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I have a couple of questions I was hoping you all could answer:

1. I noticed on the LSAC website something about evaluations in addition to letters of recommendation. Are there any schools that require these additional evaluation forms? Is there any big advantage in submitting them if they are not required?

2. In addition to the personal statement, do most/any individual school applications require essays?

3. On the personal statement, is it important to incorporate what makes you want to go to law school/be a lawyer? Or can you discuss anything that you feel would help the admissions committee get a better picture of who you are, even if it has nothing to do with law?

4. I am taking the LSAT October 1st, and plan to have my applications ready to go so that I can apply as soon as scores are released. Will this put me at a disadvantage with rolling admissions? In case something becomes complicated and I am not able to have everything put together by late October, is there sometime I should shoot to have my applications in by so that spots will not be too limited?

Thanks for your help

gocats1 wrote: 2. In addition to the personal statement, do most/any individual school applications require essays?

Some do. Penn has, in years past, required you to write at least one of three essay options. Yale requires a 250 word written sample in addition to the PS. Plenty of schools don't require essays but still give you the option and recommend it; Michigan and Virginia are two schools that spring immediately to mind.

gocats1 wrote:3. On the personal statement, is it important to incorporate what makes you want to go to law school/be a lawyer? Or can you discuss anything that you feel would help the admissions committee get a better picture of who you are, even if it has nothing to do with law?

You definitely don't need to discuss anything law related in your PS.

gocats1 wrote:4. I am taking the LSAT October 1st, and plan to have my applications ready to go so that I can apply as soon as scores are released. Will this put me at a disadvantage with rolling admissions? In case something becomes complicated and I am not able to have everything put together by late October, is there sometime I should shoot to have my applications in by so that spots will not be too limited?

Applying right after the score release will be fine. There's no magic cutoff date for when spots will be too limited, just apply as early as you can have everything ready. This has graphs of when schools released their decisions in the 09-10 cycle. For the best chances, you need to apply in advance of the large waves of decisions.

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gocats1 wrote:I have a couple of questions I was hoping you all could answer:

1. I noticed on the LSAC website something about evaluations in addition to letters of recommendation. Are there any schools that require these additional evaluation forms? Is there any big advantage in submitting them if they are not required?

Pretty sure Northwestern likes them better, and doesn't like LORs without evals.

2. In addition to the personal statement, do most/any individual school applications require essays?

A number of schools do - make sure you check in advance, you don't want to hold out for your LSAT score hoping to fill out and send your apps immediately afterward, and then you find out that your top choice requires an essay about your take on the Somalian famine.

3. On the personal statement, is it important to incorporate what makes you want to go to law school/be a lawyer? Or can you discuss anything that you feel would help the admissions committee get a better picture of who you are, even if it has nothing to do with law?

Pretty sure that most apps articulate the relation that your PS should have to the study and practice of law. But even if they wouldn't, it would be self-evident.

4. I am taking the LSAT October 1st, and plan to have my applications ready to go so that I can apply as soon as scores are released. Will this put me at a disadvantage with rolling admissions? In case something becomes complicated and I am not able to have everything put together by late October, is there sometime I should shoot to have my applications in by so that spots will not be too limited?

Thanks for your help

October isn't late, or even early November, but what you should do is make sure, like I alluded to above, that all the I's are on your apps are crossed and all the T's are dotted before you get your score, so that you won't have to wait on a transcript, like I did, or screw up your Northwestern app, like I did, by not knowing that they like interviews and evaluations.