Re-applying to Law School
Posted by Ann Levine | August 1, 2010
While you shouldn’t give up your waitlist dreams quite yet, in the next week it will become apparent whether those dreams will come to fruition. This is often a time when people consider whether to attend law school this year at the school they’ve sent their deposit to, or whether they want to wait and try again (applying earlier in the admission cycle this time).
After spending time as a law school applicant, you may have gotten wiser about how to apply. You might’ve found this blog (or other informative resources) only after submitting your applications for this year, and this may have caused you to realize that you could’ve played your cards better during the Fall 2010 cycle. This is a completely normal reaction, and if you applied in January or February (of a very popular application cycle) it might be a good idea to regroup, re-strategize, and reapply.
I am often asked whether it’s a bad idea to reapply to schools (1) you were rejected from; and also (2) where you were accepted. The answer is, it’s never a bad idea to reapply. The key is to make sure you improve your materials without completing changing how you present yourself because the schools will have the previous year’s application. You want to update whatever is possible to update, re-evaluate the quality of your personal statement, resume, letters of rec, addenda, and optional essays, and apply early. Showing interest in the same school shows likelihood of attending if admitted, and that’s a good thing. You should address reasons for reapplying in your personal statement or in an addendum, and if you were admitted and decided not to attend you should tell the school why you decided not to attend law school the previous year and why your interest remains strong.
Many people who plan to reapply to law school plan to retake the LSAT and/or show improved grades during their senior year. In this case, your schools list will probably change (hopefully for the better) so there’s not a lot of downside to reapplying so long as you plan to do it in a timely manner.
See also:
Top 5 Mistakes Made When Re-Applying to Law School
Take 2: Reapplying to Law School
Re-applying to Law School and the LSAT
Oh – and my US News “Get In: Law School” Blog column starts tomorrow and will post every Monday, so keep an eye out there for tons of tips and advice throughout the Fall 2011 admission cycle.Please let me know if you have any questions or comments.
Categories: Law School Application Tips, Picking Law Schools
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Dear Ms. Levine,
I want to know whether my SOP can have references to my earlier SOP and essay submitted the previous year.
If you could advise me on whether the admissions committee links up the 2 applications and reads them as a whole, it would help in structuring my new SOP accordingly. I dont want to sound repetitive and if the earlier materials are read together with the new materials I submit this year, it would help tremendously and I can use the word limit for additional things.
I am mainly looking to reapply to Harvard and NYU.
Thanks.
Sid, you can have references. If a school is viewing applications electronically, they probably won’t have last year’s app in front of them. If they are of the habit of pulling last year’s files then they will have it and there is no way of knowing.
Ms. Levine,
Thank you for the excellent post! I am thinking of re-applying to a school that accepted me (Berkeley) but I withdrew from due to financial reasons (I am currently enrolled in my second choice school that gave more money but is not nearly as exciting to me). If I reapply, will there be as much need to include new material since I was accepted already? I assume I should include an addendum to explain why I chose not to attend the first time around.
Thank you so much!
-Elise
Elise, you’re asking about transfer, not reapplying, since you’re already going to have started law school, right?
Well, withdrawing is an option from the research I’ve done (there would be little financial consequence as long as I did it by the first week of classes). I’ve been having a difficult time discerning whether or not my chances would be better as a reapplicant or a transfer…any insight you have on this would be appreciated! Thank you.
Elise, that’s a very personal decision. There is no guarantee Berkeley will take you again. And now you’d have to explain why you were withdrawing from law school. It sounds like buyer’s remorse a bit. Why don’t you call Berkeley Law and see what they tell you?
Dear Ms. Levine,
I am reapplying for law school this year and I’m wondering whether I should ask my recommenders to submit new/revised recommendations. If so, should I be giving them the LSAC forms again? Does it reflect poorly on me as an applicant if my recommendations are not updated?
Thank you for putting out this fabulous resource by the way.
Michelle, Professor letters don’t need updates but if you’re still at a job and someone from that job wrote a letter last year, it should be updated.
Hi Ms. Levine,
I took the LSAT for the first time last December after 6 months of rigorous self-study. I have a history of not doing well on standardized tests; however, I am a very good student (4.1 high school GPA, 1160 SAT score). I also suffer from test anxiety and had an anxiety attack during my first go at the LSAT, but decided to not cancel my score. I scored a 146 (my UGPA is 3.8), but decided to apply to several schools anyway with an addendum describing my history of low standardized test scores, but high GPA. I was rejected for the most part, but wait listed at American.
This year I continued to study on my own, but took a short prep course as well and raised my score to 153. I will now be reapplying to American and Catholic and only as a part-time student. My question now is if I should write an updated addendum, or leave it out all together?
Also, since I plan on reapplying to two schools, I’m assuming it would be wise for me to write a new personal statement. The overall theme will be my perseverance in the face of defeat, so do you think it would be wise to address the fact that I am reapplying in that, or also write an addendum to address the fact?
Your advice is greatly appreciated!
Thanks,
Rachel
Rachel, You should write an addendum mentioning the increase and the standardized testing history. The overall theme of your personal statement sounds cliche to me…. You’d have to overcome a lot of defeats to make this a really exceptional story. My advice: leave out the ‘theme’ and just tell your story.
No addendum necessary to discuss reapplying.
Thank you so much! After spending the rest of the day debating topics for my personal statement, I completely agree that the theme sounds cliche. Back to the drawing board it is!
I’d also just like to say thank you so much for writing this blog. Your tips are amazing and I think I’d feel quite lost without them!
Rachel
Hi Ms. Levine,
I have taken the LSAT twice with a high score of 157. I was very anxious during preparation for the exam and do not feel I scored as well as I could. The scores came out late and due to anxiety I didn’t send in my applications until I received my score in Janary. Although I was late I got into a top 20 program but got waitlisted at several other T14 schools. I’m inclined to believe that the reason for the waitllist (7 in total) was due to the timeline I followed. I feel I put myself at a serious disadvantage. My question is where I should go to the T20 school and try to transfer into a T14 or wait one more year and try to reapply next cycle. Any advice you can offer is greatly appreciated!
First of all, if the T20 school is somewhere you are excited to be, you should go. If you do well, transferring would be an option but don’t count on it. You did very well considering your late application and your LSAT scores. Meanwhile, fight your way into the other schools on the WL. Remember to consider cost, location, career opportunities, etc. in addition to ranking, especially between schools that are ranked so close together. You may learn a lot about this from The Law School Decision Game.
Hi Ann,
I got accepted to the part time program at SMU Dedman School of Law. My end goal is to live in Los Angeles, but I did not get into any Los Angeles law schools. I scored a 159 on the LSAT and have a 3.45 G.P.A. from the University of Houston. I applied to UCLA, USC and Loyola late, around February and March. I was wondering if you thought I should reapply or try to transfer? I am not sure how much better I can do on my LSAT because I did study quite hard. I am 24 and I’m not sure if I should wait another year. Right now, I do have a great job at a large company as a Compliance Analyst, but I don’t want to start my law career too late. I am also worried about the risk of not getting in next year. I just wanted to know your opinion. Thank you so much.
Jessica,
Applying late certainly didn’t help with Loyola, which would’ve been the reach school in LA. If you know you want to be in LA, you might do better even going to SW on scholarship and having access to the LA job market. Don’t do anything hasty, especially attending a part time program far from home because you would then really only be eligible to transfer to other part time programs. Talk to Loyola about where you would need to be in your class in order to transfer there the following year. Don’t make any snap decisions in favor of a better long-term decision for your career.
Thanks for the reply! I called Loyola and they said that I would need to be in the top 25% of my class to transfer. I’m still not sure if I should wait and reapply as full time to Los Angeles schools. I am just scared of the risk of getting rejected again and not having my foot in the door at all. Your post really made me reconsider taking the SMU offer though. Applying to SW with scholarships is a great idea too. Maybe it would better to be patient, retake my LSAT and apply early for next years applications. Also, I just wanted to let you know that your blog is great! Thanks so much for helping me.
I took the December LSAT and am not proud of the grade I received. I want to take the February LSAT in hopes getting accepted for the Fall semester, but I don’t want to rush myself if I’m not prepared. I sent in my transcripts and my recommendation letters. If I were to wait until June and apply for the Spring Semester, would I have to send in new recommendation letters or would they still be good?
Sophie-Ann, if you feel rushed, don’t do it. Recommendations last at LSAC for 5 whole years!