Depending on applicants' situation, The early decision or early action program may be a better choice for admitting a law school.
The deadline for the early decision is usually one or two months before the general admission deadline.
Because most law schools have rolling admission, the admission committee promptly starts the review process as they get in and applicants can quickly received the decision.
It gives higher chance of acceptance to applicants.
- You have a law school that you really want to go.
- Your LSAT score or GPA is lower than the school's median value.
- You want to reduce stress in admission and get more time to prepare for school living.
- Your situation does not allow to apply other law schools, for example location and finance.
Early Decision vs. Early Action
In short, both gives an opportunity to apply early, but early decision is binding and and early action is non-binding.
The applicants for early decision plan cannot apply more than one law schools.
In principal, since the early decision is a biding commitment, you must attend the law school if you are accepted.
There are few exceptions such as financial issues and critical health problem, but in most case, accepted students will enroll to the school.
To reject the early decision offer is not illegal, because the commitment is on between a school and an applicants.
However, it is not a practical choice for your legal career and the school may notify to other law schools about it.
Unlike early decision, for early action plan, you don't need to accept the offer right away. You can decide later and apply to other law schools under regular decision.
In addition, it's typically allowed to multiple schools for early action plan. If you accepted multiple schools, you have more chance to compare and negotiate based on
financial aid plan and more desirable facts. Furthermore, if you got higher LSAT or other test scores than ones when you apply for early action place,
you may consider apply to other law schools that you prefer to go.
Things to Consider When Applying Early
The benefits seems clear, if you have a reason and accepted for early decision plan. However, you must consider following issues if you don't have clear reason or not sure about it.
- You may receive less financial aid than regular decision admitters. Because it is a binding commitment and you agree to attend to school, the you may not have the right to negotiate for better financial aid option for 1 or 2 years. You are already accepted and must attend the school, the school does not have reason to give better option to you. However, if the financial issue does not matter and the school gives another chances, it is still a better option for you.
- It should be prepared in a short period of time. If you want to apply for early decision plan, you need to start much earlier. Literally, it is a early process. It is required to apply early and submit items early. There are number of components for applying to law schools and the preparation for each component is not simple and time-consuming. It will be easier to get transcripts and LSAT scores, but you may need more time to complete personal statement, letters of recommendation, resume, and other writing martials. So, it is important to start early.
- Time may not be enough to apply regular decision, if you are rejected. May law schools' regular deadline is roughly between December and February. If you got the result of early decision in December, then you have only few weeks to 1 or 2 month. Additional component should be prepared and you may need to do another LSAT test.
List of Early Decision Deadlines
The below table lists law schools which have early decision deadlines. Typically, the deadline is in October and some schools have in December and even in next year.
It's rare, but some schools have two rounds of early decision deadline. You may want to contact admission office to confirm the school has a early decision plan, if your school is not in the list.
| School | Application Open | Early Decision deadline | Regular deadline |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baylor Law School | 2022-12-15 | 2023-03-15 | |
| Boston College Law School | 2022-09-15 | 2022-12-15 | 2023-03-31 |
| Boston University School of Law | 2022-11-10 | ||
| Case Western Reserve University School of Law | 2022-09-01 | 2022-11-30 (I) 2022-12-20 (II) | 2023-04-01 |
| Columbus School of Law | 2022-09-01 | 2022-12-01 (I) 2022-12-22 (II) | 2023-03-15 |
| University of Chicago Law School | 2022-12-01 | 2023-03-01 | |
| City University of New York School of Law | 2023-01-01 | 2023-05-15 | |
| Cleveland-Marshall College of Law | 2022-11-01 (I) 2023-01-01 (II) | 2023-07-01 | |
| Columbia Law School | 2022-09-01 | 2022-11-15 | 2023-02-15 |
| Cornell Law School | 2022-11-01 (I) 2023-01-08 (II) | 2023-03-01 | |
| Creighton University School of Law | 2022-09-01 | 2022-11-01 | 2023-07-01 |
| David A. Clarke School of Law | 2022-09-25 | 2023-02-15 | 2023-05-01 |
| Drexel University School of Law | 2022-08-25 | 2022-11-15 | 2023-04-01 |
| Duke University School of Law | 2022-09-01 | 2022-11-04 (I) 2023-01-06 (II) | 2023-02-15 |
| Emory University School of Law | 2023-03-15 | ||
| Fordham University School of Law | 2022-09-15 | 2022-10-15 | 2023-03-15 |
| The George Washington University Law School | 2022-09-01 | 2023-02-01 | 2023-03-01 |
| Georgetown University Law Center | 2022-09-06 | 2023-03-01 | 2023-03-01 |
| Hofstra University School of Law | 2022-11-15 | 2023-04-15 | |
| University of Houston Law Center | 2022-09-01 | 2022-11-15 | 2023-03-15 |
| Robert H. McKinney School of Law | 2022-09-01 | 2022-11-15 | 2023-05-15 |
| University of Kentucky College of Law | 2022-09-01 | 2022-11-15 | 2023-04-15 |
| Liberty University School of Law | 2022-12-20 | 2023-08-01 | |
| Loyola Law School | 2022-09-12 | 2022-12-01 | |
| University of Maine School of Law | 2022-09-15 | 2022-11-15 | |
| University of Miami School of Law | 2022-09-01 | 2022-11-04 | 2023-07-31 |
| University of Michigan Law School | 2022-11-15 | 2023-02-28 | |
| University of Minnesota Law School | 2022-12-31 | 2023-06-01 | |
| University of Missouri School of Law | 2022-09-01 | 2022-11-15 | 2023-03-15 |
| New York University School of Law | 2022-11-15 | 2023-02-15 | |
| Northeastern University School of Law | 2022-12-01 | 2023-03-01 | |
| Michael E. Moritz College of Law | 2022-09-15 | 2022-11-18 | 2023-07-01 |
| Penn State Dickinson Law | 2022-08-15 | 2022-12-01 | 2023-06-30 |
| Penn State Law | 2022-09-01 | 2022-12-01 | 2023-03-31 |
| University of Pennsylvania Law School | 2022-09-01 | 2022-11-15 (I) 2023-01-07 (II) | 2023-03-01 |
| University of Richmond School of Law | 2022-09-01 | 2022-12-15 | 2023-03-01 |
| Rutgers Law School - Camden campus | 2022-09-01 | 2022-12-01 (I) 2023-03-01 (II) | 2023-03-15 |
| University of San Diego School of Law | 2022-09-01 | 2022-12-01 | 2023-06-01 |
| Santa Clara University School of Law | 2022-09-01 | 2022-11-01 | |
| Gould School of Law | 2022-09-01 | 2022-11-20 | 2023-04-01 |
| St. Mary's University School of Law | 2022-09-15 | 2022-11-11 | 2023-03-01 |
| University of Tennessee College of Law | 2022-09-01 | 2022-12-15 | |
| University of Texas School of Law | 2022-09-01 | 2022-11-01 | 2023-03-01 |
| Tulane University School of Law | 2022-09-15 | 2022-11-15 | 2023-03-01 |
| University at Buffalo Law School | 2022-09-01 | 2022-11-15 | 2023-03-01 |
| S.J. Quinney College of Law | 2022-09-01 | 2022-10-28 | 2023-03-10 |
| Vanderbilt University Law School | 2022-09-01 | 2022-11-01 | 2023-04-01 |
| Vermont Law School | 2022-09-01 | 2022-11-15 | 2023-07-15 |
| Villanova University School of Law | 2022-09-01 | 2022-12-15 (I) 2023-03-15 (II) | 2023-07-01 |
| University of Washington School of Law | 2022-10-01 | 2022-11-15 | 2023-03-15 |
| Widener Law Commonwealth | 2022-10-01 | 2023-01-01 (I) 2023-02-01 (II) | 2023-07-01 |
| Willamette University College of Law | 2022-09-01 | 2022-12-15 | 2023-08-01 |
| University of Wisconsin Law School | 2022-09-01 | 2022-11-30 | 2023-04-03 |
| University of Wyoming College of Law | 2022-10-01 | 2022-12-15 | 2023-04-30 |
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