To how many schools did you apply? Forum

[blue5385]

Yeah, I didn't authorize them until after I had sent my applications. Then, I realized it was harmless.

I thought it would be like authorizing the SAT people to release my score in high school in that it would bring a deluge of junk mail from schools I didn't want to attend, so I didn't do it. In retrospect, I would have been ok with that in order to save some of the money I (or more accurately my dad) spent on apps.

[CardinalRules]

Yeah, I didn't authorize them until after I had sent my applications. Then, I realized it was harmless.

I thought it would be like authorizing the SAT people to release my score in high school in that it would bring a deluge of junk mail from schools I didn't want to attend, so I didn't do it. In retrospect, I would have been ok with that in order to save some of the money I (or more accurately my dad) spent on apps.

My parents wanted me to apply to even more schools than I did, so I didn't feel too bad about spending their money.

[blue5385]

Yeah, I didn't authorize them until after I had sent my applications. Then, I realized it was harmless.

I thought it would be like authorizing the SAT people to release my score in high school in that it would bring a deluge of junk mail from schools I didn't want to attend, so I didn't do it. In retrospect, I would have been ok with that in order to save some of the money I (or more accurately my dad) spent on apps.

My parents wanted me to apply to even more schools than I did, so I didn't feel too bad about spending their money.

Actually so did mine, I just felt guilty about burning through a few hundred dollars more of their money in addition to the law school tuition & living expenses.

[Metroid SR388]

I applied to seven schools in total. I initially had three schools, then four others sent me application fee waivers so I went ahead and sent those off. I don't regret applying to this number of schools, I got into my top choice, so all is well. I am sure if I didn't get into my top choice I would regret it.

With that said I am also pretty lazy when it comes down to it. I only applied to one school when I did undergrad and that was enough.

Also I had to pay for any application fees out of my own pocket so that limited things a bit.

[kevdadude]

I applied to 8 schools, 4 were off of fee waivers, another was my dad's alma mater (and my uncle's) and it doesn't give out fee waivers, and the other 3 were reaches that I really liked.

Before I applied to any school I did the "Do I want to go to this school?" and "Do I even have a remote chance?" test...

Oh, and I had to pay for some of my application fees so that limited my options a bit too.

[roguey]

I think I applied to more schools than anyone from looking here. I applied to 35 schools, mostly out of paranoia, because I was applying super late, had a 10 point difference in LSAT scores, needed as much scholly $$ as possible, and wanted to make sure that I had several viable options when all was said and done. I had been reading TLS for several months beforehand, which made me even more worried about my chances anywhere. I worked on all of them at once, in a way, but I have a trillion word docs for each essay with the school labeled in the file name. I had to wait until I got paid after the release of scores from the Dec LSAT, so I had about two weeks to work on them. Then I would get more fee waivers and apply to several more because I'm easily excitable and figured why not. I sent 18 apps on January 16, 3 apps on January 21, 6 apps on January 22, 5 apps on January 24, 1 on January 27, and 2 on February 2. So far I've heard from 19 of them, and I've been accepted to all of them. As long as you take your time and use organization and proof-reading, you should be able to keep them straight. I also have a 7-sheet excel document that tracks status checkers, my tuition and scholarships at each school, LSN dates, admitted student sites, fafsa submission and receipt, and my own school ranking system. 22 of the schools were free or gave fee waivers, the other 13 were paid for with my Christmas bonus. I think I'm an out-lier though...

[foxyeconomist]

Yeah, I didn't authorize them until after I had sent my applications. Then, I realized it was harmless.

I thought it would be like authorizing the SAT people to release my score in high school in that it would bring a deluge of junk mail from schools I didn't want to attend, so I didn't do it. In retrospect, I would have been ok with that in order to save some of the money I (or more accurately my dad) spent on apps.

Yeah, it did bring some unwanted email, but not so much that undermined the benefits of fee waivers.

[adameus]

I applied to 8.

Paid for 3 of them:
My local Canadian School (UBC)
Harvard
Stanford

Fee Waivers at:
NYU
Michigan
Georgetown
Duke
UCLA

I almost forsure would not have applied to any of the schools I recieved fee waivers too had I not recieved a fee waiver, as only YHS would be able to draw me out of this wonderful country I call home.

[Great Satchmo]

I keep hearing that applications are up or down this cycle. I'm wondering if it's because the number of applicants increased or if we are just applying to more schools.

number of applicants has slightly increased but the major cause of the increase in applications is that people are applying to more schools. LSAC data supports this and multiple adcomms have also said this is the case.

Is this empirically proven?

If so, I may need to reconsider how I'm viewing my waitlists (except W&L...since their WL = WL and rejects).

[adameus]

I keep hearing that applications are up or down this cycle. I'm wondering if it's because the number of applicants increased or if we are just applying to more schools.

number of applicants has slightly increased but the major cause of the increase in applications is that people are applying to more schools. LSAC data supports this and multiple adcomms have also said this is the case.

Is this empirically proven?

If so, I may need to reconsider how I'm viewing my waitlists (except W&L...since their WL = WL and rejects).

Seems to be true, so yeah if so then that means a higher probability of getting in off WL.

[foxyeconomist]

I'm amazed that 20% of respondents applied to more than 20 schools.

[NancyBotwin]

Yeah, but it doesn't really help keeping track of which schools need which essays.Also, did you get fee waivers or did you shell out $1500 on applications.

Hence the increased possibility of careless mistakes in PS / resume / soft stuff, which could have played a role in cases such as the OP in the Worst Cycle thread.

Sigh. How quickly people forgot about this: --LinkRemoved--

[doinmybest]

I keep hearing that applications are up or down this cycle. I'm wondering if it's because the number of applicants increased or if we are just applying to more schools.

Who told you apps are down? I would be shocked if apps were down at any law school this cycle.

[the_rad_trad]

I applied to 18. I wasn't lacking confidence so much as I just couldn't decide which of them I'd like better. However, now I'm seriously lacking in the confidence department and wish that I'd applied to more...

[dontstopbelivin]

When it came down to it, for most of the schools I applied to, I just figured that I would rather spend the $65-85 to have another option on the table (although that added up REALLY quickly).

Plus, my UG career office gave me some scary advice ("based on your scores, you pretty much won't get in anywhere, so...yeah, good luck with that") which made me apply to even more, just to have my bases covered. Looking back on it, maybe I shouldn't have been so naive to believe there were no options available, but better safe than sorry.

Yes, I did (do) have an Excel spreadsheet, color-coded and automatically sorted based on cost/clerkship ranking/admission decision/personal score upon visit. And yes, I am an uber-dork.

[dontstopbelivin]

When it came down to it, for most of the schools I applied to, I just figured that I would rather spend the $65-85 to have another option on the table (although that added up REALLY quickly).

Plus, my UG career office gave me some scary advice ("based on your scores, you pretty much won't get in anywhere, so...yeah, good luck with that") which made me apply to even more, just to have my bases covered. Looking back on it, maybe I shouldn't have been so naive to believe there were no options available, but better safe than sorry.

Yes, I did (do) have an Excel spreadsheet, color-coded and automatically sorted based on cost/clerkship ranking/admission decision/personal score upon visit. And yes, I am an uber-dork.

What an excellent post. When I read posts like this, it really makes me feel good. If not for your scores, your upbeat/optimistic/persistent attitude earns you an A+ in my books.

Any school ought to be lucky to have you in their incoming class. And you will be a credit to the profession. Don't give up hope. Prove them all wrong. Don't be swayed or discouraged by what others tell you. Godspeed.

PS -- Great username, btw.

Thanks Peter! You totally made my day. And thanks for interpreting my panic attack mode as optimism - I like to think of it that way too

Good luck to you as well! They need more upbeat lawyers like us out there...

[Whitters]

I second that lack of confidence = more applications. I was retaking the LSAT and wasn't sure how that would go, so I even applied to all the T3 and T4s in my home state ( Ohio, which is quite a few!) because I wanted to make sure I would get in somewhere!