With the middle of April approaching—complete with flowers blooming and the first round of pollen settling on parked cars everywhere—that can only mean one thing. We have reached Deposit Deadline Season for law schools!
Other times of year can be busy with law fairs to attend, applications to read, and scholarship models to build. But this is when it all comes together for every law school. If AdComms were busy then, they’re BUSY now. Maybe it’s hosting one last round of admitted students for a visit day. Maybe it’s seeing how your deposits come in on your deadline. Or maybe you’re already past your deposit deadline and now you’re trying to recruit students off the waitlist. Heck, maybe you still are working your way through that 23% increase in national applications that we’ve been discussing all year!
We also know that the reverse side of the coin is also true—it’s also an extraordinarily busy and stressful time for law applicants. Whether they’re still awaiting decisions, are weighing their admit offers, or
are weighing admit offers while still waiting to hear back from their top choice school(s), we know that there’s a lot happening. That’s why we’re going to spend the majority of this post going through the ins and outs of the deposit process. But first, some quick headlines since we skipped those in our last edition!
National Applications
When we last checked in on LSAC’s Current Volume Summaries report in our March 26th blog post, national applications were up 23.5% versus last year. We’ve now crossed April 1st and April 15th, which are two common application deadlines for schools. Let’s check on the results….
And we’ve held steady!
At this point, the question is no longer about the increase but—rather—determining the answer to the question “This will be the largest national law applicant pool since __?” Right now, there’s an outside shot at matching the 2010–2011 admissions year that saw roughly 82,000 national applicants (per LSAC’s Historical Test Taker, Applicant, and Matriculant Counts report).
Ah, 2011! When national applications were beginning a multiyear slide due to a legal market that was restructuring post-Great Recession. But rather than a slide, we’re expecting next year’s applications to either remain stable or increase a bit because of….
LSAT Registrations
We’re still awaiting the results of the April LSAT but we can at least check on LSAC’s LSAT Registrants and Test Taker Volumes report to see if the registration numbers increased versus last year’s exam:
They sure did!
Registrations remained remarkably stable in the weeks before the exam. Just after the registration deadline in early March, LSAC was reporting 27,277 registrants. Losing just 11% of registrants between the deadline and test date is rather small.
And we have a few other factoids to consider regarding the preliminary April LSAT numbers:
- This continues our hot streak of LSATs increasing their registrations and test takers over the previous year’s edition. That streak began all the way back in September 2023 and shows no signs of letting up.
- While the April LSAT is popular, it tends to be smaller than the June, August, October, and November exams. So if the April LSAT had a roughly 30% increase in test takers, that’s a warning bell regarding the upcoming exams.
We’ll have greater clarity on the numbers at the end of April. Not only will we have the April LSAT scores released on the 30th, but the registration deadline for the June LSAT is on April 22nd. If we see June registrations also spike into the +25-30% range versus last year, we’ll have a pretty good idea that next year’s applications are going to increase.
So ending this segment on a positive and proactive note for next year’s applicants—it’s never too early to start updating your résumé and drafting your personal statement! Your future self will thank you!
Deposit Deadline Craziness
But now let’s come back to the main thing happening at this time of year in law school admissions—Deposit Deadline Season!
In the best of times (i.e., when national applications aren’t up 20%), it’s an incredibly busy period for both applicants and AdComms. Applicants are weighing their offers, may be on some waitlists, are waiting on financial aid, and could still be waiting for some decisions from different schools. Meanwhile, AdComms are hosting admitted students, reading applications, and making contingency plans for the waitlist based on how their deposits may come in.
But this cycle hasn’t been the best of times. With national applications up so significantly, law schools are backed up on reading applications. That has created a bottleneck that is exacerbating issues for everyone. It’s effectively the chocolate factory scene from I Love Lucy
except that the solution isn’t “just stuff the applications down your shirt!”
So given all of that, let’s try to reduce some of the tension for applicants by breaking down some of the frequently asked questions that we receive at this time of year.
When are the deposit deadlines?
The most common deadlines are April 1, April 15, and April 30/May 1, and the groupings tend to be:
- T14s: April 30/May 1
- T15-30s: April 15
- Everyone else: April 1
If you don’t know your top schools’ deadlines, check your admit letter and your financial aid letter. If the admissions office is doing their job properly, they should be practically shouting this date to their admitted students from the rooftops! But if you have any questions at all about a deadline for a school, just give them a quick call to verify the deadline.
How do I submit my deposit?
While there’s nothing universal, most schools will create an online form that allows you to submit your deposit form (which indicates that you intend to enroll at the school) and pay your deposit (which will be applied to your first tuition bill in the fall).
Quick clarification. You wrote, “intend to enroll.”
Is a deposit binding? Do I have to attend this school?
As future lawyers, now is a great time to start obsessing about semantics! A deposit just indicates that you intend to enroll in the upcoming academic year. But you won’t actually enroll until orientation hits in August or September. AdComms are very aware that a lot can change between now and then!
What if I’m still waiting on a fin aid award from my other top choice law school?
And now we’re moving into the toughies….
Your first action point is with the school that hasn’t provided you with your fin aid award yet. Let’s call them School A. You will want to check with them to ensure that you have submitted all of your required paperwork/forms to be considered for aid (and that’s if the school requires any). You can also politely ask them when you may expect to receive a notification regarding your financial aid. Ideally they’ll provide you with a real date (like April 20th) rather than a fictional date (like March 31st).
Once you have that information, it’s time to go talk with your other top choice—School B. Keep in mind that School B likes you. They admitted you. They provided you with your fin aid award in a timely manner. They would be thrilled if you deposited. They’ve done everything right … and now you’re going to ask them if it’s possible to have a little more time to make a decision because School A is late to the Fin Aid Party.
It’s okay to ask School B—politely and professionally—if it would be possible to have a slight extension on your deposit deadline. Be open and mention School A by name as well as the date that they have indicated that they’ll be back in touch with your award. This information puts boundaries around your request. It’ll be clear to School B’s AdComms that you don’t have cold feet but, rather, you’re just waiting on information from one school and that you have a set date in mind. That’s a much more reasonable request than being vague about who this mystery school is and when the mystery date may be.
What do I do if I’m on a waitlist at my top choice law school?
This one’s a bit more straightforward and less emotionally complex!
For the purposes of right now, those waitlisted schools don’t exist. You have not been admitted and you may not be admitted. The earliest that you’ll know is going to be after their deposit deadlines pass. The first big waves of waitlist admit offers—if they happen—will occur in a few weeks. So for right now, just focus on the admit offers you have.
What do I do if I’m still just waiting on an admissions decision from my top choice law school?!?!
And we’re back to being complicated and emotionally complex!
Much like being on the waitlist at a school, not having received an offer from your top choice means that they don’t exist for the purposes of your deposit decision.
But here’s the twist. With a waitlist, you may not know when or if you’ll be admitted off the waitlist, but you at least can feel sure that a) you won’t hear anything from that school until after their deposit deadline passes, and b) the main season for waitlist admits is in May. But for that school where your decision is still pending? You could hear from them tomorrow … you could hear from them next month … you could hear from them on March 31st next year. Sigh!
So for situations like this, our advice is similar to the answer about waitlists but with a corresponding twist. Focus first on the admit offers you have and determine which school (School A) you’re going to deposit at if you don’t hear back from your top school (School B) in time. After you figure out the identity of School A, be ready to deposit by their deadline. Regarding School B, it’s generally alright to reach out to their admissions office to inquire about the status of your application. But the BIG EXCEPTION is if the school has already reached out to you to let you know that they’re still working on your application. If that’s the case, your best course of action is hanging tight. Patience is a virtue, and moments like these are reminders that virtuous people are in short supply during Deposit Deadline Season!
Notice how we don’t advise reaching out to School A to ask for a deposit extension. Why? Because—as in our fin aid scenario above—School A likes you, they’ve admitted you, and they would be thrilled if you attended. It’s difficult to ask the school that has admitted you to wait while you see if another school may admit you and that that decision has no known deadline. Additionally, School A wants clarity on their deposits so that they know whether or not they should pursue any waitlist activity.
While it never hurts to politely and professionally ask a school for an extension, just be prepared for the school to politely and professionally say “no.”
OK, so then could I deposit at School A and then change my mind if School B finally comes through?
Yes! This is a completely normal situation. Every law school knows that they are going to lose some of their deposited students—some will get a late-breaking offer from another school, some will be admitted from a waitlist, and some will just change their plans for personal reasons. It happens all the time! In this situation, you would just contact School A to let them know that your plans have changed and you are canceling your deposit. The only thing you lose is your deposit.
Any final words of wisdom?
Don’t forget the bigger picture and trust your process!
If you’ve been admitted by a law school, you have the chance to be a law student in just four months, and an actual lawyer in three years. This is what you’ve been working for!
It can be stressful to make a big commitment. But if you’ve done your research throughout the process (e.g., attending law fairs, applying to law schools that would be good fits for you, attending admitted student visit days and networking with current students), you’ll make a good decision.
You’ve got this!
7Sage Events
After a hiatus, our admissions classes are restarting! First up will be an AMA-style session on April 16th with one of our LSAT tutors and one of our admissions officers. We’ll then have several “What Does My Score Mean” sessions at the end of the month when the April LSAT results come back. Registration is free but required.
Also, a reminder that you can check out our past sessions via our Class Library—just enter “Admissions” into the search bar.
Our latest episode of the admissions podcast dropped this past Monday and featured a recording of our March Deans’ Roundtable webinar. The main topic is just how in the world law schools have been, are, and will continue to handle this drastic increase in applications. While this will be illuminative for this year’s applicants, we also think it’s worthwhile for next year’s applicants to file away considering how we believe that we’re facing similar application numbers next year. Be sure to tune in on Amazon, Spotify, Apple, or wherever you stream your podcasts.