HighKingDalinar '24–'25 app cycle Class of 2028 class year

DO NOT BELIEVE ONLINE ODDS-CALCULATORS!!!!!

In all seriousness, I feel very lucky that I got into an amazing school with a full ride, but with the rapid increase in law school applications, especially amongst 170+ scores, online calculators made me extremely overconfident in the schools I would get accepted into. Calculators told me I had between an 85-90% chance of getting into either Michigan or Texas. Those odds went up to 95% if I included Georgetown. I also had, supposedly, a great shot at Duke, Cornell, UCLA, or Boston. Most of those schools waitlisted me; none of them accepted me outright.

That being said, I did this process very quickly. I decided I was going to go to law school in June, studied for the LSAT in July-August, and took the August-September-October LSATs, scoring a 171 on both of my last 2 attempts. If I had waited a full year, maybe I could have gotten that score up higher, but with my life circumstances, waiting wasn’t something under consideration. The best time to have applied will always have been the previous cycle, the next best time is now.

But for you dear reader, if you care to take any advice, I would say make every part of your application as flawless as possible. Get 3-4 great LOR (I only had 2, the weakest part of my app), spend time crafting an amazing Personal Statement, write ALL of the optional essays and have them edited, and achieve the highest LSAT score you can. Apply to schools at or slightly below your medians, reach-schools are fine too, but I would focus on applying to a handful of schools below your medians that you would be happy going to with $$$. If you get into a reach-school, even better!! But plan for what is more likely.

Lastly, if you have the time and patience to get all your materials and apply SUPER early, like early September when everything opens up, it is 100% worth it. Those are the applicants who get into schools well above their medians. I applied in October-November, and while applying that early helped a little, I don’t think it helped a ton. But don’t wait until January or later, the wait and timing of moving decisions / deposits will kill you. Good luck!