Make an appointment with the prelaw adviser to review your individual application process strategies. Be sure to schedule follow-up appointments as necessary throughout the year.
It is your responsibility to seek help. And we are happy to help!
- If you have not already done so, register for the LSAT and with LSDAS. Continue studying for the LSAT.
- Take the LSDAS Transcript Request Card to the Registrar’s Office during the first week of school. This will ensure that LSDAS will have your candidate profile ready to go when your law schools request it.
- Revise your personal statement, based on feedback you have received, as soon as possible. When you have completed the revision, submit it to the prelaw adviser one last time for a final review. This process takes much longer than you may think, so make sure that your personal statement is in final form, ready to be sent to the law schools before the end of September
- If you have not already done so, solicit your letters of recommendation. Meet with your recommenders to set a deadline. Explain to your recommenders that the deadlines that appear on the forms are not the deadlines you intend to use. You must allow your recommenders ample time to write a strong letter. Do not wait until November to finalize this step in the process!
- Once you receive your applications, begin filling them out as if the deadlines were Thanksgiving. Exercise extreme care in completing applications. All applications should be typed. If possible, all of your applications should be completed and mailed no later than early December. If you complete them earlier, then by all means send them out as soon as they are ready.
The earlier you apply, the better, but be sure you have researched schools and can reasonably project! Before actually mailing the applications, you should make photocopies of the completed application for each school in the event that there is a problem with the mail.
Keep in mind that it is your responsibility to see to it that the law schools to which you have applied have indeed received all necessary information. Most law schools provide a number of update-notification postcards in their application materials. Complete all of them with your mailing address, affix proper postage for return, and enclose them with your application. When your LSDAS information and recommendations are received by the law schools, you will then receive a postcard notifying you that your application is complete and under consideration. If you do not receive this card, call the admissions office and inquire as to whether your file is complete.
Once your completed applications are reviewed, there isn’t very much you can do until you hear from the law schools with their decision. If your grades from the fall semester of your senior year were very good, you may want to send an official transcript to the law schools to update them on your academic progress. If your cumulative GPA went down as a result of your performance during the fall of your senior year, do not send an updated transcript unless you are required to do so.
Maintain regular contact with the prelaw adviser. Keep the adviser updated on where you gain admission, where you are wait-listed, and where you have been rejected. You may want to visit those law schools where you have gained admission and are seriously considering attending so that you are better prepared to make a final decision.
Monitor the deposit deadlines at the schools to which you have been accepted — some require a deposit by April. If you are waiting to hear from a school after April, it may be necessary to send a deposit to a school at which you have been admitted. It is better to forfeit a deposit at a law school than lose your space there while waiting for another school’s decision. Discuss such decisions with the prelaw adviser before acting on them.