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If you’re applying to law school, you might think this is your lucky year.  The legal job market remains weak and the number of law school applicants is down. As any master of the LSAT might reason, the smaller pool of applicants should logically help your chances at schools that were “reaches” or “long shots” in recent years.  But, the law schools are confounding this logic by tweaking class sizes in a way that just may eliminate any theoretical advantage for applicants.

There’s a few reasons for this.  By many accounts, this tough economy for lawyers seems to differ from previous down job markets.  One view is that the reductions in class size by law schools reflects a “structural shift” or “rebooting” of the legal profession.  According to a June 2012 report in the Wall Street Journal, “[i]n previous economic downturns, the number of law-school applicants increased, as students who would otherwise have looked for jobs found temporary refuge studying for an advanced degree. But the number of law-school applicants [in 2012] is 65,119, down 14% from a year earlier, according to the Law School Admission Council Inc., a nonprofit corporation that administers the Law School Admission Test (LSAT).”  Trimming class size will help law schools with job placement prospects for students and in reporting employment data, though it will cost the law schools in the form of lost tuition (law schools are a profit center for most universities).

Here’s the trend in the numbers drop:

•  In June, the Wall Street Journal reported that at least 10 law schools were cutting their class size due to the weak job market for lawyers and a dwindling number of applicants.

 • The number of law school admission tests administered in October 2012 tumbled 16.4% from the previous year, according to the Law School Admission Council.

•  A recent survey indicates that the trend toward reducing law school class size appears to be getting broader.  ”According to Kaplan Test Prep’s 2012 survey of law school admissions officers*, 51% of law schools have cut the size of the entering class; 63% said the reason was the contraction of the job market in the legal industry. And more cuts may be on the way; of the law schools that have not cut the size of their entering classes, 28% say they will likely do so for the current application cycle.”

•  The ABA Journal reports the 1L enrollment drop is even steeper:  “About three-fourths of 201 ABA-accredited law schools had declines in first-year enrollment this fall, according to preliminary statistics from the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar. . . This represents a drop of 9 percent from the fall of 2011 and a drop of about 15 percent from historic highs in 2010. Overall, 44,481 full-time and part-time students began their legal studies this fall, compared to 52,488 in the fall of 2010.”

Faced with fewer applicants to choose from, law schools still seek ways to maintain their selectivity in the all-important US News & World Report rankings. As Professor William Henderson at Indiana University told the Wall Street Journal, “[b]y cutting the number of places available, a law school can be just as selective, or even more so, about prospective students’ LSAT scores and undergrad grade-point averages.”

So, while at first glance, the smaller pool of law school applicants might seem to place you in much better position at that “reach” school, don’t be surprised if last year’s LSAT/GPA grid remains a fairly good predictor for your admissions chances this year.

The silver lining here is that Kaplan’s 2012 survey reports some good news for applicants on the financial aid front.  “Compared to the 2011-2012 cycle, 47% of law schools have actually increased the amount of financial aid they have been able to provide students for the 2012-2013 cycle; 41% say they kept their level of financial aid at last year’s levels.”  Here’s some food for thought on that point from Jeff Thomas, director of pre-law programs, Kaplan Test Prep: “financial aid from law schools is almost always merit-based, not needs-based, so assembling a stellar application that includes a high LSAT score, strong GPA, well-written personal statement and compelling letters of recommendation is incredibly important.”

Check out these podcasts to hear how to make your application stand out!

• Law School Strategic Admission Plan: What You Can Do Now To Help You Get Accepted
• Creating the Killer Law School Application: A Step-by-Step Guide To Creating The Best Application
• Law School Personal Statements & Letters of Recommendation: Where to Begin
• Building the Best Law School Application Resume: Resumes to Get You Accepted
• Avoiding Application Pitfalls: What Not to Do On Your Law School Application
• Mitigating Weaknesses In Your Law School Application: How to Identify and Fix Your Weak Spots

A personal statement is really no more than telling a story—one that illuminates the “you” a law school would be lucky to have in its student body. In this series, “Telling Your Story,” jdMission Senior Consultant Mary Adkins discusses how elements of storytelling can—and should—be applied to your personal statement. Stay tuned for more in this series!

We all suffer from writer’s block sometimes, and it can be particularly brutal when the stakes are high… like when you are trying to get into law school.

One way to cut through the blockage is to make a stream-of-conscious list of word associations. Start with a memory (e.g., first grade), a person (e.g., grandmother) or a place (e.g., the beach), and then just write down every word that comes to mind for the next two to three minutes. Do not worry if the words that come to mind are absurd (e.g., tuna, rabbits, dominoes)—they are coming from somewhere, and one of them just might trigger a memory that makes you think, “Ah! That could have a place in this essay.”

This advice may sound a little silly and unguided, but that is precisely the point. When you are experiencing writer’s block, that is a sign that you are too “in your head”—that is, your conscious mind. You need to hop over from your left brain to your right, which is less judgmental and more creative.

The word association list is a tool for doing just this.

Here is one I just did, to give you a sense of how the process can work:

France
Baguettes
Family
Mom
Driving
Parking garage
Parasailing
Pole
Jumping jacks
Downstairs neighbor
Teaching
Quiet
Elevator
Anger
Piece
Peace
Smoking
Karaoke
Time
Aging
Growth
Distance
Frankfurter

When I look at this list, some things just seem ridiculous (frankfurter?), but others spark ideas I could run with. Downstairs neighbor, for example, reminds me of a story I have about my neighbor that might work well for an essay.

Give it a shot. At two minutes, what have you got to lose?

This is a guest post by jdMission, a professional law school admissions consulting firm, specializing in helping law school applicants identify and showcase the strongest aspects of their candidacy in their application.

You can sign up for a free one-on-one consultation with jdMission by submitting the form found at http://jdmission.com/consult.php.

For more information on this topic, check out Law School Podcaster’s podcast, Law School Personal Statements & Letters of Recommendation: Where to Begin?

Adam Goodman is a senior at the University of Wisconsin-Madison where he is majoring in History and Political Science. Adam is a guest blogger for Law School Podcaster, documenting his decision to go to law school and his progress through the law school admissions process. When Adam is not studying or writing, he can be found charming co-eds, playing intramural sports, and participating in various philanthropic events.

I have about a month and a half until I take the LSAT — in all its terrifying glory. These last few weeks are flying by.  While I try to fight the temptation to give in to the lazy days of summer, I am working hard to try to get my application materials for law school in order. My reasoning for doing so is simple.  The sooner all my law school applications are done, the better. With rolling admissions at most law schools, the sooner my  LSAT, and application materials are done, the better chance I have of getting into my top choice school.

In truth I am finding the application process on the LSAC website much less horrifying than the undergraduate application process. Everything is digital, compact, and in one place. Everything being in one place with a standard application is great. In terms of personal statements, I recommend that you get them done early so you have time to look them over. Get them reviewed by family, friends, the writing center at your school etc. Get some reviews in! Then modify as you see fit. Sell yourself in your application and make sure everything is spelled correctly!

Possibly the most frustrating aspect of the applications process for me has been the letters of  recommendation. With recommendations in the hands of those you ask to be your recommenders,  the time tables for getting those recommendations in to LSAC is  often beyond your control.  I found it helpful to ask recommenders for recommendations early in the process. If you can give your recommenders a deadline, it’s a good idea so they can hopefully work on getting yours done before everyone else starts to get theirs in or start asking for them. Professors are often balancing multiple requests for recommendations so it’s helpful to be “first in line.”  Without becoming a “stalker,”  follow up and confirm your recommendations have been  sent to LSAC or to the schools you are applying to..

The application process is not the only thing that keeps me busy these days. The LSAT  itself is a marathon that you must train for, day in, day out. You can always improve. In many ways, LSAT prep has helped me keep busy over the summer. I try to do several pages of LSAT problems a day to keep myself fresh, to work on my timing, and frankly, just to get better. The top law schools are looking for LSAT scores in the 170s. A range of impossibility? For many yes, but it’s always good to target your best, whatever that is. And who knows, with enough practice, prayer, and the planets aligning on test day, I just may land an impossible 180. Or so I tell myself anyway.  Go to work on those practice problems, get comfortable with them, and get comfortable with the test in general by taking as many practice tests as you can. When taking a practice test, replicate the conditions that you know you will find yourself in come test day. Is your test at 8:30 in morning? Take those practice tests at 8:30. By replicating test conditions, from the time allowed for breaks to filling out the basic information on the scantron, the more comfortable you get with the test, the more prepared and less stressed you’ll be on test day.

At this point in the admissions process, school selection is important,  and you should have an idea of where you want to apply.  If you are unsure, remember that everyone has a certain list of criteria that they look for when applying that will lead you to a certain school. Despite the rankings, Harvard Law might not be the school for everyone. Having an idea of what kind of law you would like to practice can help in your decision making. Since I have an interest in practicing international law, the first thing I began to look at when starting the application process was to look for schools with good international law programs. Schools in Washington D.C fit the bill, with many offering excellent internships for international law.

Offering a certain program should not be the only criteria when applying to a school. What is the student to faculty ratio? What internships can you apply for during the semester? How important is geography to you and do you know where you want to begin your career after law school?  (A local law school often provides a great foundation for networking and your job search). Does the campus you are considering meet your needs in terms of resources? Is student life there a good fit for you?   Of course,  money will also be an issue. If you get into a law school that costs $50,000 a year, how will you pay for it?  How  do you decide between a law school that might offer more scholarship money and one that is potentially more prestigious or closer to your top choice. Don’t forget to factor in the cost of books and housing  These are the questions you should ask yourself when deciding whether or not to apply to a certain school. If some schools are out of your price range, why bother paying the application fee if you know your enrollment at a certain school is not financially viable? These are the issues you will face during the application process.

The best things you can do to answer these questions is to go to the schools you are looking to apply to, take a tour, go to  the information session and ask a lot of questions along the way. If you do not know what you want just yet, asking questions when you visit schools can give you a better idea of what you want in a law school and in a degree, from financial aid to internship opportunities.

Once you’ve registered for the LSAT, and your test date is on the calendar, it’s time to figure out how you’ll prepare for the test. How much time is enough time? Where do you begin?  Our new podcast explores your crunch time until the LSAT and our guests help you develop a time-based plan that focuses on what you need to do between now and the time you take the test.

As you begin studying for the LSAT, you need to first figure out where you stand. There are geeky types who need virtually no prep, but Noah Teitelbaum, the Executive Director of Academics at Manhattan Prep, has a guide for the rest of us mortals. “The overarching idea is to avoid just taking LSAT after LSAT. That only works for people who are naturally good at standardized tests. All those people need – and let’s envy those people – all they need is exposure. For the rest of us, we need to learn a strategy, we need to practice that strategy and focus-practice that, and then mix it into full LSAT practice tests. Otherwise, we’re just going to be repeating the problematic or mistaken strategies that we might have come up with on our own.”

In the podcast, Teitelbaum lays out a plan for all 4 phases of prep work and you’ll hear how to maximize your study time — and what to focus on — from Glen Stohr, Kaplan Test Prep, Senior Manager for Content Development and  Cathrina Altimari-Brown: LSAT Student, Legal Assistant, Google.

Listen to the full podcast to hear more!

Sponsored by Admit Advantage and Back By Popular Demand…

The Dos and Don’ts of Personal Statements

Monday, 11/5     8pm EDT

Time is getting short! Don’t spin your wheels over your personal statement. Join us for a discussion of the key features of a successful statement. The right personal statement can make all the difference and help you overcome less than stellar LSAT scores or GPAs! Even applicants with great numbers, need top-notch personal statements to make them stand out.

The Admit Advantage law director will teach you how to make the best impression with your personal statement and put your application over the edge.

Detailed Q&A to follow.

https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/337068462

By Catherine Cook, an Accepted.com admissions consultant, published author and former Duke Law admissions officer. Accepted.com, the premier admissions consultancy and essay editing company, has helped applicants around the world gain admissions to over 450+ top schools since 1994.

This blog post originally appeared on Accepted Admissions Consulting Blog.

One of the most frequent topics we are asked about is the LSAT – and whether to cancel a score when test day doesn’t go as planned.

We’ve devoted an entire podcast to the topic and you can listen to it here.  After the October 2012 test, we got the following question from a listener.

So here’s my deal. I did not prepare for the LSAT as well as I should have, and because of that,I had some serious issues with timing…on the analytical reasoning question, I literally answered 11 out of 23 questions, and didn’t even get to the others, so I blankly filled the rest in, since it was a better alternative than merely leaving them blank, though obviously neither is ideal.SAT

At best, I think I did decently well on the other sections, though I did have a few timing issues with them as well. All in all, it is the first time I took the test, and plan on taking the test again February. I would love to go to a top 25 Law School in September of 2013, but I am not necessarily in a rush. I understand that not all schools accept a February LSAT score, but they will accept that score the next year, so, 2014, so if I do well on the February test and can’t apply for 2013, that is OK, since I’m working full time.

So here is my question. Assuming that I’m taking the test again one way or another in February (I will be taking a class this time, and now realize that I did not prepare sufficiently on my own, which was 100% my own fault), do you recommend cancelling the score, or just taking it, hoping for the best? I honestly can’t imagine that I scored higher than a 155, but I am confident that with practice and focus, I could improve that score significantly. I admit, I thought I would be able to wing this, and was sadly mistaken…I guess I’ll have to chalk this up to a learning experience. I have taken some time and stepped back from the situation, trying not to be overly dramatic, proclaiming impending doom, but I am certain that I did quite poorly on this exam.

My concern is that if the score is flat out terrible, which I believe is very, very possible, that it will kill my chances of getting into a good law school in the future. I am under the impression that a cancellation will not hurt me, and I’m positive that I will do better with actual preparation the next time around. Assuming that I got, say, a 150 on this exam, and a 168 on the exam in February, would it be better to have both of these showing, or 1 cancellation, and 1 168?

We turned, again, to Manhattan LSAT’s Cory Ferreira, for the following thoughtful response to this question:

First and foremost, don’t be too difficult on yourself. If you’re like most of us, the LSAT is unlike any other standardized test you’ve ever taken before in your life. It’s very, very difficult and you certainly are not the first person to “wing it” and find out the hard way what an undertaking this exam is.

My advice to you would absolutely be to cancel the score, since you are certain that you are going to take the exam again, and are certain that you are going to score much higher when you do. There truly is no benefit to simply “having” a score on your record if you are certain it is not the best score you’re capable of, and based on the way you described your experience with the Logic Games section, it sounds like you are very sure that you underperformed.

The good news is that the skills necessary to do well on this test are absolutely learnable and can be developed with hard work and proper training. Even better news for you, perhaps, is that logic games is the section of the test that is probably the most learnable of the three sections.

So, to answer your question directly, I think it is better for you to have one cancellation (which is no big deal to Admissions councils) and a killer score, than a 150 and a killer score. 

Listen to our full podcast for more info on this topic!

 How can you write essays that grab the attention of law school admissions committees?

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• 10% any 12-session Manhattan LSAT course
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• Free half hour consultation with a jdMission consultant

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The Who, What and Why of Effective Recommendations

Monday, 10/15   8pm EDT

Get the recommendations you need! Candidates have more control over this key application component than they realize. The Admit Advantage law director will discuss what law schools want to see and how you can help your recommenders get it right.

Don’t miss this opportunity put your application over the top.

Detailed Q&A to follow.

 Registration link: https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/297287774

That’s the question a Law School Podcaster listener recently posed on our blog.  We turned, of course, to the Manhattan LSAT prep team for the helpful response that follows.

Our listener asks:

I took the June LSAT and had been doing independent study for it the 2-3 months leading up to the test date. I was averaging 155 on my practice tests but a large part of the problem was my living situation. The Monday before the test I had a series of family emergencies and ended up spending all of my time that I wasn’t at work at the hospital. I sat through the test and decided and afterward decided to cancel my score. Now I have taken a prep class and am scoring 160 on my practice tests. I plan to move out to ensure that I can concentrate on law school apps. However the October LSAT is just around the corner and I am not sure whether or not to take the test, postpone it, or take it and again retake in December. I am trying to get into a top 10 school and I know that a 160 doesn’t cut it. I would need a 10 pt. improvement at least. Would law schools consider me a third time test taker if the first scores were never published? I want to make sure I get a 170 but I also feel like I have been studying for this test for the past 6 months now.

 Manhattan LSAT says:

For the most part, Admissions Officers are going to pay very little attention to “cancelled” scores. While it does count against your “3 tests in any two year period” quota, one cancellation will not hurt your chances of getting in to a top tier law school.

The bigger question for you, I think, is whether or not to sit for the Oct test. If you know you need a 170, but are now PT’ing at ~160, I do not think it is wise for you to sit for the exam on Saturday. The best case scenario for you will be a low 160s score, which by your own admission is lower than what you require to get in to the schools you’re aiming for. There are very few advantages to taking this test just to get that score, and many disadvantages. The ONLY advantage would be that you would get the experience, once again, of sitting for a real LSAT. Since you’ve done this once already, I would not recommend taking the test just for the purposes of real-life practice.

The disadvantages, on the other hand, are numerous. First, you will now only be eligible to sit for the test one more time. That adds a tremendous amount of pressure to your December LSAT. I am not sure what your timelines are, but if you are not married to the idea of starting next Fall, wouldn’t it be nice to go in to the December LSAT with a higher PT average AND the knowledge that if you fall short of your target score, you can retake one more time?

Another disadvantage is that while there are mixed opinions on this, I have heard that two cancelled scores may raise some eyebrows. I know that one cancel is no big deal, while two might be something that you need to explain in an addendum.

On the whole, my recommendation would be to put in a solid study effort over the next two months to get that PT average up in the 170 range. That way you can take the December LSAT with a reasonable shot at reaching your target score, and with the comfort of knowing that if something doesn’t go your way on test day, you could always sit for this thing one last time.

I hope this advice is helpful! ˜ Cory Ferreira, Manhattan LSAT 

For more information on this topic, listen to our podcast Cancelling or Retaking the LSAT:  What to Do When Test Day Doesn’t Go as Planned