Law School Application Deadlines | The Timeline & Milestones to Becoming a Lawyer

Law school application deadlines are some of the most important dates for a lawyer-to-be. Miss one test, and you'd have to wait several months for another chance at it and extend your stay in college.

If your goal is to finish law school as quickly as humanly possible, make sure you are up-to-date with all the important dates necessary to graduate, from LSAT prepping (see here) to CAS registration, and even applying to your chosen law school.

Law School Application Deadlines - Overview and Timeline

Law school admissions are quite different to other courses since several factors affect the steps you have to take before, during and after submitting applications. So if you are in your junior year of pre-law degree, then here are several things you must know and accept:

Rejection is possible. Accept that you can be rejected by at least 1 school you apply to. This is because many law schools look at GPA scores or your LSAT tests on top of other requirements, so competition can be tough.
Apply to 2 or more law schools - Make a list of the top 5 schools you wish to go into, but be reasonable. Include only 2 "dream schools" that you hope of getting into, and around 3 or more schools that you have a good chance of admission.
Law school admissions vary - The law school application deadlines vary between colleges. As such, you have to learn about the application dates from your top 5, top 7 or top 10 schools to be able to submit requirements early.
Your journey to law schools begins 1 to 2 years before completing your pre-law degree. Once you hit junior year earning a bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university, your clock starts for the law school hunt, completion of requirements and the actual application. Then, as you get closer to your end goal, the question "is law school hard?" pops up!

Applying to Law School

You cannot just walk into a law school and enroll whenever you want to. Each school in America (and even other parts of the world) follow their own law school applying timeline that they publish regularly and that students have to meet.

Applying to a law school takes time.

How much time, you ask? Well, it takes as little as 1 year or as long as 2 years to go through the process of getting into law school.

When do law school applications open? Check out your law school choices below:

1. Prep for the LSAT - LSAT Prep Timeline

One of the biggest factors that affect the length of your law school preparation is the month when you'll take the LSAT (Law School Admission Test) and if you pass this standardized test your first try or not.

As you may have known by now, the LSAT is offered several times a year and the registration deadline for each of them comes a month in advance.

By your junior year, you should have decided when to take the LSAT and make an outline for your LSAT prep (do you have enough time to prepare for the LSAT throughout an entire school year? or do you prefer the last-minute studying for a month or so?)

No matter which law school you decide to go to, your law school application timeline begins with the following:

Junior year

Finalize the list of law schools you wish to apply to.
Decide when to take the LSAT. There are LSAT dates almost every other month.
Begin studying for your LSAT. Create a reasonable study plan based on when you're planning to take the LSAT. If you decided to go with a February test, you should start anytime during the last quarter of the current year. If you still have a long time to prep, then decide when or how you will go about your LSAT studies.
Set up your LSAC account. This is where you'll receive any official news about the LSAT, take the actual LSAT and receive your LSAT scores. This account also lets you apply online to your chosen law schools and check the status of your application.
Take your LSAT. If your timeline requires you complete the LSAT at the later part of your junior year, then take the test as scheduled.
Check LSAT scores. Once you receive an email about your LSAT scores, decide if you're OK with your score, or if you prefer to retake the test. Only do this if you still have a lot of time before law school application deadlines.

Senior year

Compile information packets of your chosen law schools. You must know the requirements for each of the law schools you're applying to, since some of them may have additional documents you're required to submit.
Register for CAS. This paid service by the LSAC is a huge help if you want to organize your law school applications into one portal.
Retake the LSAT. If you weren’t content with your initial LSAT scores, you can still retake the test and hope for the best that the next test results in better scores.
Complete requirements. Get all your school records into your CAS account, from school transcripts to letters of recommendations, essays, and other documents. You can all upload them into your CAS account.

2. Register for CAS

The Credential Assembly Service is a service provided by LSAC.

When you pay $195 for a CAS account, you can simplify your law school application process. This is particularly helpful if you are planning to apply to multiple law schools. And since that fee is valid for the next 5 years, you can perform various tasks, such as:

Store everything. Your LSAT scores, transcripts, letter of recommendations, essays, and other required documents can be uploaded here once, stored and then organized into a full report.
Process letter of recommendation.
Authentication of your academic records.
Apply to all your chosen law schools. All American Bar Association-approved law schools can be applied to via your CAS account.
Receive a law school report (this cost $45/school report, so use only when necessary)

Note that since processing transcripts would take at least 2 weeks and letters of recommendations are checked and evaluated at around 5 days each, make sure to take care of your CAS account early in your law school application timeline.

3. Submit your transcripts and letters of recommendation to CAS

Your colleges won't send your transcripts automatically. You need to request them to send the transcript to the CAS. The good news is you'd only have to do this once for every school you completed pre-law.

The letters of recommendation can also be compiled, stored and included with the CAS report, which will be sent to various law schools when you submit your application.

List down the people like professors and colleagues who know you and are well enough to provide some thoughts about your past record and predictions of future performance. Ask if they could write a recommendation letter for you.

3 to 4 is the recommended number of recommended letters you must obtain.

4. Search for Law Schools

There is no rulebook on how to apply to law school. The steps you might take may be entirely different to the next person trying to go into law school. Aside from keeping with the school deadlines, there is no wrong way and right way to go about your applications, as there are no good or bad law schools.

However, this also means that there is no guarantee that you will get into the law schools you have chosen. This is the reason many pre-law advisors recommend that you pick at least 3 or more law schools to apply to.

If you've ran out of choices, here are several ways to search for law schools:

Talk to your college advisors: Most colleges have an advisor who is readily available for students to talk to when needed. If you're at a loss as to which law schools would fit the bill, there's a good chance that your pre-law advisor could help you create your finalized list of law schools.
Attend Pre-law Forums: If you love to meet fellow pre-law students who are getting ready to attend law school, join any third-party pre-law forums like the Kaplan and The Princeton Review, or stick with the LSAC-sponsored forums.
Law school search: For those who prefer to keep their research online, there are various law school search tools that can be useful in filtering schools based on location, tuition fees, specialty, and other factors that may (or may not be) important to you.

5. Apply to Law Schools

If you're wondering when to apply to law school, the answer depends on three things:

Is your LSAT score back yet?
Is the application deadline for your chosen law school not due yet?
Have you completed your letters of recommendations, transcript of records and other documents?

If so, then you should focus on what is known as the college essay, personal statement, or admissions essay. It's a quick introduction about you, why you want to go to that particular school, your strengths, weaknesses, dreams, life story, and so on. Since this is a personal letter, it doesn't have to follow a particular type of writing, as long as it showcases your love for law and the particular legal field that interests you.

You don't need to wait for the exact law school deadlines to submit your application. Once applications for that particular season or year opens up and you've completed all your documents, then go on and begin submitting applications.