With April showers ending and May flowers commencing, law school admissions officers are still mostly in a holding pattern. The T14 schools will have their deposit deadline pass this week—once that happens, we may see a little more waitlist activity popping up like dandelions on our collective front lawns. And much like dandelions, any such activity would soon spread to other schools. Schools in the T15–30ish range have started some waitlist activity but they’re mostly focused on cleaning up all the tasks that built up in the mad dash to their mid-April deposit deadlines (minor things such as “perhaps we should finish reading all our applications for this year?”). Schools whose deposit deadlines fell on April 1 have been continuing to assess their incoming classes and extend a few more offers of admission, but they’re also beginning to turn towards prep for next year—finalizing recruitment budgets, beginning to consider travel schedules, and looking at staffing needs. So as AdComms continue to take care of those loose ends, let’s take a quick lap around the news of the week!

Taking Care of Business

And speaking of “perhaps we should finish reading all our applications for the year,” it’s clear that many admissions officers are channeling their inner Bachman-Turner Overdrive and are taking care of business.

Per the “Recent Decisions” tool on lawschooldata.org, a number of schools are catching up on their decision making. While many schools have decisions coming out in ones and twos, other schools have been very backed up. Of note, both NYU Law

and Columbia Law

cleared their decks a bit in the past week.

Expect to see more numbers of this nature from those schools as they continue to catch up with their reading and as they pass their deposit deadlines and gain greater clarity on any possible open seats in their respective classes.

Trickles of Waitlist Movement

Further down the rankings ladder, we are starting to see a bit more waitlist activity from schools.

The best way to track activity at your target schools is to pull up their school chart on lawschooldata, scroll to the table of applicants, and then sort by the “Decision Date” column. Here’s George Washington’s chart organized in such a manner:

Most of these students were so kind as to maintain good record-keeping terminology—we appreciate them noting that they were specifically on the waitlist in their “Results” column!

A quick glance informs us that not only is GW admitting students from the waitlist, but also that:

  • They’re specifically targeting students with LSATs above a 168, and
  • They still have space in their scholarship budget to provide awards.

If you’re a student in their app pool with a 168+ LSAT, now could be a good time to reach out to their office with a letter of continued interest!

A similar check at Boston University’s chart also shows some activity:

In this case, we only have three admits who specifically note in their “Results” that they were on the waitlist, but that’s still enough to infer that BU:

  • Needs students with both 170+ LSATs and 3.90+ GPAs, and
  • Also has a little bit of money to offer those students.

We’ll keep an eye on further waitlist developments after the T14’s deposit deadlines pass this coming week.

June LSAT Registrations

In the past two weeks, we’ve compared the June LSAT registration numbers in gif form as an atomic explosion and a volcanic eruption. When we look at LSAC’s LSAT Registrant and Test Taker Volumes report this week, the most appropriate reaction is

When we last checked in on registration deadline day, numbers had just crossed over 31,000. An additional 5,000 students decided to register on the deadline—phew!

Now that the deadline has passed, this number will slowly evaporate in the coming months. Still, it’s an early sign that the upcoming admissions cycle could be a bit busier than usual. Our next indicator will appear in the coming days as we begin to get April LSAT results. We’ll be keeping our eyes on not only the number of test takers but also if the percentage of first-time test takers is a bit different from the past. That will give us a read on whether the April LSAT was more a “final hurrah” for this year’s applicants hoping to improve their admissions chances off the waitlist … or a “starting gun” for the coming year’s applicants hoping to get a jump start on the process.

7Sage Events

We have several new posts available on our blog page this week!

With the LSAT in the news and in our readers’ blood pressure readings, LSAT Tutor Albert Gauthier considers the upcoming changes to the LSAT writing section.

Meanwhile, Sam Riley and Tajira McCoy have a new “Dear A.O” post available. This week’s questions include a classic about application timing (is it better to apply earlier … or later but with better stats?) and how admissions officers approach un/underemployment, especially in light of the pandemic.  

And our most recent podcast episode is up and available on your fave streaming platforms. We discuss LOCIs and the most recent US News rankings, as well as have a chat with Bailey Luber (a 7Sage LSAT tutor) about what to do in the time between taking your LSAT and getting your score back.