As you may have heard, law schools right now are doing everything and anything to get people to come, including keeping the doors open for spring (and even summer) admission.
Many more schools, the majority even, are currently keeping admissions open well past their formal deadlines, even accepting applications right before class starts in fall.
So, while formal deadlines usually occur in early spring, it’s now possible to gain admission in late spring or summer at many law schools.
Law Schools Officially Accepting Spring Admission
| Law Schools Accepting Spring Admissions |
|---|
| Albany Law School |
| Appalachian School of Law |
| Arizona State University (O’Connor) |
| Atlanta’s John Marshall Law School |
| Barry University |
| Baylor University |
| California Western School of Law |
| Charleston School of Law |
| Florida Coastal School of Law |
| Florida State University |
| George Washington University |
| Hofstra University (Deane) |
| Inter American University School of Law |
| John Marshall Law School |
| Lewis & Clark College (Northwestern) |
| Michigan State University |
| Pace University |
| Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico, School of Law |
| South Texas College of Law |
| Southern Methodist University (Dedman) |
| SUNY Buffalo Law School |
| Touro College–Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center |
| University of Akron |
| University of Arizona (Rogers) |
| University of Houston |
| University of Miami |
| University of Missouri—Kansas City |
| University of Texas—Austin |
| University of Toledo |
| University of Tulsa |
| Washburn University |
| Western Michigan University (Cooley) |
| Western New England University |
| Western State College of Law at Argosy |
Why You Still Shouldn’t Apply For Spring Admission To Law School
However, just because you can do it doesn’t make applying in spring or later a good idea. We strongly counsel anyone seeking our advice to wait a year and apply to schools earlier in the cycle (December or before). This is for several reasons:
- There generally aren’t a lot of spots left by the time you apply to law school in spring. This should hold true to some extent even in the current situation. While strong applicants will face less of a disadvantage or none at all in terms of getting in, weaker applicants will likely have much better results applying early the following year.
- There is likely to be substantially less scholarship money available in spring. This is the real reason why you should not apply late to law school unless money is no matter. By spring most schools will have used up all or most of the merit-based scholarship money that they use to draw students to their. Even if they give you a scholarship late, don’t expect schools to be honest about whether you got the best one they would have given you had you applied earlier. Scholarship money is given out through a one way blind process- unless you get the largest scholarship they have, you’ll never know if you could have done better next year.
- There is the possibility that admissions is essentially closed, and law schools are merely trying to lower their acceptance rate. Law schools are ranked in part based on their selectivity. The lower the amount of people they actually offer acceptance in proportion to the number actually applying, the more selective they appear, and the better they do in that metric of the influential USNWR rankings. Because of this, law schools have a strong incentive to get more applications even when there aren’t really any spots open (or there are only spots for candidates with really high numbers). All things being equal, you may prefer applying to a school when you have an actual shot at getting in (next year). This is especially true for candidates below the median GPA/LSAT numbers for a school.
- You won’t shrivel up and die if you wait another year to attend law school. In fact, it’s likely that you can use the extra year to do something that makes you a stronger candidate for law schools, such as doing substantial volunteer work or kicking butt at a job somewhere.
Remember that most schools will accept a February or June retake LSAT score provided you applied with an earlier score before the application deadline. However, you may have to inform them that you plan to retake and ask them to keep your application open or reconsider it when you have your new score.
If you are convinced you have great reasons to apply to law school in spring, tell them to me anonymously or otherwise in the comments, and I will do my best to talk you out of it unless the reasons are very compelling. Remember that if you want the best chances of going to your dream school at a good price, it’s always a good idea to get in your applications before Christmas or earlier.
