Assembling a Law School Application

Applying to law school is exhausting. Applications are long, expensive, and give you anxiety like you’ve never felt before. This week I’ll discuss key points for each component of a law school application - fees, transcripts, LSAT scores, letters of recommendation, resumes, statements of intent, diversity statements, and addendums.

Like I said, they’re LONG.

STARTING OUT

I have good news and bad news right off the bat.

The good news: most, if not all, law schools only accept apps submitted through the Law School Application Center, LSAC for short. LSAC is kind of like the law school version of the undergrad Common App - you simply make an account on https://www.lsac.org/, start uploading documents, and choose where to apply. Simple!

The bad news hits quick though - creating an LSAC account costs $195. Technically you’re paying for the “Credential Assembly Service” (CAS), which generates a Law School Report for each application. The CAS includes a transcript summarization, creation of individual law school reports (which includes an academic summary report, LSAT scores, transcripts, admission index (?), and anything else the school requires), letter of rec processing, and electronic application processing. After you’ve filled out your personal information and uploaded the documents one time, the CAS automatically generates that info for all applications.

Neat little operation, but does that really cost $195??? Additionally, it’s not a true “one-time” fee; each separate report costs an additional $45. On top of that, most law schools charge their own fee - between $60 and $100 - for each application.

And the expenses don’t end there. The LSAC also administers the Law School Admission Test (LSAT), which costs a cool $200 per test - and many people take it 2-3 times.

When all is said and done, applying for ONE law school costs a minimum of $500. Which leads to my first PRO TIP: always check if you qualify for a fee exemption. I didn’t qualify for anything through LSAC, but some law schools waived their fee for active duty and veteran students. I probably saved a few hundred dollars that way - definitely worth the extra effort.

TRANSCRIPTS

Every law school requires transcripts from your undergraduate and graduate institutions, whether or not the degree has been completed. The processing part can take a minute (I think the LSAC website says 2 weeks to fully process), but it’s fairly easy to request transcripts from your undergraduate/graduate school. Just give it a quick google.

PRO TIP: Don’t stress too much about transcripts. Your overall GPA matters, but if there are a few low-ish grades in there, you’ll be alright. I had TWO C’s on mine and still got into Harvard 🤷‍♀️

LSAT SCORES

The LSAT is currently a requirement for almost every law school - a few of the Ivys, Harvard included, have recently begun accepting GREs in lieu of LSATs. The good news is, registering/taking the test is the hard part! Uploading scores is super easy because the LSAC runs the LSAT testing; therefore, I’m fairly sure you can upload each score once. You can also apply without your latest LSAT score and just let the school know that a new score is pending!

PRO TIP: One low LSAT score in a series does not spell death for your app, nor is it an automatic “you’re out” if your scores are ‘low’ compared to the desired school’s average. I believe most schools focus on your highest score, and you can always add an addendum to explain a true outlier (more on that later).

LETTERS OF RECOMMENDATION

Here’s what the LSAC says about letters of rec:

“The most effective letters of recommendation are written by professors or work supervisors who know you well enough to describe your academic, personal, or professional achievements and potential with candor, detail, and objectivity. Letters that compare you to your academic peers are often the most useful.

Most schools do not consider general, unreservedly praiseworthy letters helpful.”

I think this is great advice for LORs in general. They are VERY important and have an enormous capacity to help or hurt applications. They prove that someone (besides you - and you know, your mom) thinks you’ll be a successful law student and lawyer.

I took a “less is more” approach with my LORs; most schools set a minimum of two and a maximum of four, and I submitted two. I got one from an Academy professor, who attested to my academic performance and attitude in the classroom, and one from a military supervisor, who spoke for my integrity, leadership, and work ethic. After speaking with both recommenders, I didn’t think a third voice would add value for the admissions officers. However, I would have added a third - or even fourth - if I felt I had a good reason.

PRO TIP: Choose your recommenders early in the application process. It takes time to reach out, secure a letter, and upload it properly into the LSAC system. This last part is especially annoying - LSAC must contact your recommenders directly because the recommender uploads the final letter, not you. That can be confusing so give yourself a little breathing room!

RESUME

Like LSAT scores and transcripts, resumes are one-and-done; after you’ve got a good draft, just reuse it! I highly recommend using a professional template, even if it’s simply modeled from a free internet source - DIY resumes never look quite right. I’m pretty sure I looked at all my friends’ resumes for other grad schools, chose my favorite, and then put in my own information.

Apart from a header with your name, address, and contact information, resumes usually include sections describing education, work experience, activities/hobbies, skills, and awards/honors. Keep it simple, clear, and relatively short; my resume was two pages long and I probably should have kept it to one.

PRO TIP: Unless you have a REALLY good reason, don’t reach back to the high school days. Law schools really only care about what you’ve done in undergrad and beyond.

STATEMENT OF INTENT

This is the subject of next week’s post so I’ll keep this short. Statements of intent are CRITICAL. It’s any admission counselor’s first opportunity to “meet” you, so you want it to be memorable! Of all the things in an application, the statement of intent should probably take the most time.

PRO TIPS: Always read your statement out loud (makes a huge difference) and have one or two people proofread it before submitting.

ADDENDUMS AND/OR DIVERSITY STATEMENTS

Law schools often give the option to include a diversity statement or addendum with the required documents. These are used for very different purposes; while the diversity statement is a space to explain how your experiences will add to the school’s diversity, the addendum is used to explain “deficiencies” in your application. These can include anything from low test scores, poor grades, or other “less than great” aspects on your application.

These can be great, but only include a diversity statement or addendum if you feel it ADDS to the overall application. If you’ve already discussed diversity within the statement of intent, you probably don’t need to do it again. Likewise, not every “bad grade” needs an addendum - I didn’t explain away my two C’s!

PRO TIP: The key word here is EXPLAIN, not EXCUSE. Schools want a short, clear explanation for deficiencies, not a sob story. I personally included one addendum for the applications which required my GRE scores as well as the LSAT scores - the reason? I didn’t study for it, so the scores were terrible, and I wanted the admissions counselors to know that my LSAT scores were a better reflection of my academic ability. Simple!

That’s all for today - next week, I’m going to dive into writing a good statement of intent because I get a lot of questions about those. Hope this helps anyone going into Application Season and (as always!) I’m happy to answer follow-on questions.