Applying Early, and what does that mean

CantStopWontStop

What is considered early? What is considered in the middle? And what's considered late? I used to think applying in Sept or Oct was vital, but how much of a difference is there when you apply after only 10% of the applications are in vs. 40-50%. I'm wondering because if I turned in my apps before my Nov 17 LSAT test date came out, meaning my file would be complete mid-Dec, would that still be an advantageous time to apply?

FixedDice

I believe the rule of thumb goes as follows: Early is by Thanksgiving, middle by December, and late the rest.

how much of a difference is there when you apply after only 10% of the applications are in vs. 40-50%.

Depends on many factors.

my file would be complete mid-Dec, would that still be an advantageous time to apply?

It's not advantageous, but it's not that bad either.

David Busis

I used to think applying in Sept or Oct was vital, but how much of a difference is there when you apply after only 10% of the applications are in vs. 40-50%.

So glad you asked! As it happens, we just analyzed about 400,000 results to answer that exact question. Check it out!

https://7sage.com/admissions/lesson/affects-chances-getting-law-school/

FixedDice

@"David.Busis" said:

I used to think applying in Sept or Oct was vital, but how much of a difference is there when you apply after only 10% of the applications are in vs. 40-50%.

So glad you asked! As it happens, we just analyzed about 400,000 results to answer that exact question. Check it out!

https://7sage.com/admissions/lesson/affects-chances-getting-law-school/

This is nice! Thank you!

CantStopWontStop

This is great, thanks!

Seeking Perfection

@"David.Busis" said:

I used to think applying in Sept or Oct was vital, but how much of a difference is there when you apply after only 10% of the applications are in vs. 40-50%.

So glad you asked! As it happens, we just analyzed about 400,000 results to answer that exact question. Check it out!

https://7sage.com/admissions/lesson/affects-chances-getting-law-school/

This is a nice article and I am always glad to see someone do an actual regression to try to answer these questions.

But as we know from the LSAT correlation does not imply causation. As the article mentions people could write better essays or format resumes netter on average if applying early. That is probably actually true here so the regression is probably an overestimate of the effect of applying early. People applying early are not applying to get it in on time, but because they are ready in every component of their application. Ideally, we would run an experiment submitting the same applications earlier and later to different peer schools so we could control for application quality.

The other thing we ought to address is whether there is a scholarship impact. I think there is. A lot of the more prestigious scholarships start notifying people in December so preferably you would be complete by then. Of course they save some money for later applicants and additionally free up some when people choose other schools, but it is probably safest to be in that first batch in case they overextend their funds and cut back later in the season. It would be difficult to run a regression using LSN om this because theit info is less complete with scholarships than acceptances and sample sizes are smaller.

Finally, a higher LSAT score by even two or three points will almost always make a bigger difference than timing.