Self-study
Hi 7Sage Team,
I have seen that it is beneficial to apply earlier in the cycle, but I was wondering what exactly is considered "early" and at what point in the cycle you start to see reduced admissions/scholarship opportunities.
Would there be a difference between applying in September vs. November?
Is there any point in the admissions cycle where you think it would be beneficial to wait until the next cycle?
Thank you!
7
5 comments
So let's admit that this is totally subjective, @c2124, and also that things have really changed radically over just the past few years.
Historically, applying around Christmas was fine, around Thanksgiving was "good" early, around Halloween was EARLY early, and around 9/30 was "shouldn't you have better things to do with your time" early. I've found that a lot of collegiate pre-law advisors still have this timeline in mind.
But there's just been a massive upswing in apps these past two years. According to LSAC, apps right now are 11% higher than last year but 36% higher than two years ago! And it's not like they're "bad" apps, either. Based on LSAC's data, the biggest part of that increase has been in the highest LSAT score bands.
Now, combine this fact with the reality that most schools start seriously evaluating apps around mid-October / November 1. Why then? Because the weeks before that are filled up with traveling to law fairs around the country. So when admissions officers get off the road, they already have a tidal wave of applications waiting for them to review.
Let me give you a fun fact. Or a "fun" fact. Lawschooldata has a feature called "Heard Back." It allows you to see the percentage of lsd.law users who report that they've received a decision from a school. This information is sorted by the date range that the users submitted their apps: early Sept, mid Sept, late Sept, early Oct, etc. It allows you to get a sense of how far along an admissions office is in reviewing apps. In early May (ie, after deposit deadlines had passed), schools like Stanford, Notre Dame, USC, and Vanderbilt were really only done reviewing apps submitted through about Christmas. We've seen some waitlist activity from those schools but not tons. What does that mean? That these schools effectively filled their classes with applicants who submitted their apps before Christmas.
So now let's put this all together into what I think is the best calendar for our present era:
Applying before Oct 15 is "good" early. There's no difference applying on Sept 15 vs Oct 15 for the vast majority of schools because of all that law fair travel that I mentioned. If you apply by Oct 15, you should not feel like you applied "too late."
Applying before Nov 15 is fine. We're still in that range where most schools will be able to review your app and give you a decision before March 1.
I'm not going to mention the timeline after that because we start to move into a range where it really just depends on the school. Applying January for USC this year was a bad idea, but was likely just fine for Loyola Marymount, Pepperdine, etc.
As far as "is there a date after which you should just wait until next year," that's also really subjective. Some folks are ok "shooting their shot" with a late app. Other folks HAVE to apply late because they can't take the LSAT until January and they HAVE to start law school this year. Others would prefer to keep their powder dry and submit their strongest app in September of the following admissions cycle. It's totally up to you! My only words of wisdom are just being clear eyed about matters if you submit apps in Jan, Feb, or March. You'll read success stories on Reddit, you'll hear from your cousin's best friend's sister's husband about how they applied on the deadline in 2015 and still got in with a big scholarship ... but those are the needles in the haystack and/or what happened in the past. That's not the current situation.
I know that's a lot of info but I hope that helps!
I’m not an admissions expert but my undergrad’s career advancement office is telling us to try and have everything in by October 1
@NatMan I have heard this as well but have also seen anything before Thanksgiving is considered in the "early" pool.
@AnnaTidmore I’ve been told this was true in previous years but with so many people applying nowadays the best results are coming for people who submit before 10/31.
@NatMan That makes sense, I did not take that into consideration!