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i'm planning on getting apps in by mid-september. can someone who has done this (or someone who is planning to do this and has their life together more than i do) post a rough timeline? there are so many things i don't know. for example: when can i start looking at fee waivers? how long does it take to perfect a PS? how much advance notice did you give your recommenders? etc.

you can start getting letters of rec now, give them a month or so

ps can also be done whenever, obviously that will take a different amount of time you can judge

you can send emails to get fee waivers starting when apps open or a little bit before

There is no reason to not get letters of rec and start your personal statement now.

Start asking for fee waivers a week or so before apps open.

if your still in school, I would reach out to the professors who will be writing your LOR now. Some professors like to disappear over the summer and if you tell them now that you would like one written over the summer, it will give them plenty of time and you won't run into the problem of them contacting you back when school starts in the fall.

Obviously you should be studying for the LSAT starting today if you haven't started already. I would start thinking of a theme for a personal statement now and then really start hammering out drafts towards the end of June, maybe July. If your planning on writing a diversity statement, same timeline as the PS. Also, you can start drafting Why X essays sporadically throughout the summer and polish them off in August.

Fee waivers I wouldn't worry about until late August/early September, basically ask for one about a week before each school's application opens.