All of my advice is based on my personal experience and the way I found that worked FOR ME...I recognize that everyone is different in the way they go about it, I'm just offering one point of view. I am going to try to write a couple new sections a week for the next few weeks--feel free to post questions/comments or PM me.
Some of the things I hope to cover (from my perspective) in this blog (open to other suggestions if they are useful):
Timeline/preparation for applications
Things you can do to enhance your application package
LORs guides and help
Letters of Continued Interest
Scholarship negotiation
Being held/on waitlist
TLS/books/other resources
The Definitive Guide Chapter 1: Timeline for preparation/applications
1: I think that the absolute best time to take the LSAT if you have the option is the summer after Junior year (or, if you know you won't be applying during college, the summer after Senior year is fine too)
The reasons for my summer after Junior year argument are:
- You open the option to apply your senior year without simultaneously studying for the test and missing out on lots of Senior year fun...instead you'll be studying the spring of your Junior year and the beginning of your summer. In this case, you could choose to lighten your Junior spring courseload to focus on study Jan/Feb to the end of school, then focus until the June test and still likely have a summer internship/job/beach party or eight.
- You also leave yourself open to getting a job after college (and starting right after you graduate if you want to or need to) while having the LSAT in your pocket. It is a lot easier to spend time after work applying and writing a personal statement over months if you have to than it is to study while simultaneously working what might be an incredibly demanding job. Also, I found it much easier to keep my applications under wraps than I think it would have been to keep my preparation for the test under wraps for various reasons (I didn't have to leave early for a prep class or take a day off for the test itself) which in this economy was pretty crucial...I needed to keep my job!
- You take the test while you are still relatively close to academics and test taking as your normal 'day-to-day' I know that lots of people begin studying and take the test after they've been out of school for a long time and do just fine, but it can't hurt to have it be really close to the kind of work you are doing on a day to day basis already.
2. If you don't have a VERY SPECIFIC reason for applying to a particularly narrow set of schools, apply "everywhere"
If you are from Texas and know you want to only be in Texas, by all means limit your applications to schools in Texas. If you have a spouse and a child in upstate New York, if may make complete sense to limit your applications to that area or to apply early. BUT, if you are 60% sure you want to practice in Texas or have a family who is willing to consider moving with you, YOU SHOULD APPLY "EVERYWHERE"
Of course I don't literally mean EVERYWHERE. But don't neglect applying to anywhere above the Mason Dixon because you like warm weather and don't count out Michigan because you went to Wisconsin for undergrad and you couldn't see yourself attending a different Big 10 school for law school.
There are two main reasons I give this piece of advice. First, you never know what might end up floating your boat. Maybe you apply to Temple on a whim and it ends up WOWING you at the admit weekend and you fall in love. Second, one word: LEVERAGE. There are a couple of schools that were good, not great, that I applied to and probably wouldn't have IF I didn't follow the 'apply everywhere' method. However, not only did I get into those places, but they gave me HUGE scholarships, which I then proceeded to use as leverage for schools I DID really want and was accepted to with no automatic scholarship. So you have awesome scores/grades but know you wouldn't want to go to UChicago in a million years. It's just NOT you. NYU is YOUR DREAM. Fine! But apply there anyway, and you may be surprised with a scholarship from UChicago that might help you leverage $$ at NYU. You never know! And you certainly won't if you don't apply.
This advice becomes a little less useful the farther down in the rankings you go because region becomes much more important in your law school decision. However, even if this is the case and you want to be in south, for example, still plan to apply to a variety of 'qualities' of schools in that region, for the same reasons mentioned above.
Finally, I encourage people to use fee waivers (or ask for them) in order to facilitate applying "everywhere" I understand as every applicant does that it's not cheap to apply, and fee waivers will allow you to apply to more places across the spectrum.
3. Apply early. Apply early. Apply early. (with timeline)
This really should go without saying but lots of people seem to need it to be said. There are always good or great applicants who apply late in the cycle (like Feb.) and who definitely lower their chances BECAUSE they applied late. Don’t let that be you. As the fantastic applicant that you are, you should strive to make sure that adcomms have the fewest reasons to reject you/waitlist you. The last thing I wanted an adcomm to say about my application (in the adcomm meetings where they decide our fate) was, “we really like this kid, but...”
Any BUT is bad. So don’t give them the chance to say “…but we just don’t have room for someone with these scores/someone who was a professional roller derby-er/someone who was an I-banker at Goldman/anyone else” etc.
To facilitate early applications, I found it useful to set a hard deadline. For me, I planned a trip to Asia at the beginning of November. So whether I liked it or not, I had to have my apps all in before I went abroad! Personally, I used the following rough timeline:
May: Informally ask my recommenders if they’d feel comfortable writing me a killer rec for law school; register with LSAC and take a look at the past years’ applications for schools if they are available; create an initial list of places you are planning to apply
June: brainstorm ideas for my personal statement, pick up and read the Anna Ivey and Richard Montauk books on applying to law school; contact your undergrad to have a transcript sent to LSAC; research schools you are applying to (especially those that you are writing a Why X School essay for or that you will have an interview for/will visit)
July: Begin to write drafts of personal statement (and diversity statement if you are writing one)—you may want to write a few different drafts on different topics—and have a few close friends/former professors/others you trust and know are intelligent read them and provide feedback; revise/update resume; draft guide for recommenders (more on this later) and send off with a ‘deadline’ for them to send their letters into LSAC of Sept. 1; check school websites to see if interviews are available and make note of when you can register
August/September: Download all applications from schools and fill them out (this shouldn’t take too long); create spreadsheet with each school’s application requirements so you can keep track (e.g. Dean’s certifications, targeted LORs, additional optional statements etc); get additional fee waivers, tweak personal statements and begin working and revising any additional short essays (Why X school, for example); check in with recommenders to make sure they’ve sent in letters to LSAC; ensure that any Dean’s certifications or additional materials are en route to LSAC or the schools where you are applying; register for any interviews
October: Put finishing touches on all statements; make sure LSAC has all LORs and transcripts; hit send and APPLY!
4. What to expect AFTER you hit send and apply (hint: you are NOT done)
I thought after I hit send and applied to schools, I’d be totally done! I could “relax”, focus again on my super stressful job, and wait for the acceptances to roll in.
WRONG. After you apply, expect to potentially develop into a ball of nerves, feeling like you are waiting FOREVER. Expect to get requests from places you applied to interview. Expect to be put on “hold/deferral” while schools take more time to decide if they want to accept you. Expect to spend time writing letters of continued interest and potentially visiting schools or interviewing on campus.
Essentially, expect to be jerked around. I applied to schools in late October, and by the end of May I was still waiting for one school to give me an INTIAL decision after deferring me TWICE. I had done 3 alumni interviews and 1 on campus interview, written two ‘supplemental essays’ schools had requested after I’d initially applied, requested and gotten an additional letter of recommendation from a former professor, and written EIGHTEEN letters of continued interest or updates. EIGHTEEN. And this doesn’t mean I was writing a new one each week, either!! I followed the general guideline of keeping in touch with schools every four weeks or so. But I was deferred/held at a number of schools starting in December (which is a very common experience I’ve found) and waitlisted at a few I was certainly willing to attend if accepted) Keeping track of when you hear back from schools, when you keep in touch/send letters etc is crucial if you are applying to a decent number of places, and drafting new/interesting letters of interest or updates does take some time if you want to do it right. (more on this later)
Finally, expect to spend some time in the negotiation/decision making segment of the application process. Maybe you get accepted a TON of places and want to go to visit/go to a bunch of admit days. Maybe you get a great scholarship from school A and want to try to leverage it for money at school B. Maybe you get a package from a school that says you can come here on a full scholly, but ONLY if you defer a year. Whatever the situation, expect that these decisions will take some time and can be for some a very stressful part of the process.
5. Save some cash--NOW.
Bottom line, the whole process from applications==>first day of law school is EXPENSIVE. More expensive than I'd thought it would be, and I DID save up money for it. Looking back, I would have saved DOUBLE or more what I did. Here's an example of costs you could incur:
Applications, including postage for snail mail dean's certs etc: $1000-$1200 (cheaper with fee waivers)
Plane tickets and accomodations for interviews on campus, school visits and admit days: $300-$1000 (depending on how many schools, cheaper for schools that provide reimbursement)
Plane tickets and accomodations to apartment hunt: $200-$500 (cheaper if you have a place to crash of course

"Wasted" seat deposits: $??? This can vary a lot. If you choose to double deposit for the first round of deposits, you will definitely be wasting $$ on one of those places. If you get pulled off of a waitlist, you'll be forfeiting money at the other school. If you get pulled off another waitlist, it's more.
"Wasted" apartment deposits: $??? See previous.
Apartment fees/deposits where you'll be attending: $200-3X monthly rent
New computer: $500+
New furniture: $???
Moving fees: Free-$1000+
So, bottom line, it's not cheap. If you are receiving some of a lot of assistance from the 'rents, that's fantastic. But a lot of applicants aren't and some I've seen on this board are having to take out expensive private loans or digging into their 401K's WITH penalties to be able to move to law school and make it until the student loans come in.
That's all for today. Hope it's helpful! xoxo, animalcrkrs