Okay so picture this – it’s like two in the morning, I’m in my apartment wearing the same sweatpants for three days straight, and I’ve got law school websites pulled up on my laptop, my iPad, and honestly even my phone. My roommate walks past and goes “you look insane right now” and she wasn’t wrong.
The thing driving me completely bonkers? This one question: how many law schools should I apply to?
Everyone I asked gave me different answers. My cousin who went to Georgetown said apply to twenty. Some guy on a law school forum swore six was enough. My advisor kept doing this thing where she’d tilt her head and go “well, it really varies per person” which was about as helpful as a screen door on a submarine.
So lemme just save you the mental breakdown I had and tell you what I figured out after way too many late nights and stress-eating an entire family-size bag of chips
The Range That Won’t Make You Lose Your Mind
Most people I know sent their stuff to like nine to twelve schools. Some went higher if they had complicated situations. And honestly? That number’s not pulled outta thin air.
Think about it this way – you can’t throw all your hopes on three schools unless you’ve got absolutely killer stats. Like we’re talking one seventy-five LSAT and basically a perfect GPA. For us normal humans, three schools is basically asking to get your heart broken.
But then going to the other extreme and applying to twenty-five schools? That’s how you end up crying into your keyboard at midnight because you can’t remember which personal statement you sent where and whether you mentioned their “strong alumni network” or their “commitment to public service” and now everything’s blending together into one giant blob of words.
Around ten or eleven schools hits different because you’re not putting all your eggs in one basket, but you’re also not juggling so many baskets that you drop them all. You need schools where you’re reaching a little – like maybe their typical LSAT’s one sixty-seven and you got one sixty-three, but your resume’s pretty solid so maybe they’ll vibe with your application. Then you need schools where you’re basically right in their wheelhouse statistically. And you definitely gotta have some backups where you’re comfortably above what they usually admit.
When You Actually Need To Apply To More Schools
So there’re definitely people who need to submit like fifteen or seventeen apps, and they’re not just being extra about it.
If your numbers tell a messy story, you need more shots. What’s a messy story? Like say your LSAT’s one sixty-nine which is objectively really good, but your GPA’s three point three because you were working two jobs through undergrad to help your family out. Or maybe it’s flipped – your GPA’s three point eight-five but you had the worst test day ever and landed at one fifty-eight on the LSAT.
My friend Jake was dealing with this exact thing. His LSAT was one seventy which is excellent, but his undergrad GPA was three point four because he’d had some health problems during college. When he was figuring out how many law schools I should apply to, he ended up choosing seventeen schools. Got into nine. Got flat rejected from six. Two more waitlisted him and one eventually came through.
It’s the same deal if you’re not fitting the traditional applicant mold. Maybe you’re twenty-nine and switching careers from nursing. Maybe you did four years with Teach for America. Schools are gonna have wildly different reactions to your background. More applications means better odds of finding places that actually appreciate what makes you unique.
When Fewer Applications Can Actually Work Out Fine
But here’s the other side – my friend Sarah applied to exactly seven schools and she’s at Vanderbilt now, really happy, got like forty percent scholarship. How’d she pull that off with so few apps?
She knew her stuff. She wanted to stay in the Southeast, preferably Tennessee or North Carolina because that’s where her family is and she wasn’t interested in moving across the country. She had good numbers – LSAT one sixty-five, GPA three point seven.
She picked seven schools in her area, actually visited four of them, talked to current students, sat in on classes, and when she wrote those “why our school” essays she could actually say specific real things instead of generic nonsense she found on the website. Each application was strong because she wasn’t spreading herself thin.
If you’ve got solid stats and you’re not all over the place about what you want, you can totally do seven to nine apps and be fine. You’ll save probably six hundred bucks on fees. You won’t be exhausted. And each application will actually be good instead of rushed.
Actually Building Your List Without Having A Breakdown
Let’s get into the practical stuff. You need three types of schools and they can’t be weighted equally.
Reach schools – pick three, absolute max four. These are places where your numbers are lower than their typical admits but not ridiculously lower. If their median LSAT’s one sixty-seven and you got one sixty-four, okay, that’s worth a shot if the rest of your app is strong.
I did three things. Got rejected from two pretty quick. One waitlisted me and I stayed on that waitlist till like July and it never moved, but whatever. At least I tried. You regret the shots you don’t take way more than the rejections you get.
Target schools – this needs to be most of your list. Six or seven schools minimum. These are places where when you look at their admitted student stats, you’re sitting right in the middle of their range. Your LSAT matches their median or is maybe one or two points different. Your GPA’s in their typical zone.
Safety schools – grab two or three minimum. Places where you’re clearly stronger than their typical admitted students. I know everyone gets weird about safeties because nobody wants to brag about going to their backup school. But listen – safety schools will throw scholarship money at you.
One of my safeties offered me like half tuition without me even negotiating. I took that offer letter to another school that had accepted me with way less money and basically said “look, they’re offering me this much, can you match it?” They bumped my scholarship up by twenty thousand dollars.
The Money Situation That Everyone Stresses About
Application fees are honestly painful. Most schools want between sixty and eighty-five bucks. Some charge even more than that. If you’re doing eleven schools at like seventy-five dollars on average, that’s over eight hundred dollars just for submitting applications.
That’s a lot of money. If you don’t have it sitting around, that’s okay. Fee waivers are actually pretty common if you know to look for them.
I ended up getting waivers for like six of my applications. Three schools sent them to me without me asking because I’d gotten on their mailing list at some law school fair and my LSAT was above their median. They wanted me to apply because it would boost their stats, so they waived the fee to encourage it.
You can also just straight up ask for waivers. Most schools have a process. If you’ve got financial need, they’ll usually grant it. Sometimes going to their open house or attending a virtual info session gets you an automatic waiver.
Getting Your Timing Right
Law schools do rolling admissions which means they’re not waiting for everybody to apply and then looking at all the apps together. They’re reviewing stuff and accepting people continuously from like October all the way through spring.
People who apply early have a massive advantage. When you apply in October and the incoming class is completely empty, they’ve got three hundred seats to fill and they’re excited to start admitting strong candidates. When you apply in February and they’ve already admitted two hundred and twenty students, you’re fighting for whatever spots are left and they’re being way more selective.
I got most of my apps in between Halloween and right before Thanksgiving. Heard back from my first school in late November which felt crazy fast. Start getting organized in summer. Take the LSAT by September or early October. Have your personal statement basically done by August. You can explore helpful resources at Newstrex for more guidance on managing your application timeline and staying organized throughout the process.
Where You Actually Wanna Live Matters
This is massive and people totally underestimate it. Where do you see yourself actually practicing law?
Law’s way more regional than people realize. Yeah, if you go to Yale or Harvard, you can probably work anywhere in the country. But once you get past the very tippy top schools, regional reputation matters so much more than national rankings.
If you wanna work in Seattle, going to a school in Atlanta doesn’t make sense even if the Atlanta school’s ranked ten spots higher nationally. Seattle firms recruit from UW, from Seattle U, from other Pacific Northwest colleges.
I knew I wanted to stay at the East Coast, in all likelihood someplace between DC and Boston. So even though there were some first rate schools in Texas and California, I did not practice. Why might I pay 80 dollars to use someplace I would not in reality pass to Really consider where you imagine yourself in five years.Then build your school list around that area. You’ll have better alumni connections for networking and job hunting.
Your Test Scores Aren’t Your Entire Application
LSAT and GPA are super important, I’m not gonna lie to you about that. They matter a ton. But admissions committees actually read your whole application, not just your numbers.
Your personal statement’s gotta say something real about you. Not some generic “I’ve always wanted to be a lawyer because I love justice” thing unless that’s genuinely your story and you can back it up with actual experiences.
Mine was about working at a nonprofit where I kept seeing how legal systems failed people who were already struggling, and watching that made me realize I needed to actually understand law from the inside if I wanted to help fix any of it.
Get your recommendation letters from people who can write real things about you. A professor from a fifteen-person seminar who knows your work is way better than some famous professor who taught your lecture to two hundred students and barely remembers your name.
When Things Don’t Go How You Hoped
Maybe you get waitlisted at schools you thought were sure things. Maybe your dream school rejects you. Maybe you don’t get in anywhere this cycle. That happens sometimes and it doesn’t mean you’re not cut out for law school.
One of my good friends applied straight out of undergrad. Got rejected everywhere except one safety school that he really didn’t wanna go to. He spent a year working as a paralegal at a firm, retook the LSAT, bumped his score up by seven points, applied again the next cycle, and got into five schools including two that had rejected him the year before.
Where you start isn’t where you finish. If this cycle doesn’t work out how you wanted, use that time to get stronger. Retake the LSAT if you’re confident you can improve. Get relevant work experience – paralegal stuff, policy work, whatever you can find.
So What’s The Real Answer To This Question
Alright, coming back around to the whole point – how many law schools should I apply to? For most normal people in normal situations, somewhere between nine and twelve makes sense. You’ve got enough variety that you’re covered across different types of schools, but you’re not doing so many that you burn out or tank the quality.
If your stats are unusual or you’ve got complicated circumstances, maybe bump it up to fifteen or sixteen. If your numbers are really strong and you know exactly what you want in terms of location or program focus, seven to nine could work totally fine.
The exact number matters way less than the strategy behind how you’re building your list. Make sure you’ve got reaches, targets, and safeties. Only apply to schools you’d actually go to. Get everything submitted early in the cycle.
And look – where you end up going matters, but not nearly as much as people make it seem. I know lawyers from “lower-ranked” schools who’re crushing it at major firms and I know people from top schools who’re struggling to find jobs they like. What you do once you’re actually in law school matters way more than the ranking.
For additional insights on building your application strategy and understanding what law schools look for in candidates, check out more resources at Newstrex’s education section.
According to research from the American Bar Association, students who take a strategic approach to building their school lists tend to end up more satisfied with their law school experience and career outcomes.
Stop freaking out so much about finding the perfect number. Build your list based on your actual situation. Trust your strategy. Get those applications done early. You’re gonna be fine.
FAQs
What’s a realistic number of schools for most applicants when considering how many law schools I should apply to?
Around nine to twelve schools usually works well – enough coverage across different school types without overwhelming yourself completely.
Can I just apply to six schools and be fine when deciding how many law schools I should apply to?
It’s risky unless your stats are exceptional and you’re really flexible about where you end up going.
Is twenty applications way too many when figuring out how many law schools I should apply to?
For most people yeah – you’ll burn out and your application quality will suffer unless you’ve got specific reasons for going that broad.
Should I apply to schools I’m not excited about when determining how many law schools I should apply to?
Only if you’d genuinely consider attending with the right scholarship offer – otherwise you’re wasting money on application fees.
When’s the absolute latest I should submit applications after deciding how many law schools I should apply to?
Aim for November or very early December – anything after the holidays significantly hurts your chances as spots fill up.
How much will utility expenses value in total whilst making plans for how many law schools I must follow?
They upload rapidly – ten colleges at seventy-five greenbacks every seven-hundred and fifty greenbacks, plus LSAC prices and other expenses.
What should I do if I don’t get everyday everywhere after figuring out how many regulations schools ought to follow?
Spend 12 months strengthening your candidacy – enhance your LSAT rating, gain applicable work experience, refine your materials – then follow the subsequent cycle.