Those of you who have already received your LSAT scores and sent in your completed applications may be dealing with an ailment known as law-school-application-withdrawals. What are law-school-application-withdrawals, you may ask? Well, for the past year, your every move has been, in one way or another, related to law school. You’ve gotten up early, forgone social events, and either stress eaten your way out of your skinny jeans or stress starved yourself into them. You studied hard during your LSAT prep days. You worked meticulously on your applications. And then one day, your score and applications were in and out of sight, and you got up early out of habit and realized there’s nothing left to do. It’s a daunting feeling. I want you to know that it’s normal and there are still a few things you can do to get through this time.
First, let’s talk rejections. I know it’s a bitter word, but some, if not most of you, will get a couple rejections sent back to you. I want you to know that rejections are, for most people, inevitable. No one gets through the law school application process unscathed and a rejection or two is not only probable, but very normal. For those of you who don’t get any rejections, bravo, and the rest of us secretly hate you. For the rest of us normal humans, take your rejection(s) in stride.
Now, for the cheerier side of the law school application responses: acceptances. Each acceptance gives you bargaining power. You can use an acceptance to a higher-ranked school as leverage for more money from a comparatively lower-ranked school. Mo’ acceptances, mo’ money!
Next, I can’t highlight enough how important it is to check out the schools you’ve been accepted to. Law school is very expensive. You wouldn’t decide to buy a Maserati before you took it out for a test drive, right? Likewise, you should never say yes to a law school before you’ve walked its campus, sat in its library, met some of its professors, sat in on at least one class, and done research on its bar passage rates, professor-to-student ratios and percentage of legally-employed graduates, to name a few. Take this time to travel to these schools. In that way you can have a makeshift vacation, while weaning yourself off your law-school-revolving-world slowly. Trust me, going cold turkey can lead to many pointless anxiety-ridden, abruptly woken mornings.
Hopefully, this advice will help those of you currently suffering from law-school-application-withdrawals, and for those of you who are still in the thick of your LSAT prep, come back to this advice once you’re done. Remember, it only gets easier.
Happy Studying!
