Some of the truest signs that spring has sprung are obvious to all observers—flower bulbs poking out of the ground, birds building nests in trees that are just beginning to bud, seasonal allergies beginning to tick up, and temperatures rising enough for people to confidently leave their jackets at home. But other true signs are obvious only to people in certain industries—to wit, the waves of admitted law students that will descend on campuses for the first big series of visit days this coming weekend. So as admissions officers say a few prayers and/or incantations to try and ensure sunny weather and that all the faculty are more “kind and welcoming” rather than “crusty and cantankerous” for a few days
let’s take a quick look at the news and headlines from around the world of law school admissions.
National Application AND Decision Trends
We’re combining two of our normal sections!
Wait … let’s phrase that more as a question—we’re combining two of our normal sections?
Indeed, we are!
With April on the horizon, we’ve reached the time of year when schools are wrapping up the main thrust of their pre-waitlist decisions for the season. This is a consequence not only of the time of year (i.e., schools have been reading applications for quite some time and are just naturally concluding the process) but also of the applicant pool.
Regarding the applicant pool, this week’s check on LSAC’s Current Volume Summaries report shows that applications have stayed steady in the past week:
That national increase hasn’t gone anywhere (and won’t go anywhere, but we digress…).
Some schools still have space to make admit offers. These are going to mostly be schools that operate a little more slowly and schools that are more regional.
Regarding the first group, schools like Stanford, NYU, and Columbia tend to move a bit slower in providing decisions than their T14 brethren. In the case of Stanford, this appears to be by design—they are an old school admissions office that really tries to engage their faculty in the admissions process (and faculty tend to slow things down since their primary job is “teaching,” not “reading applications”). In the case of NYU and Columbia, they have two of the largest applicant pools in the country, tend to be a bit understaffed, and—thus—are susceptible to getting a bit behind in admissions decisions in years when their applicant pools increase. This is why we still see Columbia being active in making admit offers per lawschooldata.org’s Recent Decisions page:
The regional schools, meanwhile, typically have to keep admitting applicants through the cycle so as to hit their enrollment numbers for the year. Don’t be surprised to see plenty of admit decisions from these schools through April.
But most other top schools are starting to wind down their admissions decisions, as we saw happen just this past Friday via the Recent Decisions page:
And then there was Penn flying in off the top rope to deliver the news:
As we say in the admissions biz—oof.
We may see more waitlist offers than typical because of schools’ uncertainty in deposit patterns. A lot of schools are aiming for increased LSAT medians. Students with high LSATs tend to be less likely to deposit. Why? Because they’re more likely—in a normal year—to have been admitted by a higher-ranked law school. But in a year when applications are up so dramatically, it can make sense for an admissions office to expand their waitlist offers just to mitigate any risk if they don’t hit their enrollment goals.
From the student perspective, this is all very sigh. Waiting for months to receive a decision and then having it be a waitlist—with all the uncertainty that goes along with that process—is emotionally and spiritually challenging. But given the broader conditions of this year’s applicant pool, it wouldn’t be surprising if we see an active waitlist season. We’ll touch on this more in next week’s post.
LSAT Registrations
Last week, we reported that just 379 people around the world had scrapped their plans to take the April LSAT.
This week, it’s more than 379 … but not so much as to change our assessment that the April LSAT will be a doozy—just 772 people, or 2.9%. Here’s the fresh data per LSAC’s LSAT Registrants and Test Taker Volumes report:
Meanwhile, the June numbers continue to creep up even though we’re still three weeks away from the registration deadline. Add it all up and our early indications for next year are still that the applicant pool will be no worse than “on par” with this year.
And based on that insight, we have a live look in on this year’s stressed out applicants advising next year’s stressed out applicants
Admitted Student Visit Days
But let’s end on a more hopeful note than—literal—gallows humor!
Returning back to the top, this week will see a great deal of admitted students arriving at law school campuses for visit days. While we know that so much information is available to admitted students both via official channels (like schools’ publications and their websites) and via unofficial channels (like a networking conversation with an alum or an AMA with a current student on Reddit), there are some matters that an admitted student just can’t get a feel for remotely. You have to actually be there in order to feel it. And before you take out a few thousand (or tens … or hundreds of thousands) dollars in student loans, it’s good to visit a school and make sure it’s a good fit for you.
But how to best take advantage of an admitted student day? We have some quick advice!
Arrive a Little Early
Part of this advice is purely practical! Many law schools are located on college campuses where the visitor parking is—shall we say—not conveniently located vis-à-vis the academic buildings. Making sure you know where you’re going and where to park and leaving yourself time for a nice walk across campus (rather than a full sprint while wearing heels) is a good way to start the day.
But part of this advice is also mental. Visit days can be a sensory overload. You’ll meet a lot of different people, some of whom are going to be your classmates, friends, and professional colleagues for life. The law school staff is going to do their best to tell you all about the amazing opportunities at their school—academic programming, clinics, the career office, the alumni network, and on and on and on. And you’re going to meet faculty who are likely to be not only your professors but also your professional mentors.
It’s a lot to take in!
So give yourself some time before the craziness starts just to center yourself. You’ll likely have a better experience through the course of the day!
Dress Appropriately
You’ll likely get some guidance from the school about appropriate dress. If so, just take your cues from the school!
But if the school says nothing, assume business casual or smart casual. You really can’t go wrong with either. The only nod towards comfort that we would suggest would be your shoes. If we’re right about the long walk from the parking lot and if part of the visit day involves walking around on tours, comfy shoes are a must.
Keep an Open Mind
One of the biggest hesitations that we hear from admitted students who are questioning whether or not to visit is some variation of “But they’re just going to give me a sales pitch.” To which our answer is “That is correct!” But a sales pitch isn’t a bad thing. It’s only a negative if the audience either isn’t paying attention (so they may be inclined not to question any aspect of the pitch) or is cynical (in which case, they aren’t leaving themselves open to the positive aspects of the pitch). Assume that the school is trying to do two things at once—put on their best face, but also put on their authentic face. So keep an open mind to the sales pitch, ask questions if something isn’t clear, and be sure to follow up at a later time if you think of a question down the road.
Make a Recap
After you visit, take a few minutes to jot down the pluses and minuses of the visit that would be important to your law school experience. That last part in italics is essential—while it may be very important to you that the luncheon you were served was subpar (“These brownies at the dessert table are stale! I will take my legal education elsewhere!”), that hopefully won’t be as important to you come orientation in August. But the things that will be important? That would be the academic environment, how the professors interact with the students, the vibe of the current students, and the professional outcomes from the law school. Taking time to decompress and write down your thoughts should prove helpful when deposit deadlines come up in a few weeks!
7Sage Events
We’re taking a brief break from our weekly admissions classes, but these will resume in a few weeks. 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 7Sage Admissions Podcast dropped last Monday and featured a conversation with our Sam Squad—Dr. Sam Riley and Sam Kwak, admissions consultants extraordinaire—about how public and private law schools typically approach the merit- and need-based financial aid process. Be sure to tune in on Amazon, Spotify, Apple, or wherever you stream your podcasts!
And speaking of tuning in, our Law School Admissions Deans’ Roundtable will be March 27th at 8 PM Eastern. Registration is required but free.