If you've already submitted your applications, you're probably checking their status at your various schools.

Perhaps a bit compulsively?

That's OK, as long as you're checking your status online and not bugging a real person on the other end every six minutes. (Note that THEY CAN SEE when and how often you check your status, so don’t behave like a cocaine-crazed rat maniacally hitting that refresh button.)

This time of year, the most important status update for you to confirm is that your application has been marked complete. Only the individual the law school — not LSAC — can give you that confirmation.

Some schools take longer than others to update your application status, but if two weeks have passed and your file still hasn't gone complete, it's worth finding out what the hold-up is.

Sometimes YOU might think your file is complete, but it turns out that some piece is still missing and holding up review of your application while you're sitting back and waiting for a decision.

Here are two common ones:

Did you remember to assign your recommenders to that school? If you forgot to do that before submitting, no biggie, just assign them in your LSAC account ASAP.

Or perhaps there's some confusion about whether a transcript is required from study abroad or other non-US academic program? I've heard of cases where the LSAC website says one thing (rather confusingly), a school website says another, and the person answering phones at that same school says a third thing. Assume schools can and do have different policies for things like study abroad transcripts.

And if you are at all unclear if you were supposed to send something that might be holding up your application, give that school a call to confirm one way or the other. Often these things can be cleared up in a single phone call.

And if you're finding all those application instructions terribly confusing, just wait till you're a lawyer. This is good practice!