The Application Process: Build in Time to Review Application Instructions

By Tajira McCoy Published Jul 5, 2022 Updated Jun 12, 2023

What's Going On in the Admissions Cycle Right Now?

Law schools are updating their recruitment calendars to give applicants a sense of when and where their admissions officers will be visiting this fall (either in person or virtually). Keep a lookout for information session offerings that begin this summer and extend into the fall—these are great ways to learn more about programmatic and curricular offerings, ways to get involved on campus, and a school’s overall admissions process.

FAQs from Students

Are optional statements really necessary? It depends. Is there more information that AOs can learn about you that can help to close gaps, answer underlying questions, or provide more context? Does the optional statement allow you to showcase more of your personality or allow AOs to learn something new about you that they wouldn’t find elsewhere on the application? Yes, optional statements are more work, but these supplemental materials help AOs to piece together a big-picture view of who you are as a candidate, and the added information may be what we need to get to yes.

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Discussion

Now is the time for candidates to begin preparing law school application materials if you are planning to apply this fall. Many candidates spend the summer touring different campuses, drafting their documents, securing their letters of recommendation, and submitting their final transcripts to the LSAC. If they haven’t taken the LSAT yet or need to retake the exam, a large number of candidates focus on the August and September test dates to remain early in the cycle.

The very first wave of applicants in every admission cycle often feels a great deal of pressure to get their applications in on the very first day possible, but there are several reasons why I would advise against this practice.

For the majority of law schools, applications open on September 1. Systems are not without their glitches, and sometimes, a law school has to see the application go live before they recognize that there is a need for corrections. Applications can be pulled back and adjusted in those first opening days, and if you’ve already started to fill out the application, your application will not include that updated material.

Additionally, many candidates base their statements off of the prompts posted on law school websites from the previous cycle; however, those prompts are subject to change with each cycle, and that new prompt information is not released until the application goes live. This can affect guidelines for more standard statements like personal and diversity statements, prompts for optional statements, or guidelines for addenda. These changes can affect the length of your documents, the format in which they should be submitted, or the topics to be discussed.

The requirements within the C&F section may be adjusted to now include or exclude specific circumstances. Qualifying circumstances that trigger a required statement may change. New questions may be introduced. Candidates are expected to address these questions fully—there may not be bandwidth or opportunity for the admissions office to follow up with individual candidates for missing information or additional context.

Similarly, scholarship essay requirements and prompts may change each cycle—some essays may be removed from the application altogether and instead have their own separate process, while others may have new deadlines or questions that need to be addressed.

I cannot stress enough how important it is to take time to review the applications and app instructions for each of the schools on your list. Knowing that a school didn’t make substantive changes to their application last year does not mean that you’re in the clear this cycle—some schools actually plan their changes for every other year—it’s a thing. Allow yourself adequate time to ensure that all of your materials meet the requirements of the application instructions and are as responsive to the prompts as possible. There are AOs and admissions committee members that pay very close attention to applications that do not follow explicit instructions—this is not the pile where you want your application to land.

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Recruitment Events

• American University is offering virtual information sessions on select Tuesdays at 3 p.m. ET through August 2. Register here. American is also offering in-person information sessions on select Fridays at 1 p.m. ET. Register here.
• Arizona State is offering virtual JD information sessions every other Tuesday at 9:30 a.m. MT. Register here.
• Berkeley Law is offering a series of information sessions for different categories of applicants planning to apply to their JD program this fall:
  • General JD Applicants, Wednesday July 13 at 4 p.m. PT (register).
  • Reapplicants, Thursday, July 21 at 4 p.m. PT (register).
  • College Seniors, Tuesday, July 26 at 4 p.m. PT (register).
  • Working Professionals, Monday, August 1 at 5 p.m. PT (register).
  • Binding Early Decision (BED) Applicants, Tuesday, August 9 at 4 p.m. PT (register).
• Boston College is offering in-person tours on Mondays and Wednesdays at 12 p.m. ET. Participants are limited to one guest per tour and must register for tours in advance. Register here.
• Cornell is offering a virtual open house for prospective students on Wednesday, July 13 at 12 p.m. ET. Register here.
• Duke Law School is offering virtual information sessions on July 7, July 21, August 4, and August 18 at 2 p.m. ET. Register for one or more here.
• George Washington University is offering a virtual “Ask Me Anything” information session on Wednesday, July 20 at 3 p.m. ET. Register here.
• Georgetown Law is offering a JD applicant information session via Zoom on Monday, July 25 at 11 a.m. ET. Register here.
• The LSAC is sponsoring a Washington, D.C. law school fair, hosted by Catholic University, on Saturday, July 23 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. ET. For more information, sign up here.
• Northeastern Law is offering outdoor law school tours, showcasing three of their law school buildings. Each tour is led by a current law student who will take Q&A during the tour. Schedule a tour here.
• Notre Dame Law is offering in-person visits, which include an admissions information session and a student-led tour of the law school on Fridays at 11 a.m. ET. RSVP here. They are also offering group information sessions via Zoom every other Wednesday, which will include time for Q&A. RSVP here.
• UCLA Law is offering in-person law school tours on Mondays and Fridays. They are also offering virtual law school tours on Wednesdays. Register here.
• University of Miami is offering a virtual admissions information session on Wednesday, July 20 at 2 p.m. ET. Register here. They are also offering a virtual LSAT workshop for prospective students on Wednesday, July 13 at 2 p.m. ET. Register here.
• University of Richmond is offering a summer series of virtual events. On Tuesday, July 12 at 1 p.m. ET, join the admissions team for a session on the personal statement (register here).
• Vanderbilt Law is offering a virtual information session about their JD program on Wednesday, July 27 at 12 p.m. CT. The session will be led by an admissions officer and will cover a brief overview of the law school, the admissions process, student life, and employment outcomes. Register here.
• WashU Law in St. Louis is offering meetings with admissions, virtual open houses, and live-streamed events. For more details and to sign up, click here.
• Yale Law is offering one-on-one appointments with a member of the admissions office to address prospective student questions. Schedule here.