Resources for Applicants

Anna Donovan: This is Anna Donovan, and with me today, I have Taylor Yocom, who is our producer of this great show and also sometimes a host. And today, we are going to be talking about resources for applicants and prospective students interested in going to law school. How’s it going, Taylor? 

Taylor Yocom: Good. How are you? 

Anna Donovan: Good. I’m happy to be in the studio. 

Taylor Yocom: Yes, it’s been a good day. 

Anna Donovan: Excellent. So our application cycle is in full swing. We are, you know, two plus weeks into accepting applications for the class of 2029. We have recently launched and are kind of coming down the pipeline of our email campaign for a rebrand of our virtual programming. For the last couple of years, we’ve had really robust virtual programs for prospective students and applicants and admitted students as well. And this year, we are doing WashU Law Wednesdays. 

So this will be a kind of consolidation of our programs. We will be on Zoom every Wednesday at 4 p.m. Central time and be rotating through a couple of different topics and types of programs, specifically our kind of open house, which is a virtual program where you get to hear from admissions and the career center and current students and possibly rotating other guests. 

We will have current student AMAs, so our lovely Admissions Ambassadors, who I know have been featured on our podcast here, answering questions about law student life in St. Louis and the WashU Law community. And then we will also be doing Community Spotlights and kind of the catch all of anyone else we want to talk to on different topics, staff, alum, faculty, guests, etc. 

So, again, you can find us every Wednesday on Zoom for WashU Law Wednesdays at 4 p.m. Central time. 

Taylor Yocom: Yeah. And so how do people sign up for WashU Law Wednesdays? 

Anna Donovan: Such a great question. I am still putting together our schedule for this cycle. We’re going to push that out very soon. I’m hoping possibly sometime next week. 

We are also very close to a brand new WashU Law website. And part of the build out of the new website, and I’ve seen it, it looks so beautiful and amazing, is a much more robust events kind of management page where we will then feature all of our programs, virtual, any in-person recruiting events we’re attending, really anything that we are a part of in admissions, in addition to everything else going on at the law school or related to the law school on our new website launching October 1st. 

And so that is one place that people will soon be able to find our SLATE programming. And, you know, through the new website signup, we will also be pushing out communications to everyone, anyone and everyone, pre-law advisors, prospective students, applicants, etc., to be able to sign up to any or all future programs that then we will send confirmations and Zoom links for. 

Taylor Yocom: And another thing that applicants might not know about that I really want to shout out because it’s a really great resource, and I believe is unique to WashU Law, is that we have Admission Ambassador consultations. So us on the admissions staff, we can’t provide feedback on your application, but we have current students who went through the process who are here and who are happy to look at your specific application materials and give you feedback. 

But if you feel like that’s too daunting or you’re not at that point in the process, they’re available for a lot of other things. You can chat with them about application strategies, like which schools to apply for, kind of like figuring out what your application will look like. And also you can just have a casual conversation about what life in law school is like. That would be a really great for people who are early on in the cycle and haven’t done much research yet. 

Those are half hour conversations. We have weekday, weeknight and weekend availability. It is on Zoom. So you can go to our website under the Experience WashU Law tab. You can—which will be changing in a few weeks with the new website, but right now it is the Experience WashU Law tab—and you can sign up for one of those consultations. 

Anna Donovan: Yeah, I think that when we came up with the idea of consultation appointments in general, really wanting to hit our audience, and breadth of prospective students who live all over the world and in many different time zones. And people who may not ultimately be able to come and visit in person to speak with current students I think is such a value-add to the experience of considering a law school, considering where you’re applying, figuring out, you know, once you’re admitted, probably to so many great schools, where you want to attend. 

I think, you know, as much as you can be in contact with different community members and I think specifically why we offer these is because, you know, they are the student’s experience life, and they have gone through all of the things—taking the LSAT, applying, going through the arduous application cycle, orientation, you know, these students specifically are ambassadors or 2Ls and 3Ls, so through the arduous 1L year, and are such a great contact point for really any and all questions about law school, about WashU Law. 

So we encourage everyone to seek out this resource. We’re probably not unique in this offering, but I think I would encourage any, you know, prospective student to, you know, when you’re looking at law schools and any ways that you can talk to current students to kind of see what their experience has been like, it may inform your choices about where you’re going to go to law school. 

Taylor Yocom: Exactly, and I know getting application feedback and just talking about application strategy in general is something that can cost thousands of dollars. So we are trying to do our part with just making the law school application process more accessible by having this free resource available for everyone. 

Anna Donovan: Yeah, absolutely. That’s probably where the idea came from is, you know, we can offer this, you know, appointment and resource free to prospective students, and, you know, we encourage everyone to reach out and take it, even if it’s just a casual conversation with a student. You don’t have to have a draft of your personal statement ready, but if you do, you know, they can, you know, give it a once-over and give some feedback there. 

I think the… Applying to law school is extremely stressful, and there’s a lot of ups and a lot of downs, and this can be a great kind of touchpoint through the cycle to, you know, know that you’re moving in the right direction. 

Taylor Yocom: Yeah, and Anna, what else should applicants be on the lookout for? 

Anna Donovan: Yeah, so I think, you know, something that maybe isn’t necessarily a resource, but I think something that we do that maybe other law schools aren’t doing—I think probably other law schools are not doing—is an option we offer on our application that is called redacted review. 

This is our, I wanna say, third or fourth application cycle. I should know that, how long we’ve been offering that. But it is an option that candidates can opt into directly on the application itself that allows applicants to redact either their standardized test scores—so for us, we accept the LSAT, the GRE, and the JD Next exam. So they can choose to redact those scores from review of the committee. 

And then also candidates can choose to redact their undergraduate GPA, or both of those things. We, you know, have found that, again, in the tough application cycle and, you know, how hard it is to get into some of the best schools, some candidates feel, you know, self-conscious, or they feel like maybe one of these aspects of their application is kind of a weaker part of things and doesn’t represent their ability to be a great student and academically successful in law school. 

And so, you know, I think maybe it can help ease a little bit of that anxiety and be able to redact those scores from final review. You know, the question we always get is whether or not we admit candidates who’ve applied redacted review, and then we get questions about whether candidates also then are offered scholarship, and yes. Yes to both. We have lots of redacted candidates that we have admitted into our past couple of classes, and then all admitted students at WashU Law get reviewed for scholarship. There’s no application. There’s no kind of opt-in mechanism. 

And the thing that candidates should know upfront is that if admitted and going through the scholarship review process, that anything that a candidate has chosen to redact will become unredacted in the scholarship review process, and this is how the committee considers merit along with a re-review of the application file for scholarship. 

So, you know, seeing that at the very top of the application, considering whether you would choose to redact one of those things, and then, you know, feeling, you know, kind of confident in all the other pieces of your application and sort of what is being presented to the admissions committee for review. 

Yeah. Do you, Taylor, want to talk a little bit about what a visit to WashU Law looks like? 

Taylor Yocom: Yeah. So we do offer in-person visits. So those are offered at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Mondays and Fridays. You will have a tour of AB Hall with current students if it is during the school year. So I think that’s a great way to see the building and just chat with current students and hear about their experiences. And then after the visit, you will have a short meeting with someone in the admissions office. 

Anna Donovan: Yeah. We’ve also had some of our Admissions Ambassadors who do give tours stick around and answer additional questions after tours. But being able to see the building that you will be spending most of your hours of the day in, we’re very fortunate that campus and specifically the law school is a beautiful space for students to spend their time in and outside of class. 

So we encourage everyone, you know, if you’re coming through or if you’re planning your kind of tour day law school visits to consider, you know, coming by WashU and speaking with us in person. 

We’re saving the, I think, what is the best thing for last is the fact that we have a $0 application fee here at WashU Law. This is a choice that we made. I think we’re on our sixth application cycle. We made the choice, you know, a number of years ago to eliminate that. You know, we, it can cut down certainly on the overall cost of applying to law school, but we hope that it can give a little bit more access to candidates that think WashU Law might be the right law school for them. 

Taylor Yocom: Yeah. And can you talk about our two application options too? 

Anna Donovan: Yes. So we, like all other ABA-accredited law schools, have a Law School Admissions Council application, the LSAC. And that is the main portal typically when candidates are entering into. You usually starting out with signing up to take the LSAT. They will create an LSAC account, and then through that account, candidates can add all the law schools they want to apply to, kind of to their bucket, and start filling out applications all online in one place. 

So we have an LSAC application, again, zero dollar application fee there, and it’s a great way to kind of manage applications. You can fill out pieces and save as you go and come back to them, and it’s the entry point that I would say most candidates are going to when they’re applying to law school. 

We also opted to have the same application available completely fee-free directly on our website in a way that is different from the LSAC application. We do not accept or request CAS reports for applicants. Probably get into the weeds here, but the CAS report is a report that applicants pay for where the Law School Admissions Council, the LSAC, puts together their LSAT scores if they’ve taken it multiple times, all of their transcripts that they’ve submitted, and their letters of recommendation into this one report, the CAS report. 

So when candidates are applying directly on the WashU Law website, they do not have to submit a CAS, they don’t have to submit CAS report documents. It is the same application as in the LSAC portal. Candidates can upload their materials. The process is the same with regards to choosing redacted review, zero dollar fee, all of that stuff. That is a completely fee-free option for anyone who wants to explore that. 

Taylor Yocom: Yeah, and so we are getting towards the end of our episode, which means we’re going to talk about St. Louis. 

Anna Donovan: Yes, my favorite thing. So we are firmly still in summer. We are not going to lie, it is, I think, 92 degrees outside. It is 9 a.m. We’re in like the second false fall, I think. 

However, we are seeing the leaves changing. We are anticipating fall, autumn, whatever you call it. It is so beautiful here in the Midwest and specifically on campus if I’m gonna plug up visiting again and all of the ginkgo trees that WashU has on its campus. So we are anticipating fall and today we are going to talk about our favorite St. Louis fall things. 

Taylor, what is something you love to do or eat or see in St. Louis during the fall? 

Taylor Yocom: Yeah, I love getting a fun little pumpkin drink and then going on a walk in a park. I love Tower Grove, soft spot. And then, this isn’t specifically fall, but it’s very fun to do in the fall. I guess they have an Oktoberfest. It’s just go to Grant’s Farm and just hang out. 

I’m not saying this because we are in Anheuser-Busch Hall, but it is an Anheuser-Busch property. It is free. It’s basically a giant petting zoo and where the Budweiser Clydesdales are and a beer garden. And you get two free beers. I went there a few weekends ago and just like read a book. And I did spill my first free beer, so I had to go back for a second, but it was beautiful. And I definitely recommend it as a nice way to kind of like decompress after a long week. 

Anna Donovan: Yes. It is an all ages place. People bring their children. Again, you know, Taylor, you can go as an adult and walk around. It is so beautiful. They have so many great animals. I think they still do camel rides for children, I believe only, but plug for a St. Louis institution there. 

I was racking my brain thinking of something I love about fall. There are so many things. But I specifically love making my yearly trip to Eckert’s, which is a farm property, not in St. Louis. It is across the river in Illinois. They have multiple locations. There’s a specific location in Belleville, Illinois, where you can go and you can get on a tractor and you can go both apple picking and pumpkin picking. And then I think sometimes during the year, you might be able to go pick other produce as well out into their fields. 

But I actually don’t love doing that nearly as much as just going to the Eckert’s store, to the giant farm store, and buying all of the, like, apple-flavored things. It is a giant country store. They have soft serve, they have apple cider donuts. I love an apple brat. They have these things called churro nuggets. It is just a magical wonderland. And since I only go once a year, I got to load up on all of my treats. And that is such a wonderful thing to do. 

Inevitably, we go and it is still 90 degrees. And so you’ve really got to hold out and you’ve got to wait to go until like November. If you’re going in the September, October months thinking that it’s going to be beautiful and fall and you’re in your flannel and your jeans, you are going to be sweating through your clothes. So if you want the true fall experience, you do have to wait until, till later, later into fall. But highly recommend the Eckert’s experience. 

Taylor Yocom: Yeah, hot tip from Anna Donovan. 

Anna Donovan: Yes, a St. Louis lifer, and, you know, you gotta grab on to all the wonderful things in the fall. 

I think that’s a wrap there. Again, you know, circling back, encourage everyone to, you know, again, we are rolling out our new website, but digging into the resources we have available for prospective students, whether that be through Zoom, student consultations, virtual programming with admissions and other community members here at WashU. I’m certainly considering applying because we have a zero dollar application fee, and looking into those not just at WashU, but all the schools you were looking at and considering applying to, and what they may offer to connect you to their community. 

That’s a wrap there. We will… well, see you all very soon. Thanks, everybody! 

Taylor Yocom: Thanks, everyone!