Greetings, 7Sagers!
If you couldn't tune into our most recent Law Admissions Deans Roundtable discussion on July 27, here's the headline: because of the recent Supreme Court decision on affirmative action, you can anticipate that some law schools will not release their applications on September 1.
During our conversation, several law admissions deans shared that they were still meeting with university administration, general counsel, their law school deans, and/or admissions committees to determine what changes need to be made to their current admissions processes and application to ensure compliance with the Supreme Court ruling.
What's causing the delay? Because these are university-wide decisions, more people have to be pulled into these meetings outside of the admissions team (e.g. general counsel, the law dean, all the way up to university presidents and provosts in some instances) to discuss and weigh different parts of the admissions processes for each respective school on campus. General counsel provides guidance in terms of compliance, and these meetings involve discussions about how to align with that guidance. These considerations extend beyond the application itself––scholarship awards, data reporting, and other areas could potentially be affected. The extent of these considerations is part of what these meetings will help determine.
Law schools will begin to update their websites with new information pertaining to application instructions or prompts as decisions are made, so it's a good idea to check websites for the schools on your list to stay up to date (though understand some of these updates are still forthcoming). Some schools may offer an information session to go over their application process and any new updates to their required or optional materials.
On Wednesday, August 27, during our next roundtable conversation with the law admissions deans, we will continue to discuss potential changes to the admissions process along with the opening of the 2023-2024 application cycle. If you're interested in joining us, register here. The webinar will be recorded for our podcast if you are unable to attend.