Applying Late February Forum

[thislamp]

How bad is it REALLY that I'm just submitting many of my applications now?

I'm mostly going for the lower half of the T14 with competitive scores, decent softs, and (from what I believe and from what all my editors have told me) really good essays.

I know I should have applied sooner but...I didn't. So I'm wondering just how much you all think this will affect the decisions I receive.

Thanks!

[sims1]

Only one way to find out for sure...

A lot of classes are getting full so its definitely not good, but if you have a strong application I would guess you will be okay. Likely worse if you are a borderline candidate.

[Nova]

Its going to hurt. Use mylsn.info to compare.

[art&law24]

Depends on the school. I'm sure I'm not the only one getting emails from schools that are still hustling for your application. It will most likely impact $$$, but if you're falling within medians, and if your application as a whole is well constructed, it wouldn't be a long shot to get acceptances.

The only thing that would probably suck is when those decisions are being sent to you probably within days of when the seat deposits are due, so it leaves very little time to compare your acceptances, negotiate scholly, pros and cons list, limited time to visit actual school, etc.

But like the what sims said, only one way to find out for sure!

[Optimist Prime]

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[xylocarp]

There's a great mathematical analysis of this on a law school admissions blog (the background image on the page is rows of books). Maybe a more dedicated TLSer or just one with a better memory can provide the name/link.

The gist of it is a guy broke down the MYLSN info and calculated the boost of being URM, applying one month earlier, +1 LSat point, +.1gpa point and being female, for all T14 schools. You get some interesting school by school deviation, but the overall result was.

1) Don't apply late, it hurts.
2) It hurts significantly less now than it did in the past (hurray for app drops!)
3) It depends on the school, some schools it matters a ton, others not so much. ( I think NYU and Yale were in the not so much pile)

You could always apply and if you aren't happy just don't go and reapply next year. As long as you withdraw politely the adcomms who post on here have expressed that reapplying doesn't help nor hurt your app.

I believe this is the blog you're talking about. There is tons of useful info on there, and I think this is the particular post that would be relevant (it's only about the T14 though).

[Optimist Prime]

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