One new-ish thing I’ve observed among law schools is the proliferation of virtual information sessions, 1:1 meeting opportunities with admissions staff, scheduled “sidebars,” AMA tweet threads, podcasts, online interviews, etc. provided by admissions staff.

Part of that was no doubt forced by Covid when they could no longer do in-person sessions, and I’m glad people have more virtual options now and have more avenues for educating themselves about their options. It’s great that admissions officers are making themselves more available and being more transparent about their processes.

That wasn’t always the case. It used to be much more of a black box.

But… you knew there was a but coming… what I’ve also noticed is that they have distributed and broken up their application instructions and advice across all these different venues and platforms and 1:1 conversations and moments in time, and so sometimes you’re missing important information if you haven’t attended a particular session or scheduled a 1:1 convo or seen a particular tweet thread. It’s a bit too luck-of-the-draw for my taste.

Recent examples:

• Georgetown has told people in virtual sessions that they like to see “Why Georgetown” somewhere in the personal statement. That doesn’t show up ANYWHERE in the essay prompts, on the website, or in the application instructions. In fact, their essay prompt is one of those totally open-ended ones. (“Georgetown Law does not have a minimum or maximum length for the personal statement, though we recommend around two pages double-spaced. You can write your personal statement on any subject that will enable the Admissions Committee to get to know you.)
  
  

• Same for UVA. (“Your personal statement should provide information, in your own words, you believe relevant to the admissions decision not elicited elsewhere in the application. The statement is your opportunity to tell us about yourself; it may address your intellectual interests, significant accomplishments or obstacles overcome, personal or professional goals, educational achievements, or any way in which your perspective or experiences will add to the richness of the educational environment at the Law School.”)
  
  

• UChicago variation: An applicant asks in one of the 1:1 sidebars whether the admissions officers want to see Why UChicago in the Personal Statement, and they’re told: Go ahead and put that in the Why UChicago Optional Statement. Except there isn’t one. Never has been.
  
  

• Columbia didn’t always include Why Columbia in the essay prompt (even though they did want you to include that content, according to an interview with the admissions folks at the time). They’ve since added it — so bonus points for that — but you have to deduce it; it’s far from crystal clear in the wording of the essay question.

Another example: If a law school wants you to have a really good reason for submitting more than the required number of recommendations, maybe their instructions shouldn’t say: “We require 2 recommendations but accept up to 4.” Those kinds of instructions make applicants think they’ll look uninterested if they don’t submit the maximum number, when in fact many law schools prefer fewer recs rather than more. (In many cases, there’s not much value-add beyond the first two, and they have limited time to read files.) Why make you guess?

Part of the problem, I think, results from staff turn-over and growing staffs, meaning: the person answering the question in some virtual session or “sidebar” or tweet thread might not have been there very long. Who knows. That’s the reasoning I’m coming up with that’s most generous to them.

Also part of the problem is that the information isn’t centralized anywhere, and that problem is 100% fixable. You shouldn’t have to scour eight different platforms and resources and recordings to get basic information about what they do or don’t want. Why make it so hard for applicants?

Here’s what I wish for you all: that law schools centralize important instructions in the application itself, in their essay prompts, and in their FAQ pages on their websites. They have that power.

In the meantime, I appreciate all of you who have emailed me about tidbits you’ve read or heard in those many different venues where admissions officers now dispense instructions piecemeal and that don’t show up in the applications or websites. We’re tracking all of that feedback.