How Many Law Schools Should I Apply To
How many law schools is enough? That is, how many should you apply to, in order to assure that you will end up at one of them?
Generally, I recommend that my students apply to at least 12 schools. Law school admissions is competitive, and you should never assume anything about your outcomes. Applying to a wide range of schools will help increase the chances that you'll get into one you would feel happy to attend.
Applying to more schools will also give you more leverage when it comes time to negotiate scholarships and financial aid. And it will give you more opportunities to get a sweet offer of merit-based financial aid to help you mitigate the cost of attending law school!
Your Restrictions
When building a target list and choosing how many law schools to apply to, consider your particular restrictions as an applicant.
If you only want to live on the East Coast, for example, or you know you want to practice law in California, those geographic restrictions may limit your potential pool of target law schools. This may also be the case if you are looking for an uncommon specialty, like disability law or maritime law.
Your grades and LSAT or GRE scores may narrow down the realistic pool by a decent amount as well.
Finally, it’s worth noting that financial considerations may limit your target list as well. Application fees can add up to a couple thousand dollars in total. While that financial burden is not trivial, I usually encourage my clients to apply to 12-18 schools if they can spare the money, to increase the likelihood of their success.
Note that many law schools grant application fee waivers. Some may come automatically based on your LSAT score, while others may be granted upon request based on need.
How to Strike the Right Balance of Schools
It's not the number of schools that will determine your success, but the balance of schools. Think of three rough categories: safety, target, and reach schools.
You need only one or two safeties. Don't overload your list with safeties, and make sure the safeties you add to your list are schools that you'd actually want to attend. Even if you are eager to attend law school, you can always strengthen your candidacy and reapply later if roundly rejected.
Then, add a few realistic reaches. You can apply to the most selective schools in the country, but it likely won't yield much success if you don’t fit their profile. I recommend being realistic about your reaches. Pick a few top schools that are only a bit out of range and fit well with your desired area of legal specialization.
Finally, populate the rest of your list with a wide array of target schools, where your odds of admission range from around 30-70% based on your GPA and LSAT scores. Balance those target schools between some that are safer and some that are a bit more of a stretch. It’s okay to generally aim a bit high, to give yourself plenty of shots at a school where you’d feel excited to attend.
So, to sum up: 2 safeties, 3-4 reaches, and 5-8 targets. That's a pretty balanced list that should guarantee you have viable choices when decisions come out.
Only apply to schools you would be glad to attend. Unlike applying to college, you tend to have other life options if the process doesn’t work out for you. I work with many applicants who first applied on their own and received disappointing results. I helped them spot weaknesses in their candidacy, reframe their application materials to bring out their strengths and address weak points, identify appropriate target schools, and make strategic choices to raise their odds.
There are few more rewarding experiences as a law school admissions consultant than helping an applicant who felt disheartened in a previous cycle to turn things around and get back on track for a legal career. In the grand scheme of things, that bump in the road will quickly fade in the rearview mirror as they join a law school campus where they feel at home.
[Next Read: Building a Target List of Law Schools That Are the Right Fit]
