PRELAW HANDBOOK - Number of Applications To Submit

LAW SCHOOL SELECTION PROCESS
TOPICS

The average applicant applies to 5.3 law schools. You should be sure to place your applications at schools representing a range of admission standards. Even if you have top qualifications, you should apply to at least one safety school where you are almost certain of being admitted. This is your insurance policy. If you apply to a safety school in November, and are accepted in January or February, you may be disappointed but not panicked if you are later denied admission by your top choices.
          Official Guide to ABA-Approved law schools.

TOPICS

SOME REASONS TO APPLY TO A GOODLY NUMBER OF LAW SCHOOLS

TO HOW MANY LAW SCHOOLS SHOULD YOU APPLY
_{NUMBER OF APPLICATIONS TO SUBMIT
SOME REASONS TO APPLY TO A
GOODLY NUMBER OF LAW SCHOOLS

It is possible, albeit unlikely, that a law school applicant may be rejected by one school but awarded a law school scholarship by a comparable law school. _.

Do not assume that your chances of admission necessarily decline as the law school becomes more prestigious. _.
Admissions decisions do not always make sense.  _.
The answer is always No if you never ask.

When deciding how many law schools to apply to, there are two possible errors that you can make: applying to too many law schools (time and money were wasted) or applying to too few law schools (you could have gotten into a more desirable law school or you could have gotten into at least one acceptable law school). Our attitude is "Applying to too many law schools is best."

NUMBER OF APPLICATIONS TO SUBMIT
TO HOW MANY LAW SCHOOL
SHOULD YOU APPLY

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This website recommends, in general, applying to at least eight-to-ten law schools. _.
There is no better use of your time and money than applying to many law schools.
Seniors at Yale University apply to eight or nine law schools on the average and most University of California at Berkeley students apply to eight to ten law schools. There is probably no harm in taking a lesson from Yale University and University of California at Berkeley students.
Arizona State University Pre-Law says, "Since all law schools charge a nonrefundable application fee, most students will limit the number of their applications for monetary reasons as well as for reasons of volume. Eight to ten applications are recommended."
What if you have little interest in most or all of your possible "safety" schools? Should you apply to these schools? Do not apply to a law school to which you would not enroll even if it were the last law school on earth but remember that, at least for some law school applicants, as the rejections pile up, an interest in these little interest "safety" schools increases without bound.
Harvard University Careers in Law advises that the you should "Always apply to all the schools you could see yourself attending -- don't make the admissions committees' decisions for them. Law school admissions committees can be quirky and unpredictable, however, so we generally recommend applying to at least ten schools. Your pre-law adviser can help you put together a list of schools, think through which ones would be the best fit, and eventually help you decide which school to attend."}