With the middle of February approaching and—as per usual—law school admissions officers only now realizing that they’ve forgotten to make dinner reservations for Valentine’s Day because they were too busy reading applications

the wheels of Reading Season continue accordingly. In an ideal world, AdComms would make a majority of their admit decisions by late February so that admitted students can make plans to attend open houses scheduled for March and April. But—you know—such a plan requires actually admitting applicants. And we predicted as much in our blog entry from two weeks ago. But while we’ve been expecting this (per lawschooldata.org’s “Recent Decisions” page):

We’ve instead received this:

That, dear reader, is a gentle slope downwards since the wave of post-holiday decisions. At some point, we’re going to see that slope spike as high as a freestyle skier hitting the launch angle on the halfpipe.

So while we all await those inevitable decisions and the adrenaline rush that they’ll initiate, let’s take our weekly run through the news and headlines from the world of law school admissions.

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Current Volumes Summary

When the January LSAT results came back last week and national applications surged a bit in response, we wondered if that would be a temporary boost or a longer-term trend. Checking in on LSAC’s Current Volume Summaries report shows that January LSAT was apparently the equivalent of pouring a bottle of nitro into the gas tank:

Last week, we were at +18.7% for applicants and +20.8% for applications and had seen a long-term deceleration of those figures before the January test results came back. But then they came back and this has happened

We’ll repeat a note of caution from last week—results from last year’s January LSAT did not come until February 5th. So we may still see things even out!

Did you feel good for a second to see that note of caution? If so, let’s bring the mood down a bit again because we now have the latest information from LSAC’s Five-Year Volume Graphs report.

This report tracks national applicant and application totals in visual form by month. While “+23.4% in applications” certainly sounds like a lot, seeing it via a chart like this

really drives home the point.

It’s not just that apps are up 23.4%. It’s that:

• The app total by the end of January 2026 was basically on par with the app total by the end of February 2025. We’re running a month ahead of schedule.
• But, even crazier, is that we’re basically running four months ahead of 2024—we didn’t get to this amount of apps until the end of June 2024 in that particular admissions cycle.

This is perhaps best summarized by extending our intro gif another few beats

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National LSAT Numbers

Meanwhile, we’re writing this just as the February LSAT is occurring and the numbers on “Test Eve” remain strong per LSAC’s LSAT Registrants and Test Taker Volumes report:

Registrations were at 16,855 last week, so this week’s 9.3% decline represents our normal “8‒10% decline in registrations the week before the test.” Or if that’s too wordy, it’s the “Cold Feet Effect.” But even at this level, February 2026 registrations remain 33% higher than for the 2025 edition. Additionally, the February 2026 LSAT will almost certainly be the biggest February LSAT since the days when LSAC only offered the exam four times a year.

Looking ahead, the information we receive on February 25 and 26 will be crucial for giving us a sense of what to expect in the upcoming cycle.

• On the 25th, we’ll get the results back from the February LSAT including the percentage of first-time test takers in that cohort. If we see that number anywhere in the usual range for the February test (45‒50%), that’s a good sign for yet another big year of applications coming up for the 2026‒2027 admissions cycle.
• On the 26th, we hit the registration deadline for the April LSAT. That’s the first test in the year when we see the percentage of first-time test takers consistently top 50%. That means that these are people who are definitely looking ahead to the next cycle rather than applying in this one. To that end, expect to see April registration numbers surge in the next two+ weeks (heck—they’ve already increased nearly 18% in just this past week). If we end up in the neighborhood of 30,000 registrations at the deadline, we can feel confident that the April 2026 test will have more test takers than the April 2025 edition.

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7Sage Events

Another week, another Admissions AMA class on Wednesday! Come stop by on February 11th, at 1 PM Eastern to ask whatever questions are on your mind!

We also posted the latest edition of our admissions podcast last Monday. If it’s February, we know it’s that time of year when applicants on waitlists are getting itchy. They’ve received a waitlist decision … and they know that that’s not the worst decision … but it’s also clearly not the best decision. But what does it mean? And what can you do to navigate the uncertainty? We walk you through all the basics in this new episode! Be sure to check it out on Amazon, Spotify, Apple, or wherever you stream your podcasts! Or, if you prefer watching your podcasts, check out the video version on Youtube.

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Thanks for reading! You can learn more about 7Sage Admissions Consulting’s services here, and if you’d like help deciding which service is right for you, you can book a free consultation here.