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Law School Admissions Checklist and Results Tracker Template
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Everything you need to do to apply to law school

Stuff to Do

Send transcripts and
LORs
⁠
to LSAC’s
Credential Assembly Service
⁠
:

All transcripts, including those from community college, study abroad programs (
if you did more than year’s worth of work
⁠
), colleges where you took classes while in high school, etc.
See LSAC’s
instructions for requesting transcripts
⁠
⁠
A minimum of two LORs,
with one academic LOR if possible
⁠
⁠

Plan your attack:

Create a
school list
⁠
with about three reach, target, and safety schools, respectively. (
Learn more
⁠
.)
Decide if you’ll apply early decision. (
Learn more
⁠
.)

Write your essays and other documents:

Personal statement (
more
⁠
)
Final proofread (
more
⁠
)
Résumé (
more
⁠
)
Final proofread
Diversity statement (
if applicable
⁠
)
Final proofread
Character and fitness addendum (
if applicable
⁠
)
Final proofread
Gap in employment addendum if applicable
Final proofread
LSAT or GPA addendum (
if applicable
⁠
)
Final proofread

Stuff to Think About

Before you write your essays:

What's the one-sentence story of your application?
Do you have any major liabilities as an applicant? How can you address them?

After you write your essays:

What questions might an admissions officer have about your application?
Is there anything else that the admissions committee should know about you?

Stuff to Check on Each Application Before You Submit

Download the PDF preview of your application. Make sure you…
Haven’t made any typos in your responses to short answer questions
Followed the instructions for the personal statement, including length limits.
Accepted all tracked changes and deleted all comments on your Word files
Attached the correct, final, proofread version of each essay, and not an earlier draft or an essay addressed to the wrong school
Followed instructions for the résumé, listing hours for each job or specifying whether it was part-time or full-time if necessary
Formatted your essays consistently (
more
⁠
)
Added headers that show your name and LSAC number
Answered the character and fitness questions correctly
Attached all the addenda you needed and intended to send
Note: we recommend that you DON’T apply to your first-choice school first. Apply first to safeties or schools in the middle of your list in case you discover an error after you submit

Stuff to Do After You Submit

Prep for any interviews you may have (
more
⁠
)
Send letters of continued interest (more
here
⁠
and
here
⁠
)
Fill out your FAFSA, if you haven't already
Ask for more merit-based financial aid (
more
⁠
)
⁠
Next up:
⁠
School List
Decide where you'll apply; see at a glance if you’re above or below a school's medians.
⁠
⁠
Stuff to Do
Send transcripts and LORs to LSAC’s Credential Assembly Service:
Plan your attack:
Write your essays and other documents:
Stuff to Think About
Before you write your essays:
After you write your essays:
Stuff to Check on Each Application Before You Submit
Stuff to Do After You Submit
Want to print your doc?
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Try clicking the ⋯ next to your doc name or using a keyboard shortcut (
CtrlP
) instead.