A Storm of Applications Is Brewing
As the calendar inches towards October and law school admissions officers continue their annual march towards Hilton Honors diamond status (of course, the AdComms claim that it’s really about “attending law fairs” and “meeting with prospective students,” but you—dear readers—are far too savvy to fall for that ruse!), the main news of the admissions cycle continues to be what’s on the horizon.
For applicants, it’s the next LSAT (more below on how the October LSAT has now officially entered “looming” status), or the September LSAT release, or it’s the next application document to draft/edit.
For admissions officers, it’s the next law fair to attend, or preparing our admissions committee to review applications, or starting to build our admissions and scholarship models for the year.
And for law school admissions bloggers, it’s trying to interpret the data so as to provide action points for our readers.
We’re all in it together!
So let’s all take a break from studying for the LSAT or finding the closest Starbucks to the law fair to quickly take a lap around the headlines from the world of law school admissions.
National LSAT Numbers
But when we say “take a break,” we don’t mean that reviewing this information will be relaxing or anything. That’s because we’re still seeing strong numbers from LSAC’s LSAT Registrants and Test Taker Volumes report just two weeks away from the October LSAT.
When we published last week’s blog, October registrants were at 36,846. We had to double-check ourselves a few times to ensure that we were using the proper screenshot for this week and hadn’t just recycled old information.
Last week, we laughed at how October LSAT registrations had only declined by 0.6% from the previous week. We were even so bold as to write “it’s normal to see registrations decline by 1‒5% per week when the LSAT is a month away [but] that number could move to as high as 10‒15% in the two weeks right before the exam.” Well, the registrations only declined by 2.1% this week. While that is an increase over 0.6%, it’s also far short of the usual “pre-test” decline that we see. What this means is that the October LSAT may not only exceed last year’s numbers, but it may exceed 30,000 test takers. That would make it the biggest October LSAT since 2015, back in the days when the test was only offered four times every year.
According to Wikipedia, “The Hills” by The Weeknd was the top song throughout the entirety of October 2015. We imagine our readers will react by saying “That was so long ago!” On the other hand, we at 7Sage Admissions Blog HQ literally just heard this song for the first time when we researched this factoid. Don’t forget that life comes at you fast, Kids!
Meanwhile, next week will be an important milestone for both the September and November LSATs. September test takers will start receiving their scores on Wednesday, September 24th, and the registration deadline for the November test is Thursday, September 25th. If we continue to see big numbers from these tests, we can say with certainty that the applicant pool will increase for the 2025‒2026 admissions cycle.
So batten down the hatches and hold on to something tight because there’s a storm brewing!
National Recruitment Events
But do you know who would love to commiserate about the tidal surge of law school applications? Law school admissions officers! And they’ll be out there for another full week of fairs and forums.
- Wednesday, September 17th: University of Minnesota Law Fair and the Central State University Constitution/Pre-Law Day
- Thursday, September 18th: University of Wisconsin Law School Expo and University of Southern Mississippi Law School Fair
- Saturday, September 20th: Miami LSAC Law Forum
- Wednesday, September 24th: University of South Carolina Law School Fair
- Friday, September 26th: Atlanta LSAC Forum
Fun Fact #1: The University of South Carolina and the University of Southern California have had a long-term tug-of-war over who is the real “USC,” which included a three-year stint when the southeastern version of the schools tried to pivot to being the “UofSC.” It’s too bad college conference realignment hasn’t pitted these two against each other every year so one could earn the name on the field.
Fun Fact #2: Speaking of sports and of topics more germane to law school applicants, the Atlanta Forum is specifically held on a Friday because of how dominant college football is to the applicant pool in the surrounding area. If LSAC tried to hold this event on a Saturday as they do for every other American Forum, attendance would dwindle faster than you can yell, “THAT’S NOT HOLDING, REF! WHAT GAME ARE YOU WATCHING?!”
Fun Fact #3: And speaking exclusively on topics germane to law applicants, if you’re planning to attend a forum, then be sure to check out our blog post from the summer about how to get the most out of your LSAC-law-fair-palooza experience.
We recognize that Fun Fact #3 is far less fun than the two that preceded it….
7Sage Events
Our next Admissions AMA will be on September 17th, with another on the 24th. Stop on by and ask whatever law school admissions questions are on your mind!
With the results of the September LSAT coming back next week, we’ll have another round of “What Does My Score Mean?” classes on Wednesday, September 24th, at 12 PM and 4 PM Eastern and then again on Monday, September 29th, at 2 PM Eastern.
Our most recent law school admissions podcast dropped last week and is a recording from our August Law School Deans’ Roundtable. The deans reflect on how the 2024–2025 admissions season ended, and they offer some words of advice for the upcoming cycle. Be sure to check it out on Amazon, Spotify, Apple, or wherever you stream your podcasts!
Thanks for reading! You can learn more about 7Sage Admissions Consulting’s services here, and if you’d like help deciding which service is right for you, you can book a free consultation here.