The Early Bird Gets the Worm

            To all my fellow juniors in college out there that are witnessing their friends getting accepted to law school and celebrating the conclusion of this daunting process, take some solace in that our turn will come soon. Let their successes and failures motivate you to be the best applicant you can when our turn comes around in less than a year. While a year doesn’t seem like a long time, it is plenty to give your application a complete makeover. At the base of this highly cosmetic process is preparation. Being prepared is rarely, if ever, a disservice. In the law school admissions process, this is especially true as many attribute their admission successes to their extensive preparation for this grueling process. There are many facets to being “prepared” that extend across almost every aspect of the admissions process. One interpretation of the word is to have all necessary forms, essays, recommendations, and additional materials completed far in advance of when they are due. Not only does this alleviate the last minute nervousness that accompanies lack of preparation, but more importantly it allows an applicant to have the statistically greatest chance to being admitted to the school of their choice.

            Now, most of you reading this I’m sure immediately think I am building up to advocate applying under an Early Program, and to some extent I am. While Early Decision Programs are binding and somewhat intimidating, they do offer the best chance of acceptance. Placing a guarantee of attendance on your application screams dedication and a true passion for the school to which you are applying. However, it is extremely important that I dispel the most common flawed logic that is associated with Early Decision Programs. If you are an applicant that is no where near the class profile medians and doesn’t have some Mother Theresaesque program that independently funds medical treatment for thousands of impoverished Africans, then applying Early Decision will most likely not benefit you. It is really aimed to benefit the solid applicants that are willing to devote themselves to that institution regardless of any other acceptances they may receive. The other early option is the Early Action Programs, which is a non-binding version of the Early Decision Program. The most notable attraction to applying early is that you will receive a decision far sooner than if you were to apply in the regular admissions applicant pool. But there is one very important statistical advantage to applying early that is not as commonly mentioned: when you apply early there are more seats available in the incoming class. This concept is derived from the Rolling Admissions process that nearly every accredited American Law School uses, accepting applicants as their applications arrive instead of waiting for all of the applications and then evaluating them in comparison to the entire applicant pool. If you are to wait until the end of the admissions process to apply and all of the seats are filled, no matter how qualified you are there, there will be no room for you and you will be denied.

            This incredibly beneficial logic is also applicable to schools that don’t have Early Admissions Programs. It is the exact same idea, admissions departments use rolling admissions and seats fill up as time passes; the later it is in the process the less seats are available. So all you juniors, get your application requirements completed before Summer ends and make sure they are perfect, then when the process begins you will be among the very prepared that applies when the most seats are available, giving yourself the best chance to succeed. And at the end of the day, law school admissions are a crapshoot and we need every bit of help we can get. So be that early bird that is awake, alert and able to snag the worm while the other birdies are fast asleep in their nests.