Application Process

Most ABA-approved law schools rely on the Law School Admissions Council (LSAC), through its Law School Data Assembly Service (LSDAS), to simplify the admissions process. You will submit your application information to the LSDAS, which will use the information to prepare a standardized report. The report will typically contain your law school admissions test score and copies of your writing sample, a summary of your undergraduate academic performance, copies of prior academic transcripts, and copies of your letters of recommendation. The LSDAS will send this report directly to the law schools to which you are applying.

The most important event in the application process is the law school admissions test (LSAT), administered by the LSAC. The test is given four times per year, and is designed to measure skills important for law school success. It includes five sections of multiple choice questions covering reading comprehension, analytical reasoning and logical reasoning. A 35 minute, unscored writing sample is administered at the end of the test. Schools vary in the importance they attach to the LSAT score, but you should assume that it will be a significant factor in determining the success of your applications.

The following is a brief overview of the application process. For more detailed information you should visit the LSAC website, http://www.lsac.org.

1. Begin preparing for the LSAT
2. Register for the LSAT and LSDAS
3. Have your official undergraduate (college-level) transcripts sent from the University's registrar's office to the LSAC
4. Ask your references to send letters of recommendation to the LSAC, using the LSAC preprinted forms (unless a school to which you are applying requires that letters of reference be sent to directly to the school)
5. Take the LSAT
6. Check your LSDAS Master Law School report to make sure your transcripts have been summarized, your letters of reference are in, and your file is otherwise complete
7. Apply to your schools of choice as directed by each individual school (most schools now prefer that you apply electronically through the LSAC)
8. Submit a personal statement or essay as directed by each school