Congratulations are in order (assuming of course that you took the December LSAT; if not then, LSAT prep on)! For those of you who did, you finally made the jump, sat in that cold metal chair for near four hours and finished the December LSAT. Afterwards, you either dragged yourself home in a daze and fell asleep on your bed for the next 12 hours, or your neglected loved ones took you out to the closest bar, got you inebriated and then dragged you to your bed where you slept for the next 12 hours. And now, you wake up to a bright morning and fight your conditioned urge to sit down and complete a Logical Reasoning section. You may be wondering, what do I do now?
Great question. Well, if you are planning on sending out applications for Fall 2014, then you better chop-chop! Ideally, you finished your applications a while ago on your down time before the LSAT and sent them in so the only thing between you and a completed application is your December LSAT score. However, as we all know, things aren't always ideal. So, you have a few weeks before your LSAT score comes in. Write those essays, then rewrite, rewrite and rewrite. Badger your professors who still haven't gotten those letters of recommendation back to you. Have everything ready so that in a few weeks, when you get that lovely email with those three pretty numbers you've been working so hard for, you can press the send button and have your law school applications completed and off your mind. Remember that law schools work under a rolling admissions process, which means that law schools begin reading applications in the order they come in. The earlier you send in your application, the less people you will be compared to and the more seats will be available.
Now, if you are looking to go to law school later and just wanted to get your LSAT of the way, then you don't have to rush. Once you feel you have adequately taken a break from thinking about law school, however, begin to send your professors your recommendation requests so that they can begin to think about all the amazing accolades to write about. Professors are really busy and though you'd like them to, they rarely ever place recommendations at the top of their priorities. Next, begin to think about which schools you want to attend for the next three years of your life. Whittle the list down to somewhere around six (remember those application fees aren't cheap!). You should have at least two safety schools, two schools that you have a good chance of getting into (but it's still not 100%), and two schools that are a reach. The rest is up to you. Slowly work your way through their applications. Have people read your essays, edit, edit and edit. And maybe think about choosing a school to apply to for early admission.
Now, once you've got all of that squared away, take a vacation. I'm serious. You have been working so hard. Take a break. You need time to rest. Think about it: when you run a marathon, you take a break to let your muscles and ligaments recuperate and strengthen. Don't burn yourself out. You've still got three years of hard studying ahead of you!
To those of you who took the December LSAT, hang ten!
To those of you who haven't taken the exam yet, time to get back to your LSAT prep. Happy studying!