Even though the solar calendar hasn’t quite hit the equinox, the end of June is really the mid-summer period for law school admissions officers. And not “mid-summer” as in midsummer, which—truth be told—has always been a term that has confused your author since it happens at the beginning of the season rather than the middle. And not “mid”-summer as the kids these days would refer to a summer that’s neither over- nor under- but is merely “whelmed.”
Rather, we’ve hit the halfway point through the AdComms’ quiet season. The admissions year is really a race through deposit deadlines in April and then any initial waitlist activity. But after May 1st or May 15th, things tend to slow down quite a bit, especially once the students all leave after commencement season. This quiet time reaches a nadir at the same moment the sun reaches its highest point in the northern hemisphere.
From here on out, things will start to pick up—admissions officers will have to submit their upcoming applications to LSAC for processing, the first big law fair of the season is the LSAC Forum in Washington, D.C. on July 12th, there are websites to update and brochures to print and travel plans to make and it’s all coming quicker than admissions officers think.
So—like our AdComm friends—let’s enjoy one or two more quiet weeks around this blog as we check out the headlines in the world of law school admissions, which includes:
National LSAT Figures
Because next week is going to be a big week on this front!
Not only will we receive the final numbers for the June LSAT when those results are released on the 25th, but the registration deadline for the August LSAT is also on the 26th. And per LSAC’s LSAT Registrants and Test Taker Volumes report, the August LSAT promises to be a doozy.
August registrations increased by 18.5% in this past week, but it’s worth noting that the week before the registration deadline is usually “the big one” for numbers. So if registrations went up by 18.5% this past week, it wouldn’t be absurd if the numbers went up by another 25-30% by the time we check in for next week’s blog.
And given where we’re at in the calendar and the fact that we still have access to three years’ worth of numbers on the LSAT Registrants report, it’s worth comparing the August 2025 numbers not just to August 2024 but also to August 2023. August 2024 saw a massive 36% increase in test takers versus August 2023. So even if the August 2025 test ends up being a wash versus its 2024 counterpart, it would still signal that we’re about to have yet another hyper-intense year for law school admissions. Everyone should buckle up!
Waitlist Activity
But in less scary news, we continue to see news of admissions activity at various schools via both the r/LSA thread as well as lawschooldata.org (which has a brand-new look, by the way!).
Duke Law specifically went to their waitlist to admit some folks, and we see a statistical mix:
If we isolate Duke’s decision chart for just the admitted applicants, we see that they appear to be targeting a 171 median LSAT this year:
It’s a bit more challenging to suss out the GPA target, but it seems to be right around last year’s median of a 3.89. As such, the most recent waitlist admits represent either “LSAT splitters” (e.g., a high LSAT and low GPA) or “GPA splitters” other than the applicant who is at a 3.89/171 combo and may be right on the line for both stats.
Also of note is that no one received any scholarship assistance. This could mean that Duke has spent their scholarship budget, but it’s also a sign that they feel confident that they have enough applicants to get to their target stats (because—in our experience—you can find “extra money” if you only have so many candidates left in the pool who can help your stats and you need to encourage those students to enroll).
Meanwhile, we see a slightly different story at NDLS where they are continuing to admit applicants who hadn’t yet received a decision (i.e., they weren’t even on the waitlist yet so it’s not technically a “waitlist admit”):
Notre Dame is definitely aiming for a 170 LSAT:
And the GPA line is a bit hazier—their median last year was at a 3.85, and it looks like this year’s GPA line may be more in the range of a 3.88 or 3.89. As such, this most recent cache of admits is definitely focused primarily on the LSAT median … but we also have at least two candidates who are high on both the LSAT and GPA … and it may be as many as four if NDLS is aiming for another 3.85 GPA … and NDLS is still offering merit scholarship in an attempt to lock up their class. This indicates to us that they still have a ways to go with rounding out their numbers for the year and that there’s still hope out there for the NDLS applicants awaiting decisions (especially if they have a 170+ LSAT).
7Sage Events
Are all these numbers going over your head like WHOOSH?
If so, we’ll be having our next Admissions AMA class on the 18th wherein we’ll be happy to answer all your admissions questions! And for all our June LSAT test takers, we’ll have a wave of “What Does My Score Mean?” sessions after those exam results come back.
As a reminder that you can check out our past sessions via our Class Library—just enter “Admissions” into the search bar.
The most recent episode of the 7Sage Admissions Podcast dropped on Monday and features a conversation with one of our 7Sage LSAT tutors about how to balance LSAT prep and your application process (spoiler—it is possible!). The podcasts are available on Amazon, Spotify, Apple, or wherever you stream your podcasts!