Law schools consider as many as 54 factors in reviewing an application: Do you know them?

While your LSAT score (or average of multiple LSAT scores) and your undergraduate GPA (as officially determined by LSAC) are by far the two most important factors that a law school admissions committee considers, there are actually 54 factors that you should consider in crafting your application. Do you know them? See the full list at my website http://www.prelawadvisor.com/.

Application submission timing: "I made the deadline by two days, but I was rejected. Why?"

I often hear this complaint from new advisees. In a last-minute frenzy to move towards law school, they submit applications just before the schools' official deadlines. Almost always, such applications fail. Unless you are bringing stellar numbers and experience to a school, and unless it really still has admission slots open, the last-minute application says, "This is a hasty, ill-considered effort from someone who just doesn't have his or her act together." Don't associate yourself with such negative mental images. Your goal should be a brilliant, perfectly complete application, submitted as early in the cycle as possible. Then you are perceived as on the ball, focused, organized, and effective. For more information about my recommendations, see my website PrelawAdvisor.com

Is an applicant's LSAT score really all that important to the law schools?

Many law school applicants grossly underestimate the importance of their LSAT score in the law school admission process. They reason, "Certainly, who I am and what I've achieved in my life so far is vastly more important than my performance on a single standardized test." This is rational, but wrong, because of the enormous market impact of the US News & World Report ranking system. Law schools feel great pressure to produce entering classes with high LSAT scores. Thus, extraordinary weight is placed on one's performance on the LSAT. I caution all of my advisees to first construct a developmental path that maximizes the probability of high official LSAT performance. For more information about my recommendations, please see my detailed advice on top LSAT performance at PrelawAdvisor.com.