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Anecdotal proof that this cycle may be slow indeed

FixedDiceFixedDice Member
edited January 2019 in Law School Admissions 1804 karma

Here's what I hope will serve as a Chicken Soup for the Soul for those who have yet to hear back and are starting to doubt or even despair...

I received my acceptance to a T13 about two hours ago. I submitted my application on Halloween (or October 31st, for those who are not familiar with Halloween or its variations). I also applied to the same school in 2016; I submitted my application around late-November and was accepted on January 4th back then.

In other words, about 6-7 weeks elapsed before I heard back from the school during the 2016-2017 application cycle. This cycle? About 12 weeks. So, all other factors notwithstanding, it took me almost twice as long to hear back from the same school.

Now, I said "other factors notwithstanding." Chances are there was at least one factor (e.g. the fact that I'm a reapplicant) at play. Not to mention that this is just a datum out of tens of thousands. But I just wanted to tell y'all that things are still happening.

Also, I received my acceptance email around noon (PST) in 2017. This year, however, I received the email around 5 p.m. (also PST). So it seems that at least one school doesn't have a strict temporal guideline for sending acceptance emails.

Comments

  • notsplittsnotsplitts Free Trial Member
    edited January 2019 267 karma

    Year over year applicant and application volume data from LSAC, updated daily: https://report.lsac.org/VolumeSummary.aspx

  • BinghamtonDaveBinghamtonDave Alum Member 🍌🍌
    8716 karma

    Timeframe aside, Congrats on your acceptances!

  • _oshun1__oshun1_ Alum Member
    3652 karma

    Congrats!! This cycle is soo slow ugh it’s killing me. After feeling relieved like I was done with all of my interviews and my fate is sealed, I got an interview request last Friday from a t13 which i’m at 75ths for. I applied even earlier than you on the first week of October!

  • FixedDiceFixedDice Member
    1804 karma

    @john1roger Thank you!
    @BinghamtonDave Thank you! I was busy thinking about the time frame after about 10 seconds of joy and relief.
    @oshun1 Thank you! I was starting to seriously doubt my prospects. So apparently I'm not the only one...

  • BamboosproutBamboosprout Alum Member
    edited January 2019 1694 karma

    @FixedDice said:
    @john1roger Thank you!
    @BinghamtonDave Thank you! I was busy thinking about the time frame after about 10 seconds of joy and relief.
    @oshun1 Thank you! I was starting to seriously doubt my prospects. So apparently I'm not the only one...

    Congrats! Lol, it's impossible to tag @____oshun1___

  • AudaciousRedAudaciousRed Alum Member
    2689 karma

    @john1roger said:
    Year over year applicant and application volume data from LSAC, updated daily: https://report.lsac.org/VolumeSummary.aspx

    Wow. That is interesting. So.. applications across the board are down, but more people are choosing to stay in their home state? But if application are down, why are they taking so long to get decisions back, I wonder. Hmm.

  • FixedDiceFixedDice Member
    1804 karma

    @Bamboosprout Thank you!
    @AudaciousRed Precisely because there are less applicants to choose from, I would think. If no law school is willing to reduce its class size, a smaller pool of applicants would mean that there is a bigger chance two or more schools will reach out to the same applicant. That would give law school admission committees major headaches, with YP and whatnot. Consider T13 schools. Last year there were about 2,700 applicants with +170 LSAT scores; this year there are about 2,400. T13 schools would need to be very, very careful with their choices if they want to preserve their yield rates, which affect their rankings. T6 schools alone contain about 1,900 students.

  • BamboosproutBamboosprout Alum Member
    1694 karma

    @FixedDice said:
    @Bamboosprout Thank you!
    @AudaciousRed Precisely because there are less applicants to choose from, I would think. If no law school is willing to reduce its class size, a smaller pool of applicants would mean that there is a bigger chance two or more schools will reach out to the same applicant. That would give law school admission committees major headaches, with YP and whatnot. Consider T13 schools. Last year there were about 2,700 applicants with +170 LSAT scores; this year there are about 2,400. T13 schools would need to be very, very careful with their choices if they want to preserve their yield rates, which affect their rankings. T6 schools alone contain about 1,900 students.

    Well, there is still January for people to get a 170+. So I think the numbers will even out a bit.

  • notsplittsnotsplitts Free Trial Member
    267 karma

    I think it's hard to say for sure that schools are taking longer to get applications back, based only on anecdotal evidence. We need to consider how many applications these schools are receiving and how many people are reporting delayed responses.

  • dansykes94dansykes94 Core Member
    112 karma

    Do you think this means they'll be more receptive to a late application?

  • CantStopWontStopCantStopWontStop Alum Member
    1270 karma

    This has been painfully slow. They are definitely going slower this year and because of this, it makes the Jan test more in play vs the Feb test of last year, which probably adds to it going slower.

  • CantStopWontStopCantStopWontStop Alum Member
    1270 karma

    Yes, I think they are more receptive to late applications. I think it still hurts to apply late, but the "penalty" is not as great as before.

  • notsplittsnotsplitts Free Trial Member
    267 karma

    The proof is in the numbers. I am now more convinced that this years cycle is "slower" than last years. According to data from the LSAC website, there are less applications and less applicants today than there were at this same time last year. This could, however, have something to do with the fact that this years LSAT administration dates are different than last years. Thoughts?

  • lusp7949lusp7949 Free Trial Member
    14 karma

    @FixedDice said:
    @Bamboosprout Thank you!
    @AudaciousRed Precisely because there are less applicants to choose from, I would think. If no law school is willing to reduce its class size, a smaller pool of applicants would mean that there is a bigger chance two or more schools will reach out to the same applicant. That would give law school admission committees major headaches, with YP and whatnot. Consider T13 schools. Last year there were about 2,700 applicants with +170 LSAT scores; this year there are about 2,400. T13 schools would need to be very, very careful with their choices if they want to preserve their yield rates, which affect their rankings. T6 schools alone contain about 1,900 students.

    How do you know how many people have scored in the 170+ range? Is there a place to look at data like that on LSAC's website?

  • eRetakereRetaker Free Trial Member
    2043 karma

    @lusp7949 you can find the raw data here (updated daily): https://report.lsac.org/VolumeSummaryOriginalFormat.aspx

    I guess I can offer anecdotal evidence that I haven't noticed a late submission penalty. I submitted everything in the last 1.5 months and got decisions fairly quick. In previous cycles based on LSN, my late apps would've been a death sentence at many places but no bad news yet for this cycle.

    @FixedDice I am pretty sure I know which T13 you're referring to since I got a decision there the same day, maybe we'll be classmates in August lol.

  • PeaceofmindPeaceofmind Alum Member
    446 karma

    This thread gave me hope :D! Was upset about how applying late hurt my chances and thought about delaying another year, which sucks

  • FixedDiceFixedDice Member
    1804 karma

    @notsplitts Yeah... I concluded that, since even T13s accept January scores nowadays, all law schools are waiting to see more scores before starting to make final decisions. Less applicants, less +170s, but one more round of LSATs -- why not see more before finalizing?

  • BamboosproutBamboosprout Alum Member
    1694 karma

    @eRetaker said:
    @lusp7949 you can find the raw data here (updated daily): https://report.lsac.org/VolumeSummaryOriginalFormat.aspx

    What is that link suppose to show? I don't see anything.

  • eRetakereRetaker Free Trial Member
    2043 karma

    @Bamboosprout It shows the number of applicants at each score band currently applying in this cycle and it's updated daily. I think link is probably not working for the weekend so try it again on Monday. Some data that might be of interest to you is that as of 1/31 is that 2071 170-174 scorers and 494 175+ scorers have applied this cycle.

  • BamboosproutBamboosprout Alum Member
    1694 karma

    @eRetaker said:

    Thanks for the break down. I wasn’t sure if it was just me who couldn’t see the data.
    That is very interesting info. Is it significantly different though? So currently, there are around 2500 170+ applicants right now, and last year had about 2700. But the January score isn’t out yet, so that 2500 will probably jump up a bit, right? Seems to me like this cycle is about as competitive in terms of 170+ scorers.

  • eRetakereRetaker Free Trial Member
    2043 karma

    @Bamboosprout I think the early Jan LSAT (compared to Feb last yr) means there will be a surge of applicants coming in mid-Feb this year compared to last year. However as of 1/31 of last year, there were 2241 170-174 scorers and 653 175+ scorers, so this year so far has been "easier" than last year. It is somewhat noteworthy to point out that this cycle is still more difficult than 2016-2017 cycle which had 435 total 175+ scorers. I think it'll be relatively easier than last cycle for 170+ when it's all said and done.

  • BamboosproutBamboosprout Alum Member
    1694 karma

    @eRetaker : oh wow, that truly is a large difference. I was wondering if your numbers were referring to the end of year or after the Feb test. Thanks for clarifying. It is a bit reassuring to know that it won't be as tough as last year. I'll take whatever breaks I can get. =)

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