Your Ideal Law School Application Timeline

Month-by-Month Law School Application Timeline

Whether law has always been your ideal career or the idea arrived more recently, you’ve decided to apply to law school, and a clear law school application timeline will make the process far more manageable. If you’ve chosen not to take a gap year before law school, balancing your junior and senior years of college along with law school applications could be tough. Of course, the same difficulty applies to a gap year when you might be working a 9-5 job and struggle to find the energy to study for the LSAT. [1] What you need is a law school application timeline to help you.

No matter your situation, knowing important dates and deadlines can help you stay on top of the law school admissions process. In this blog, we have a law school application timeline for you, alongside a more detailed look at the best time to submit law school applications.

Before You Begin Applying: December-January

• Rack up extracurriculars for law school – common ones such as debate or Model UN are great, but think outside the box as well. Try to find volunteer experiences that can help you get noticed. Conduct research with a professor in an area of law that appeals to you. Find an internship as a legal assistant at a law firm. Volunteer to help refugees in your community. The possibilities are endless.
• Work Experience – Beef up your legal resumé through relevant jobs, honing skills that would be useful in the legal world. You can work as a legal assistant at a law firm, or as a secretary for a senator. It doesn’t always have to be directly related to law though. As long as you’re able to connect your goals and skills to those tied to pursuing a legal career, working in almost any field is okay! 
• Prepare for the LSAT. If you are ready, register for an LSAC account and take the LSAT in February.

Once You Have Decided to Apply: February-May

• Continue studying for the LSAT. Create a study schedule and take many, many timed practice tests.
• View upcoming LSAT dates and register for the June LSAT if you haven’t taken it before then.
• Letters of Recommendation Prep – Start talking to potential recommenders so that they can prepare to write letters for you in the upcoming months. Choose recommenders who actually know you well.
• Start formulating your law school list. Don’t limit yourself to the T-14 schools. Consider a range of fit and safety schools as well. 
• Sign up for the Credential Assembly Service (CAS), a service by the LSAC, which provides law schools of your choice with your law school report consisting of your transcript, LSAT scores, and letters of recommendation.
• Visit law school campuses if possible. Visiting a school can help you get a feel of the environment, get a glimpse of a typical day, and ask current students any questions you might have about their experience. If you schedule an appointment ahead of time, you can even meet with admissions staff and talk through opportunities and application requirements. If you can’t visit in person, check whether the school offers virtual tours or information sessions.

June-August

• Finalize your law school list with a good balance of reach, fit, and safety schools. LSAC recommends applying to at least three schools, and most applicants choose several more. [2]
• The opening date for each application depends on the school. Many open in late summer or early fall, so note each school’s opening date. More on that later.
• Prepare to retake the LSAT in September if needed. To avoid mistakes you might have made the first time, practice as much as possible, especially emphasizing trouble areas. Create a study schedule, form a study group, use flashcards – pull out all the stops to make sure you get a higher score this time.
• Start drafting your personal statement. This essay should show what makes you a must-have candidate. What unique experiences do you bring that your peers can’t? 
• Finish working on your resumé. Proofread and polish it, ensuring that the most relevant and impressive experiences are listed first.
• Request that your transcript from college is sent to LSAC.
• Check in with your recommenders about their letters. Inform them of academic and resumé updates if applicable. Be enthusiastic and appreciative!

September-November

• Personal Statement – Remember that the length of the personal statement varies by program, so be prepared to modify it according to each law school’s requirements. Or, stay ahead of the game, and prepare multiple versions of different lengths. 
• Diversity Statement – Many law schools offer the opportunity to submit a diversity statement, a prompted response, or an addendum. If not about identity, the diversity statement can elaborate on a unique activity that you’ve engaged in that others may not have. 
• Supplemental Essays – Law schools also ask for supplemental essays. Some schools, like Yale, ask for a short essay on a topic of your choice to get a sense of your interests, character, and your analytical and writing skills. Use this as an opportunity to talk about your goals and interests, an anecdote that might define you, or your thoughts on a current event.
• Edit – Finish putting the final touches on your personal statement and diversity statement. Edit, edit, edit.
• Letters of Recommendation – Urge your recommenders to submit their letters by the end of September so that they don’t slow down your application process.
• Retake the LSAT in October if needed.
• Interviews – Some schools invite applicants to interview, so keep your schedule flexible and prepare to discuss your goals. 
• Finish updating the information in your law school report.
• Check and double-check all the components of your application. Proofread your essays as much as possible. Make sure all of the information is correct.
• Submit your applications when you are ready, ideally by Halloween! 
• Confirm that schools have received your completed applications.

December-March

• Check the deadlines – Most schools’ applications close around March-May, so double-check the deadline for each of the schools on your list if you’re still working on your application.
• Interviews – Attend interviews if they are available and if you are invited. Remember to clearly state why you want to become a lawyer, as well as why you are interested in the particular law school you are interviewing for. Prepare at least a couple of questions to ask the admissions officer at the end of the interview.
• The waiting begins – Wait to hear back from law schools on a rolling basis. Early Decision applicants usually hear back sooner, while regular applicants may wait until spring. Check each school’s stated notification timeline.
• Getting off the Waitlist – If you are waitlisted at a school you really want to attend, send in a letter of continued interest and an updated resumé.
• Make your final decision, and confirm your enrollment with your school of choice by its stated deadline.

April-June

• If you’re still in college, submit updated transcripts to CAS to be sent to your future law school.
• Inform the law schools which you won’t be attending of your decision. 
• Make sure you have housing arrangements for the fall – whether it’s on-campus or off-campus.
• Send thank you notes to your recommenders for taking the time to write letters on your behalf. 
• Attend admitted student open houses, and prepare for law school. 

There you have it, your law school application timeline. Let’s take a closer look at the actual submission period in greater detail.

How to Get Started on Your Law School Applications

The first step in the law school application timeline will be to set up the administrative details of your application. [3] Early in your application process you should register for the LSAC’s Credential Assembly Service (CAS), which provides law schools of your choice with your law school report. The report will consist of your transcript, LSAT scores, and letters of recommendation. 

Upon completing your registration you can begin the arduous process of getting your school(s) to send in all relevant transcripts so that you do not have to worry about that piece when more time-intensive application work really ramps up. You can sign up for an LSAC and CAS account at any time. You do not need to sign up for CAS when you register for the LSAT, but LSAC recommends registering about six to eight weeks before your first law school application deadline, and it takes about two weeks to process a transcript once it arrives. [3] You should also plan out your letters of recommendation strategy if you haven’t already. Your recommendations should come from academic references who can talk about what you’re like in the classroom. These are two of the main components of the application that could be the most time-intensive and out-of-your-sole-control. So, it’s smart to start to check them off your list early. 

Application Opening Dates, Deadlines, and Early Decision

Consider the opening and closing date of top schools. Most schools open applications in late summer or early fall and set final deadlines between February and spring, so confirm every date on each school’s admissions page. 

While you can have most of your application components prepared, you will be faced with some additional prompts that you won’t be able to prepare for too far in advance.

Even though you shouldn’t wait until the last possible day to submit, it’s still helpful to keep track of the deadline for the window to close. You might also consider applying Early Decision in order to know your fate earlier, increase your chances, and get the process out of the way (if you’re ready of course). Deadlines change from year to year, so verify them directly with each school. Our guide to law schools with Early Decision covers how the binding options work. Here are sample Early Decision deadlines for notable law schools. 

Early Decision 1 and 2 are both binding. You can apply for either ED round, depending on when your materials are ready. Whether you decide to apply early or in the regular round, don’t leave your submission until the last minute.

When to Submit Your Law School Applications

Your law school application timeline will depend on factors like your LSAT test date, since scores are released a few weeks after each test. Ideally, send in your applications by Halloween. [4] If you can submit your application earlier, that’s even better! If Halloween is a stretch and you need more time, at most, you should definitely send them before the big holiday rush that comes with Thanksgiving and Christmas. While many people do apply in January, it’s not the most strategic decision since a significant proportion of the class will have been admitted already. Be smart and get started early on the application components that you can anticipate and draft in advance, such as your personal statement and diversity statement. When the applications open, you can put more focus on school-specific requirements.

As you consider your law school application timeline remember that the goal should always be to send in your applications as soon as possible. Similar to any other application, follow the schools’ guidelines and adhere to deadlines to make sure you’ve submitted all the requirements on time. Keep Halloween as a solid target date to get everything done. Hopefully, you’ll have a smooth sailing application process on your way to getting that JD. Best of luck!

Take Control of Your Law School Application Timeline

If you want to stay ahead of deadlines and submit the best possible application, InGenius Prep works with you through every step of your law school application timeline. Our Former Admissions Officers help you create a personalized strategy, build a competitive LSAT plan, refine your personal statement and supplemental essays, and ensure every component of your application is ready early.

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