<p>I am entering my sophomore year of undergrad and have started to look into my options for what's next. I'm hoping some contributors will be able to offer advice on timelines for applying/preparing to apply for law school. Essentially, what I should be doing this year, when should LSAT prep start, visiting law schools (do people do that? Or once they get an interview?), how many is the average number of schools applied to, etc.</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>My advice:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>If you haven’t already done so, take a look at <a href=“http://www.lsac.org%5B/url%5D”>www.lsac.org</a>. This is the place to get “official” answers about law school admission.</p></li>
<li><p>Get to know 2-3 profs well during the next 2 years. LORs do matter–more than most of the folks on this board realize.</p></li>
<li><p>IF you have enough time to prepare, and plan to attend law school immediately after law school, take the LSAT the June between junior and senior year. If you can’t prepare adequately for that test and still want to go directly to law school, register with the LSDAS before or shortly after that test date. (See <a href=“http://www.lsac.org%5B/url%5D”>www.lsac.org</a>)
Complete the necessary steps. That way, when you get back your October or December LSAT scores, your file will be ready to go. Wait until you register for the Oct or Dec test date to register and your file will be delayed as your transcript, LORs, etc. are processed. Most LSs use some form of rolling admissions–the later your file is complete, the worse your chances of being admitted. </p></li>
<li><p>Do not visit any law schools-with the possible exception of one affiliated with the university you attend as an UG–until you get a real LSAT score. Without one, you’ll have no idea of where you can get in and until you do, visiting is a waste of time.</p></li>
<li><p>Talk to your pre-law adviser. Almost every college has one. The most important thing to ask is to see the “grids.” These are a list of where the applicants from that school were admitted, together with their “stats”–UG and LSAT. Take it with a grain of salt because URM status, legacy, developmental admits, etc. can distort things. Despite that, these grids are the best single source of info as to where you are likely to be admitted. It won’t help much to look at them until you have a real LSAT score. </p></li>
<li><p>Avoid getting into trouble. Getting a MIP charge will hurt your chances, for example. If you get a traffic ticket–try hard not to–pay it or go to the hearing. Don’t ignore it. These things come back to haunt you.</p></li>
<li><p>As to how many LSs to apply to…that depends on your stats and whether you can pay for it. If you or your family can pay for it and you are valedictorian of your class with a 180 LSAT you won’t have to apply to many schools. If you are a “splitter”–lowish gpa with high LSAT or vice versa–it makes sense to apply to more schools. If you want to fish for merit $, apply to more schools. Again, with REAL LSAT and UGPA, there are several sites which will give you a pretty good idea of where you have a chance of being admitted. That will help you figure out how many apps are desirable.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>I would like to add to Jonri’s excellent advice.</p>
<p>There is a time lag between the time you send your application and the time, the school considers your file complete. Your file will not go to committee until it is complete. Law school is rolling admissions, the process goes on, it just goes on without you if you do not do things in a timely manner.</p>
<p>The June exam is held on Monday. The February exam is a non-disclosed exam (you will get a score, but you will not know how many questions you got right or wrong in each section).</p>
<p>Since law school is rolling admissions have all of your testing done by June senior year. This way if you score high enough, LSAC Candidate Referral Service (CRS) will send you application fee waivers based on your scores. Schools such as Duke will have priority admissions as early as late august late September.</p>
<p>Even with fee waivers, you must pay to have your LSDAS reports sent.</p>
<p>If your school has a credentials file,use the service to to store your recommendation letters and deans certification.</p>
<p>Set up your LSDAS account between junior and senior year. Request your final transcripts through LSDAS to your school, asap (because LSDAS needs time to evaluate them and convert the gpa).</p>
<p>Keep in mind that you must submit transcripts from each and every college you have attended. this includes, dual-enrollment courses, and any college courses you took during high school.</p>
<p>Financial aid in law school is different from undergrad. While you will be considered independent for Federal Aid FAFSA, most schools that give need based aid will require the income/assets of your parents (and spouse should you marry).</p>
<p>Protect your credit, pay your bills on time. You can borrow up to the full cost of attendance through a gradplus loan if you are credit worthy.</p>