How to Start Your Law School Applications
Congrats, you’ve decided to apply to law school! But you may be wondering, now what?
The law school application process is one of the most rigorous types of higher education processes you can go through, and there are a variety of steps and components involved. In this blog, we’re going to break down how and where you should get started.
Would you rather listen to this blog post? Listen to our podcast episode, Getting Started on Your Law School Applications, on Spotify or wherever you stream podcasts.
Brainstorming Your Essays
Having to write an essay can be a very daunting part of the law school application process. The question that is rattling around most people’s head is “what do I even write about?” Let’s talk about it.
The first thing to remember is that there is usually more than one essay in the law school application process. Most law schools require a personal statement, which is where you should show why you want to go to law school and what makes you a good candidate. The diversity statement is another piece that can be very beneficial for a variety of people (yes, even white Anglo-Saxon men). There may also be supplemental “why us” essays or other ones specific to the school.
Law schools want to get to know you and get to know who you are, and to give them that full picture you should plan on writing at least two essays. Recognizing this helps take the pressure off of just having one essay to put your entire life into, which is a good first step.
It’s important to also start by understanding what the purpose of the different essays are.
The Personal Statement
Your personal statement should be grounded in why you want to go to law school. The best personal statements are focused on a particular area or passion that’s driving you to law school. It’s your first “case” where you are presenting “evidence” to admissions on what makes you a good candidate for their law school.
Step one to start preparing for this essay is understanding why you want to go to law school. If you don’t know, but you feel like you want to go to law school, do some research and try to find the answer.
Once you feel like you know why you want to go to law school, put that on a shelf. Instead of focusing on that, come up with a variety of stories and moments that were significant to you in your life. They don’t have to be related to law school, but should be any positive or negative moments that have shaped you into who you are.
The goal of the personal statement is to weave together these stories and eventually come up with a final product that paints a picture of why you want to go to law school, rather than you just telling admissions why you want to go to law school.
Download our free guide, Planning & Perfecting Your Personal Statement, for more on this!
The Diversity Statement
Now that you’ve done a large-scale brainstorming, you already have the foundation for your diversity statement. The stories that you don’t use in your personal statement can be used in this essay instead (or in other supplemental essays, scholarship essays, etc.).
In your diversity statement, your goal is to show admissions what makes your perspective different. They want to cultivate diverse law school classrooms, and that doesn’t just mean people of color or underrepresented communities. Someone who goes on tour with a band or who had siblings that were adopted also have different perspectives that they’re bringing to a lesson with them.
Download our free guide, Brainstorming For Your Diversity Statement, for more on this!
Making a Plan & Timeline
Applications open in September, so if you’re reading this in May you’re about four months from the start of application’s actually being open. I say that it usually takes about three months, at least, to get all of your application materials together. Here’s why:
Most students write about four to five drafts of their essays. When you don’t give yourself enough time to write, you don’t give yourself enough time to tweak, which means that you won’t be submitting the strongest essay possible.
As we already discussed, you should be writing two essays at a minimum. That’s eight drafts. You also need to account time for brainstorming and outlining.
If you’re working, studying for the LSAT exam, or just want to have a great summer, it’s important to be real with yourself about whether or not you’ll be writing a draft consistently every single week. (If the answer is no, you need to budget for that time!)
We suggest spending three to four months on your applications. Keeping in mind that applications open on September 1, this means starting in late spring is the ideal choice.
Make sure to take out a planner, a Google calendar, or even just your notes app and take a solid look at the reality of your life and where self-made due dates can fit on your own timeline. (If you feel like you need an accountability partner, we’re right here!)
How to Get Started on Non-Essay Essentials
Outside of your essays and the LSAT, there are several other essay essentials that you will need to put together or request that you should consider in your timeline.
You should start by signing up for LSAC’s Credential Assembly Service (CAS), which is similar to the Common App or Coalition App that you used when applying to college. When you upload your transcript, letters of recommendation, and any other documents to CAS, all ABA-approved law schools that you apply to will receive a report with these documents and your LSAT score.
(Note: Be sure to check if you qualify for a fee waiver for CAS!)
Transcripts
If you’re done with school, go ahead and request that your university send a transcript to LSAC. There is a chance that there will be administrative delays, so make sure to give them as much time as possible. You don’t want to hit September 1 and be waiting on a transcript to apply.
If you're still in school or are taking summer classes, once the summer grades have been released go ahead and request your transcript. Make a plan to update your transcript (AKA request another one) once your fall grades are released. You can always send updated transcripts, LSAT scores, etc. after your application is submitted.
Letters of Recommendation
You will be able to ask for letters of recommendation through CAS, but you should also be touching base with your professors or professional contacts personally to ask.
We recommend that you give your recommenders at least a month to write your essays, so be sure to factor that into your application timeline. Learn more about how to ask your professors for letters of recommendation.
I hope that this blog post helps give you a comprehensive look at how to start the law school application process. It’s important to remember that applications are timely, and depending on who you are as an applicant, applying as early as possible in the application process can make a huge difference in where you end up attending law school.
This process can be very overwhelming, but we are here to help you every step of the way! Whether it’s through personalized one-on-one counseling, our Quick Start essay plans, or just downloading our free Essential Guide to Applying to Law School, there is definitely something we can do for you to help make this process a little bit easier.
As always, feel free to reach out to us at hello@smontgomeryconsulting.com with any of your questions! You can also submit a question to be answered on our weekly Break Into Law School™ Podcast, streaming whatever your favorite podcast service is.
Best of luck with your applications!