you just want a break from reviewing questions on your own? You're in luck! Join us for our next "Study Group Breakout" on Tuesday, November 8th from 9 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. ET. Click here for more details.
7Sage Webinar: The Wrong Answer Journal
Join 7Sage Tutors on Tuesday, November 1 at 9 p.m. ET for a discussion on the purpose of the wrong answer journal and the proper steps necessary to analyze mistakes in previous questions. We'll go over different ways to format your wrong answer journal to meet your needs and what you can do to make sure your wrong answer analysis translates to meaningful progress. Register here.
Recruitment Events
- American University (Washington College of Law) is offering in-person and virtual information sessions.
- In-person info sessions are offered on Mondays and Fridays at 2 p.m. ET (register here).
- Virtual info sessions are offered
- Arizona State is offering virtual JD information sessions every other Tuesday at 9:30 a.m. MT. Register here.
- Berkeley Law is offering virtual office hours with their dean of admissions on Tuesday, November 22 at 3 p.m. PT. Register here.
- Boston College has canceled in-person events for this semester. They are offering virtual coffee chats with current student ambassadors (sign up here) and virtual information sessions Wednesday, November 2, at 12 p.m. ET (register here) and Wednesday, November 9 at 12 p.m. ET (register here).
- Boston University is offering an in-person open house on Saturday, November 5 starting at 9:30 a.m. ET. (register here). They will also be offering a virtual information session on Tuesday, November 15 at 6 p.m. ET (register) and a Diversity Law Day on Saturday, November 19 (register).
- Cardozo Law is offering virtual information sessions on Wednesdays at 11 a.m. ET and Friday afternoons at 2 p.m. ET. Register for a session here.
- Columbia Law is offering a virtual information session on Wednesday, November 2 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, November 10
- Thursday, December 8
- Fordham Law is offering a virtual admissions session on Tuesday, November 8 at 12:30 p.m. ET (register here).
- Harvard Law is offering virtual Q&A sessions on Thursday, November 3 at 8 p.m. ET (register here) and Thursday, November 17 at 12 p.m. ET (register here). Their next in-person information session will be offered on Friday, November 18 at 2 p.m. ET. Register here.
- The LSAC is offering an in-person forum on Saturday November 5, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. CT in Houston at the JW Marriott Houston Galleria. Participants must register by November 3. Click here to register. They are also offering an in-person forum on Friday, November 11, from 12 p.m. to 7 p.m. ET in Boston at the Renaissance Boston Waterfront hotel. Participants must register by November 9. Click here to register.
- 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.
- Northwestern is offering in-person, student-led tours. Registration is required to participate in this hour-long tour with a current JD student. Next tour dates: Friday, November 4, and Friday, November 11, at 12 p.m. CT (register here).
- Notre Dame Law is offering in-person visits, which include an admissions information session and a student-led tour of the law school on Fridays at 11 a.m. ET. RSVP here. They also offer group information sessions via Zoom every other Wednesday, which will include time for Q&A. RSVP here.
- Penn Law is hosting virtual office hours with admissions on Wednesday, November 2 at 12 p.m. ET (register here) and a JD/MBA Info session on Friday, November 4 at 3 p.m. ET (register 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 Michigan is offering a series of workshops (register here):
- November 2 at 12 p.m. ET: Why Michigan & General Q&A
- November 2 at 3 p.m. ET: Financial Aid
- November 9 at 12 p.m. ET: Financial Aid
- November 9 at 3 p.m. ET: Personal Statement
- University of Southern California is hosting in-person information sessions on Friday, November 4 at 10 a.m. PT. 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. They are also offering a series of online open houses (space is limited for most events, and these events fill up quickly—these events still have spaces left):