With the incoming students arrived (hopefully in one piece!) and orientation complete (hopefully without incident!), law school admissions officers face one of their stranger time periods of the year. It’s limbo.

On the one hand, all the work of the past admissions cycle is complete. The only thing left to do is put a metaphorical bow on the class. This involves updating your website to include the class profile for the incoming 1Ls. That usually takes about 15 minutes. And then there are the reports about your enrolling students that need to be submitted to the American Bar Association. But those reports only take an hour or two to complete … and they’re due way in the future on October 5th … and it just seems so sunny outside at the moment, like the world is begging you to go take a walk around your campus.

Meanwhile, preparations for the coming admissions cycle are likely in place but are just waiting for the right moment … which isn’t this moment. Most applications open on September 1 … which is in a few days. And then there are the upcoming law fairs … but those really start the week of September 9.

So if you see any AdComms this week, they’ll likely be in a bit of a haze. They’re so used to having to run around—Apps to read! Fairs to attend! Admitted students to host on campus!—that free time can drive them a bit batty. Be kind to them! They’ll be back in their usual hectic state once “travel season” hits!

LSAT Registration Numbers

But while law school admissions officers have a bit of a lull, law school applicants are getting ready to rock! 

August LSAT results come back on Wednesday and we should get an immediate sense of how things went. If lots of students hit (or exceeded!) their target marks, we’ll likely see a number of cancellations for the September and October tests.

Speaking of September and October, let’s check in on LSAC’s LSAT Registrants and Test Taker Volumes report:

September LSAT registrations went down 6.9% from last week. That’s pretty normal to see in the week before an exam. Regardless of how the August LSAT proceeds, we should expect another drop of that nature in the next week. And even with a normal drop, this year’s September numbers will still be a drastic increase over last year’s.

And speaking of a drastic increase—the October LSAT. To quote this blog from just last week:

[R]egistrations for the October LSAT are quickly increasing as the registration deadline approaches on August 22. Interestingly, we haven’t yet exceeded last year’s registration total. No doubt there will be a last-minute registration rush (because there always is), but this could end up being the first exam in years where test-taking numbers are flat.

We just should have stopped writing before that last sentence! 14,000 people registered for the October LSAT in the final two days before the deadline. While this number will come down drastically in the weeks to come, it’s still going to represent a marked increase in test takers from the October 2023 exam. With all that said and to sound absolutely like a broken record

this is your weekly reminder that:

  • Apps are likely going to go up this year based on this information, so,
  • Get started on your app materials sooner (like now) rather than later.

Apps Opening

And speaking of apps, a friendly reminder that applications for most schools are going to open on September 1 at 12 AM Eastern.

Now, before you all stampede to be the first person to submit an application to a school, we’d like to offer a few pieces of advice:

  • Take a look at the calendar and remind yourself that September 1 is Sunday. If you’re up at 12:01 AM on a Sunday morning, you’re probably not in your best state … unless you live in Hawaii, where it’ll just be 7 PM Saturday night and you most definitely are living in your best state.
  • Even if you submit your application to a school on Sunday, it’s not likely to be reviewed for a bit of time at most schools. Monday the 2nd is Labor Day. Tuesday the 3rd is the first day back from a three-day weekend, so that will be spent catching up on emails and meetings. The rest of the week will likely be devoted to preparing for the first wave of law fairs that will begin the following week.
  • That takes us from September 1 through the first round of law fairs that will occur from September 11 through 14.
  • AdComms may be back in the office on Monday, September 16, but they’re likely spending the day catching up on emails and filing away their materials from their travels.
  • And that brings us to Tuesday, September 17. That may be the earliest day that admissions officers may start reviewing a few files.

While somewhat factious (only somewhat), we present this to emphasize that there really is no rush on submitting applications. If they’re completed in September, that’s great. But per information from LSAC’s Current Volume Summaries report:

  • Of this year’s 427,917 applications submitted to law schools, only 5% were submitted by October 1.
  • 8.8% were submitted by October 15.
  • 14.8% were submitted by November 1.

So even with applications likely to increase this year, you still have some time to be in the first 10-15% of applicants to submit their documents this year. Take a deep cleansing breath, get moving on your documents, and you’ll be fine!

7Sage Events

A reminder that we are hosting weekly live classes on different components of the application process in the coming weeks. This week has a few rounds of “What Does My Score Mean?” sessions on August 28 and 30 (strategically timed to coincide with the August LSAT release!). Registration is required but free.

Additionally, we’ll have a new podcast out on Monday where we walk you through how to create your application list. Check it out on Amazon, Spotify, Apple, or wherever you stream your podcasts.

And if you’re a fan of the law school admissions sub-Reddit, join us on Friday for an AMA. We know it’s a busy time of year with apps opening, LSAT scores coming back, deep cleansing breaths, and the like—we’d be happy to talk it out with you!