What To Do About A Law School Application Mistake
What To Do About A Law School Application Mistake
After taking the LSAT, requesting undergraduate transcripts, researching law schools, and pouring over various Reddit threads – you’re ready. You’ve reviewed your law school applications dozens of times for accuracy and finally decided that you’re going to hit “submit.” Applying to law school is a liberating feeling, to say the least. After all, once you hit the almighty “submit” button, everything is largely out of your hands. Wait, what’s this? An error. Right smack dab in the middle of one of your law school applications. How could you have missed this? You looked over the application seemingly hundreds of times before sending it. The fear sets in. What should you do? We discuss some options in this post.
What To Do About A Law School Application Mistake
Weigh The Error
A missed comma is certainly different than submitting an outdated resume instead of your current one. One is worth pursuing, the other is not. Make sure the error you’re panicking about is worth doing some follow-up. Law schools generally don’t have time to entertain a frantic applicant explaining that they used “their” instead of “they’re.” While the staff at most admissions offices are friendly and understanding, there’s a limit to their patience. Unless the mistake is one that you believe could impact your chances of admission, consider letting it go. Admissions committees review hundreds and hundreds of applications in a given cycle. The chances of them denying an applicant because they missed a comma are slim. On the other hand, the chances of them denying an applicant because they failed to answer an entire essay? Probably a lot more likely.
Contact The Admissions Office
Law school applicants are human, which means they make mistakes. Despite the intimidating face that many law schools put on, the law school admissions office also realizes this. If you notice a mistake on your law school application, the first thing to do is contact the admissions office. FAST. A majority of law schools have processes in place for this kind of thing but only up to a point. For example, some law schools let you substitute a document in place of one already submitted. Time is of the essence! If a school has started to review your application, it’s likely too late to raise the alarm. Also, make sure that you call the admissions office and speak to a representative if that option is available. While it can be embarrassing to admit a mistake, don’t hide behind your keyboard. Instead, connect a human voice to the application.
Have A Solution Ready To Go
If you spot a significant mistake on your law school application, have the fix ready to go. Spotting and reporting an error is not an opportunity to redo your application. For example, if a law school allows you to submit a replacement document – they’re going to compare new with old. Again, the point of reporting an error isn’t to say, “I spotted an error and I’m working on the solution.” It should sound like, “I spotted an error, and here is the solution.” Whether that solution is updated transcripts, an updated resume, or something else will depend on your specific situation. The last thing you want is a law school questioning your ethics, especially before you’ve even been admitted!
Seeking Success in Law School?
- Benefit from personalized one-on-one tutoring by our seasoned law school tutors.
- Explore our NEW and highly acclaimed law school study aids, available for a free trial.
Leave a Reply
Want to join the discussion?Feel free to contribute!