When do most law schools send admissions decisions?

Most law schools send the bulk of their admissions decisions between January and March. T14 schools typically begin releasing decisions in November or December, while many other schools start issuing rolling decisions as early as October. Waitlist and final-round decisions can continue through June or July. The exact timeline varies by school and cycle, which is why tracking heard-back rates by application period is so useful.

Does applying early to law school help you hear back sooner?

Generally, yes. Applicants who submit in September or October tend to hear back earlier than those who apply in December or January, especially at schools that use rolling admissions. However, schools that use committee review may release decisions in batches regardless of submission date. Applying early also tends to be advantageous for admissions outcomes, not just timing, because more seats are available earlier in the cycle.

What does 'heard back' mean in law school admissions?

"Heard back" means a law school has sent you any kind of response to your application. This includes acceptances, rejections, waitlist decisions, and holds. It does not include status updates like "application received" or "under review" — only substantive decisions that change your application outcome. On this tracker, the heard-back rate shows what share of applicants in each application-date group have received such a response.

What is the difference between 'Decisions' and 'All Responses' on this tracker?

"Decisions" counts only final, terminal outcomes: acceptances and rejections. "All Responses" includes everything: acceptances, rejections, waitlists, and holds. The Decisions view is useful if you want to know how many applicants have a definitive answer, while All Responses gives a broader picture of how actively a school is communicating with its applicant pool.

Why haven't I heard back from a law school yet?

Silence from a law school usually means they have not yet reviewed your application, not that anything is wrong. Schools process thousands of applications and work through them in stages. If the heard-back rate for your application period is low, most other applicants who applied around the same time are also still waiting. Check this tracker to see whether the school has been active at all, and look at the recent decisions page for real-time updates.

Which law schools respond the fastest?

Schools that use rolling admissions, such as many regional and mid-ranked programs, tend to respond the fastest — sometimes within two to four weeks of going complete. Among elite schools, some like the University of Chicago and Northwestern are known for relatively quick turnarounds. T14 schools that use committee review, such as Yale and Stanford, often take longer and release decisions in waves rather than on a rolling basis.

What does it mean if a school has a low heard-back rate?

A low heard-back rate means that most applicants who applied during that period have not yet received a response. This is normal early in the cycle or for schools that batch their decisions. It does not indicate anything negative about your individual application. As the cycle progresses, heard-back rates climb and typically reach 80-95% by April for most schools.

When Do Law Schools Send Decisions? Heard-Back Rates by School (2025-2026)

Heard-back percentages for selected law schools grouped by month and application date period. Each cell shows the share of applicants who received a decision.
Period	YLS	SLS	HLS	UC	CLS	UPenn	UVA	NYU	UMich	UCBerkeley	Duke	NU	UCLA	Cornell University
September
Early Sep	N/A	N/A	100%	95%	67%	89%	69%	88%	92%	89%	85%	91%	94%	97%
Mid Sep	N/A	65%	93%	93%	83%	87%	73%	81%	100%	77%	94%	100%	98%	100%
Late Sep	N/A	41%	94%	92%	85%	89%	78%	70%	98%	80%	96%	97%	95%	98%
October
Early Oct	71%	43%	88%	97%	67%	91%	76%	76%	94%	65%	86%	95%	93%	97%
Mid Oct	80%	59%	93%	90%	76%	87%	73%	73%	93%	63%	88%	88%	88%	92%
Late Oct	80%	48%	91%	92%	70%	92%	72%	74%	90%	65%	85%	87%	88%	92%
November
Early Nov	81%	52%	93%	94%	64%	90%	73%	74%	95%	61%	63%	86%	90%	95%
Mid Nov	83%	47%	91%	90%	71%	92%	79%	66%	90%	53%	63%	68%	87%	92%
Late Nov	75%	12%	95%	89%	65%	84%	82%	76%	90%	40%	36%	51%	84%	91%
December
Early Dec	82%	4%	86%	93%	61%	78%	69%	71%	89%	38%	23%	32%	75%	89%
Mid Dec	85%	8%	93%	92%	47%	80%	74%	53%	94%	34%	17%	27%	66%	90%
Late Dec	67%	5%	87%	89%	45%	54%	59%	56%	91%	32%	4%	30%	56%	86%
January
Early Jan	77%	7%	81%	72%	33%	39%	38%	26%	92%	21%	3%	28%	53%	82%
Mid Jan	74%	3%	71%	48%	13%	23%	19%	18%	81%	3%	0%	36%	31%	81%
Late Jan	79%	3%	67%	4%	4%	28%	30%	33%	81%	2%	0%	30%	9%	68%
February
Early Feb	45%	0%	75%	12%	0%	14%	18%	10%	57%	0%	0%	17%	0%	72%
Mid Feb	2%	0%	67%	0%	0%	16%	0%	1%	6%	0%	0%	22%	N/A	21%
Late Feb	N/A	N/A	N/A	0%	N/A	7%	9%	N/A	0%	0%	N/A	N/A	N/A	0%
March
Early Mar	N/A	N/A	N/A	0%	N/A	0%	0%	N/A	25%	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	0%
Mid Mar	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

"Heard back" means a law school has responded to your application with any kind of decision: an acceptance, rejection, waitlist, or hold. This tracker shows what percentage of applicants have received a response from each school, broken down by when they submitted their application. If you are refreshing your status checker daily and wondering whether silence is normal, this data gives you a concrete benchmark for how responsive each school has been so far this cycle.

All data is self-reported by LSD users and updated daily. Because our dataset covers tens of thousands of applicants across 200+ ABA-accredited law schools, the heard-back rates here are a reliable proxy for how far along each school is in processing applications. Keep in mind that self-reported data skews slightly toward more engaged applicants, so actual response rates may differ.

The heatmap uses color intensity to show response rates: darker cells mean a higher share of applicants have heard back. Rows are grouped by month, and each month is split into three periods: Early (1st–10th), Mid (11th–20th), and Late (21st–end of month). Use the toggle at the top to switch between Decisions (only final outcomes: accepted or rejected) and All Responses (accepted, rejected, waitlisted, or hold). The "Decisions" view helps you understand how many applicants have received a definitive answer, while "All Responses" captures any communication from the school.

Understanding Law School Decision Timelines

Law schools do not all operate on the same schedule. T14 schools typically begin releasing their first decisions in November or December, with the bulk of acceptances and rejections arriving between January and March. Lower-ranked schools often start earlier and issue rolling decisions throughout the cycle. By late April, most schools have responded to the majority of their applicant pool, though waitlist activity can extend well into the summer.

Application timing matters. Applicants who submit in September or October generally hear back sooner than those who apply in January or February, particularly at schools that practice rolling admissions. Schools that use committee review may batch decisions regardless of when you applied, so an early submission does not always guarantee an early response. If a school's heard-back rate is low for your application period, it usually means the school has not yet reached that part of the pool rather than anything specific about your application.

For individual decision updates as they happen, visit our recent decisions tracker. To estimate your own chances at a specific school, try the admissions predictor. You can also explore detailed school pages for schools like Yale Law School, Harvard Law School, or Columbia Law School to see historical admissions data and applicant outcomes.

Heard Back From Schools

Understanding Law School Decision Timelines