Once your law school application is finally complete, you send it in and wait. Right? Well, there may still be more to do.
Most law schools have a rolling admissions process that extends over several months. If you sent in your application early, and it is deferred, held or even rejected, you should update the law school with any new and significant information you think they should have to evaluate your candidacy. We spoke recently with George Washington University Law School’s Dean for Admissions and Financial Aid, Anne M. Richard, and she suggests you notify the law school and provide them with new and “material” information. “An improvement in your LSAT score, membership in Phi Beta Kappa, job promotions and awards.” These are the types of things that strengthen and improve your application enough to merit notifying a school.
Dean Richard says that may even make sense if your application was already considered and rejected by a law school. Depending on what the new information is, it may be just enough to earn reconsideration and a spot in the incoming class. Dean Richard tells us that GW Law School wants to hear from an applicant with that type of new information.
Harvard too? The Official JD Admissions Blog at Harvard Law School recently offered similar advice to the first batch of applicants the school put on “hold”. “Hold” status is where the admissions committee is “not quite ready to make a decision on your application yet and need[s] some more time to re-examine it in the context of the broader applicant pool.” HLS Dean of Admissions, Josh Rubenstein, encouraged applicants placed on “hold” to send updates such as honors or awards you’ve recently won, a new job, or anything else that you think could materially impact our evaluation of you.”
While LSAT scores and updated transcripts will need to come from LSAC or LSDAS, you might want to find out the best way to send other updates to a particular school (email or postal mail etc).
Listen to “Law School Application Strategy: What You Can Do Now To Help You Get Accepted” and “Creating the Killer Law School Application: A Step-by-Step Guide to Creating the Best Application” to hear other tips from experts inside the admissions offices at several top law schools about the ways to make your application go from good to better, to getting that acceptance letter!