Is February Too Late to Apply to Law School?

By Alice Foley, Director of Pre-Law Programming

If you’re reading this, it’s probably February. In the law school application cycle, deadlines are starting to pop up. You may end up sitting there with an application that you haven’t submitted, and you’re trying to decide whether or not it’s too late to apply this cycle. 

If that’s you — first off, don’t panic. Everything is going to be okay. 

At this point, you can apply. The earliest law school deadlines are usually around Feb. 15. The question is still should you apply or should you wait.

This is going to be a tough conversation. For some of you, you can apply in February and be okay. For some of you, applying in February is not setting you up for a very successful cycle and you should consider waiting until the next cycle. I know that this means waiting another year to go to law school, and I know that’s not something you want to do. But it may be better for you in the long run. 

In this blog post, we’re going to walk through some of the things that you should consider as you make the decision on whether or not you should apply this cycle. 

Would you rather listen to this blog post? Check out our podcast episode Is February Too Late to Apply to Law School on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts!

Are the schools you want to apply to selective? 

The first part of this is likely the hardest. You’re going to have to be really honest with yourself about what your application looks like and where you would consider yourself in relation to other applicants. 

First, let’s talk about when it’s probably okay to apply in February. 

Look at the list of schools that you want to apply to and gauge the selectivity of these schools. As you should know by now, law school admissions is rolling. This means that from the day that applications open or that they begin reviewing, they will continuously review and accept students as they come in. 

If they are very selective schools, you are not doing yourself any kind of favor by applying right now. You may be in better shape for a less selective school. 

When I say less selective, I do not mean worse. Selectivity may have to do with where the schools fall in the rankings, but it does not objectively mean that the school has worse outcomes. It also depends on what you are looking for in a law school. If you know that you want to clerk for the Supreme Court of the United States, T14 is probably the best option. If you want to do pretty much anything other than that, there are some other things that are going to be important. You can read more about some of those things here. 

For schools that are less selective, a ton of applications come in in February. In the last 24 to 48 hours before the application deadline, it’s a beast (I know from experience) because of the volume of applications that come in. When you apply in the cycle may not be as detrimental here. 

If you’re still feeling unsure, reach out to an admissions officer at the school(s) you want to apply to. Admissions officers want to help as much as they can, especially if you’ve already made a connection with them. You can call them and explain your situation, and they will help you understand what your odds are of getting in. They will not ever give you a definitive yes or no answer on whether or not you will be accepted, but they may tell you that they would like to see a higher LSAT score or something similar that will give you an indicator of whether or not you get in. 

Another reason to connect with an admissions officer is if something happened that disrupted your cycle. Maybe you wanted to apply in October, but something major happened in your life that prevented it from happening. Admissions wants to hear about it and help you navigate that. I have had applicants come to me with deployments that weren’t planned, kids that weren’t planned, and so on. Knowing this, an admissions officer can vouch for you in front of their committee and give more context.

This is not going to guarantee you admission to their class, but it can’t hurt. 

Are you a competitive applicant? 

All of what I’ve already said is assuming that you’re a competitive applicant. That’s what makes it an alright plan for you to apply to a slightly less selective school vs. one that is very selective. 

Competitive means that you are on or above the school’s medians. Take the time to compare the medians of each school to what your scores are. The other pieces of your application are important, but your LSAT or GRE and your GPA are never not important. They matter. 

If you are sitting below the medians this time of year, you really want to think about waiting. 

First, there may not be much wiggle room left for someone who is below medians because of rolling admissions. Remember, this may not be a you thing, it may be a timing thing. The admissions officer may genuinely want you in the class, they just don’t have the space for you anymore with the students who have already been admitted. 

If you choose to wait, you also give yourself time to take the LSAT again. What would six more months of LSAT prep do for your score? What would it do if you had six more months of prep and you are applying super early in the cycle? Theoretically at this point, most of your application materials are finished, so you have all of that extra time to focus on studying. If it is going to give you a chance to do better on the LSAT, I can pretty confidently say that you should wait just on that metric. 

I am never going to say you categorically should not apply right now. By the time you’re applying to law school, you’re grown. Whether or not you follow my advice is up to you. But why not put yourself in a better position? Why not make sure you are handing that committee the strongest application that you are possible of putting together? 

Aside from the LSAT, it’s important to remember that your best work takes time. This includes the other components of your application, like your essays. If you are rushing through your essays just to get them in, it will show. If you are starting from the beginning now, you do not have time. 

Remember, admissions is looking for students that they think are going to be successful at their law school. They gauge that through your LSAT scores and the materials, like your writing, that you are providing them. If your work isn’t strong enough, it may be a red flag to admissions that you may not be a strong enough student for law school (even if you are, but you just didn’t show it). 

How much does cost factor into your decision?

Law school is expensive. This is not news. 

However, lots of law schools give merit-based aid, most often tied to LSAT and GPA. Some schools also offer need-based aid, but more law schools will offer merit-based aid. 

That aid budget is finite. Because of that, scholarships become a large part of timing in the rolling admissions process. You may be qualified and get admitted, but you cannot be given something that doesn’t exist anymore. They just don’t have the money anymore. Waiting could save you lots of money. 

I applied late in the cycle myself. I got in, which I’m proud of, but I now sit on a house worth of student loans. If someone had been able to tell me that there’s a reason to apply early and take the LSAT more than once if you think you can do better, I wouldn’t have had to have that amount of student loans. It’s a large part of why I do what I do now; I want students to be better as an applicant than I was. 

If you are worried about paying back your loans, you will be in better standing when applying early in the cycle. Sitting out and waiting to send in your application can potentially save you anywhere from $70,000 to $200,000. 

If money is not a consideration for you and you think you are a competitive applicant, then you can take your chances and send in your application. However, there still may be benefits in taking the time to strengthen your application, so do take that into consideration.

Final Thoughts

I know it’s difficult to dig into all of these factors and take a brutally honest look at whether or not you’re ready to apply this cycle. Many people who apply to law school are generally good at a variety of things, including school. Having to settle into the fact that you may not be the most competitive applicant is hard. It does not mean that you do not have value, it just means that you have to take a moment to think about whether or not this is the best time to apply. 

It is still very worth it to put yourself in the absolute best possible place as an applicant. You are giving yourself the best chance to get into law school. You have done a lot of work to get here — why sell yourself short when you’re this close to the end? 

I have every faith that you are going to be an absolutely fabulous attorney in the near future. I know that you can have this hard conversation. I know that you can make this hard decision in the best way for you. And I hope that running through these questions is helpful. 

Those questions are: 

• How selective are the law schools that you want to apply to? 

• How competitive are you as an applicant? 

• How important is the cost to you? 

There is no hardline answer. There is never going to be one. Be honest with yourself as you’re having this conversation. Be proud that you have already put in so much hard work and are taking the time to have the hard conversations to make sure this comes out best as possible. 

The team at Barrier Breakers® Admissions Advising is here to support you through this law school application cycle! Whether it's through discounted advising for BIPOC, first-generation, and LSAC Fee Waiver applicants, our essay review services and courses, or just downloading our free Essential Guide to Applying to Law School, we're here to help make this process easier.

As always, feel free to reach out to us at hello@barrier-breakers.org with any of your questions! You can also submit a question to be answered on our weekly Break Into Law School® Podcast, streaming wherever your favorite podcast service is.