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

My application journey is nearing its completion, but you, dear traveler, might still have a ways to go. I now bestow upon you the bits of knowledge I have gathered thus far, and I wish you the best of luck.

LSAT PREP:
I know a 161 is not the highest score ever, but I improved from a 151 cold diagnostic score to a 161 test day score with roughly 4-5 weeks of study. My best advice is find a study platform/method that just clicks with you.
I started out watching the 8-part LSAT prep course available for free on youtube from Insight LSAT- . He does an incredible job of explaining each aspect of the LSAT including breaking down strategies, question types, and more. This is a great course for anyone beginning their LSAT journey because it serves as a thorough introduction. Each part is over an hour in length (8 hours of content! For free!), he provides you with resources for finding the relevant practice questions, and you can watch and rewatch as many times as you need to. Plus it’s free, and who doesn’t love free?
Get a subscription for LawHub Advantage (see also: LSAC fee waiver)–this is where ALL- of the practice tests are available. These practice tests are the actual LSAT tests that were administered in previous years, so this will be your number one study resource. This is also the same platform that the actual test is administered on, so it would benefit you to familiarize yourself with the testing interface and tools that will be available to you on test day.
The study platform that I used religiously was LSAT Demon. I loved this platform for its statistics tracking, customized drill program, and the written+video explanations provided for each practice question to walk you through the reasoning of why each answer choice is right or wrong- . I fully attribute my quick progress to that platform because it just made sense to me, and it made learning the “pattern” of the LSAT super straightforward. But maybe it won’t work as well for you, and that’s okay! Just test out a few different platforms or resources until you find the one that fits you best.

My LSAT Study Schedule:
Monday:- NO STUDY DAY
Tuesday:- Full practice test taken under timed conditions (35 mins per section + 10 min break at the halfway point, no pausing the test or using notes. Treat this like the real exam)
Wednesday: - Review 2 sections from Tuesday’s practice test (go over every question I got wrong, and learn why the right answer is the better choice), then do at least 30 minutes of random question drills.
Thursday:- Review the other 2 sections from Tuesday’s practice test, then do at least 30 minutes of random question drills.
Friday:- Full practice test taken under timed conditions (35 mins per section + 10 min break at the halfway point, no pausing the test or using notes. Treat this like the real exam)
Saturday:- Review 2 sections from Friday’s practice test, then do at least 30 minutes of random question drills.
Sunday:- Review the other 2 sections from Friday’s practice test, then do at least 30 minutes of random question drills.
MY COMMENTS: No, this is not a sustainable schedule! Yes, I got insanely burned out! But I was on a tight timeline and this was what was necessary for me to be ready for my test date (August 2024). I chose to designate Mondays as my study break day because that aligned with my day off from work and I needed a full day of bed rotting during this process. This is not the study schedule I would recommend if you have months to prepare for your LSAT, but if you have only a few weeks, then this might be your best bet. Regardless of how much time you have, the best way to see improvement in your score is to do as many full length practice tests as possible- , so make that your priority.
I also made a cute little spreadsheet for tracking your LSAT progress- that I’ll share here (for free because ILY <3). I left my actual study hours on there too as a fun little glimpse into my insanity:

• https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1X77nqz4iZp0bncjYuxFYTq5EydWOAUfjwtzNW0vF0P8/edit?gid=0#gid=0

LSAT TEST DAY:
Chill out. It’s just a regular day. You’ve done a million practice tests by now, just treat it like it’s another practice test. Grab some Chick-fil-a after. Everything will be fine.
I took my LSAT at my nearest testing center (1.5 hours away) because my Wi-Fi is notoriously unstable and I did not want to risk any issues or interruptions. It was worth the drive in my opinion.
APPLICATIONS:
1.Written Components: Start drafting everything (personal statement, resume, addenda, etc.) as early as possible. You will edit everything so many times that your first draft vs. final draft will look nothing alike, and they probably won’t even be about the same topic by the end. So it genuinely does not matter what you write, but it will be a much less daunting task if you have LITERALLY ANYTHING on paper to work with rather than watching your cursor endlessly blinking on a blank page. Even if your first draft is no better than a pile of shiz, still just write something. Even if your writing sounds like a 3rd grader, just write it. Even if you have to ramble absolute nonsense into your phone’s voice-to-text thing, do it! (That one was me, haha).
I spent about 2-3 months coming back to my personal statement draft making both big changes and small tweaks right up to the point of submitting apps (which I’m still in the process of). I made one big master personal statement document- and duplicated each draft to make edits, that way if I didn’t like how my latest draft ended up I could just scroll up to the previous version and nothing was ever lost. This was a lifesaver because I had a ton of material to work with and I could patchwork it all together in any way I wanted. This document ended up being around 75 pages long and there is not even a singular phrase that made it into the final draft from my first draft.
Most schools will limit the length of your personal statement between 2-3 pages with very generic specifications, but some go as far as giving you very specific parameters like: max 2 pages, double spaced, 12 point font- . I’d use that more strict guideline as your standard so you don’t have to trim much when the schools you’re applying to have similar requirements.
Label every written document with a heading that includes your First and Last Name, LSAC#, and what the document is - (i.e. Personal Statement, or Resume, or GPA Addendum, etc.). My understanding is that the adcomms receive each application in one giant PDF file, they won’t actually see what you named each file individually. So if you’re not labeling what each document is somewhere on the document itself, they might not know what they’re looking at. Obviously they aren’t dumb and they’d be able to figure it out, but you want to remove all of the guesswork and make the process as easy and seamless as possible for them as they’re reviewing your application. Plus, a lack of organization won’t look great from the adcomm’s perspective, and consistent formatting has been a REPEATED suggestion from every webinar I’ve attended, so this is the best & most professional way of formatting everything IMO.

2.Using AI: My advice here is don’t even flirt with the idea of using AI. Some schools are very strict about prohibiting the use of AI for any part of your application and they make you sign a waiver certifying that you did not use AI in ANY capacity. Other schools are more lenient with it and just need you to certify that everything was written in your own words. AI is still so new that there isn’t one standard of handling it across all schools–every program is choosing how to approach it independently. So you’re better off just doing all of the writing and planning yourself to eliminate the worry that your application will be flagged.

3.Attending (Virtual) School Events: During the app process, you should allow the LSAC platform to send your information to law schools (this is a simple checkbox option in your LSAC profile). You will be bombarded with physical mailers and emails throughout the application cycle giving you information about different schools and programs, many of which will be a good match for your GPA and LSAT score. This is a great chance to learn about different schools if you’re unsure where to attend, but most importantly you’ll be invited to countless webinars, Q&A sessions and virtual presentations from basically all of the schools. Even if you get an invitation from a school that you don’t plan on applying to, it is really useful to attend these sessions! They give so much information about the application process in general, and provide an inside look from the admissions committees’ perspectives about what makes a good law school application. I knew NOTHING going into this process, and attending as many meetings as I could was so incredibly helpful. Take notes and screenshots of their presentations to reference when you’re building your applications!
Maryland Carey Law provides regular virtual workshops about every stage of the application process during the cycle with very clear directions on what adcomms are looking for in applications, common mistakes, and more. I learned so much attending those, even though it’s not necessarily my dream school. 10/10 would recommend.
SAVING MONEY ON APPLICATIONS:**
1.Apply for the LSAC fee waiver:
This has been the best thing I could’ve ever done in this process. If you’re approved for the LSAC fee waiver it could cover the cost of 2 LSATs + Score Preview, 2 years of full access to LawHub Advantage, up to 6 free CAS reports (you have to pay for 1 CAS report for every school you apply to, they’re $45 each), and it gives you perks like discounts on LSAT study platforms (7Sage, LSAT Demon, and probably others). Even if you think you aren’t qualified, you should still apply just in case.
2.Request School Application fee waivers: Most schools will grant application fee waivers if you ask!- Do a quick google search for “(school name) law school fee waiver” and it will bring you to that school’s request form or it’ll give you an email address where you can write to request the fee waiver. Whenever I had to email to request a waiver I attached my LSAC Fee Waiver Approval Letter and I was granted the school app waiver every time.- Don’t just be emailing around at random for a fee waiver though, only do it if their website specifically gave you that email address for requesting the waiver! (Imagine being an adcomm getting flooded with unsolicited emails about fee waivers when you aren’t even able to grant them! Ew, annoying).
If you request the fee waiver after your applications are sent, you won’t receive a refund of any kind so make sure you do this FIRST**- before submitting anything. This process takes just a few minutes and will save you hundreds.

• If you already have the LSAC fee waiver, many schools will automatically apply a school app fee waiver to your account. The ones that do this will email you to notify you that you have a fee waiver to apply, which is super convenient.

My Cycle Recap:
11/14/24 - Northeastern (+Optional Essay) Submitted
11/15/24 - Boston U (+Optional Essay) Submitted
11/20/24 - Northeastern Application Review in-Progress
11/23/24 - Loyola-Chicago (+Optional Essay) + George Washington U (+Optional Identity Statement + C&F Q4 Education Interruption Addendum) Submitted
11/26/24 - GWU Application Review in-Progress
12/03/24 - Maryland Carey (No Optionals) + Temple (+S.p.A.C.E. Statement) + Georgetown (+Optional Statement, Response, & Video +CF Education Interruption Addendum) Submitted
12/05/24 - Temple Application Review in-Progress
12/06/24 - Maryland Carey Application Review in-Progress