Questions about recommendations keep streaming in, but one potential issue caught my eye that you wouldn't necessarily know to flag or ask about. Here's a common way that an applicant might write to a recommender:

Dear So-and-So,

Thanks so much for volunteering to write my recommendation for law school.

In response to my blog posting "What Does This Email From the Admissions Office Want Me To Do?", a commenter asked this follow-up question:

How do you suggest acknowledging acceptance emails? Do I reply "Thanks!" or just leave the email alone until I've made a decision?

You might recall that in that earlier posting, I had encouraged applicants not to bombard admissions officers with unnecessary emails; in most cases, "unnecessary" means you're just acknowledging their email and not providing more information, or being asked to provide more information.

It's almost the end of February, and you have all the time in the world to deal with your law school applications, right? Wrong. By the time we hear from people in the fall, or even as early as June, they've missed a lot of lead time to get their application strategy and logistics in order. Here are ten things to start thinking about now:

1. LSAC

The Law School Admission Council (LSAC) is the gatekeeper for all your application logistics.

I've been reading your blog a lot as I have been going through the admissions process. I submitted my applications recently and I've been receiving "your file is complete" and/or "your file is under review" emails. Am I supposed to respond to these emails or will I just be adding to an already filled inbox brimming with annoying applicants?

Inboxes overflowing with non-essential emails are the bane of everyone's existence, especially during crunch times, and February is definitely crunch time for admissions offices.

I will be graduating in May, taking my LSAT in June, and applying for law schools in the fall [of the same year].

Law school admissions shouldn't just be about getting in the door. It's also about setting yourself up for success once you get to law school, and then getting successfully OUT the door to launch the kind of career that inspired you to go to law school in the first place.

I've observed a couple of points along that trajectory where people sometimes trip up.

A burning question for anyone who applied to law school during senior year of college: It's OK to slack off now, right? Because it's February and:

1.

Summer is coming.  In fact, many families are already making or have made some plans for their summers.  If you are a 9^th or 10^th grader who has ambitions to attend a selective college or if you are a parent of such a 9^th or 10^th grader, I encourage you to use the summers to your advantage.

This week, I've been fielding questions from applicants about the right way to turn down offers from law schools.

For 11^th graders (and some precocious 10^th graders), the testing season is here.  Whether you're taking the SAT or the ACT, it is time for Alison’s Top 3 Tips about standardized tests and college admissions.

Tip #1:  Be strategic about which tests you take.

Your strategy should be shaped by two things: what tests are required by the colleges to which you will be applying and which test suits you best.

I am an avid reader of your blog and had a quick question--is it better to apply now, in January, or to wait for next cycle to do my applications?  Also, if I have a poor cycle this time, how does it look if I reapply to the same schools with a new LSAT score next fall?

If you are in 11^th grade, you’ve probably just started getting serious about the college admissions process.  (And if you haven’t, that opening line is a clue to you that you should!)  One of the most important things to do over the course of the next 6 months is figure out which colleges are going to be “on your list.”  By that I mean, where are you going to apply to college?

In last week's post about letters of continued interest, I referred to a "duty to update," and this week I'll say a little more about that.

As Ivey Files readers know, I strongly recommend that people submit their applications early in the admissions season, ideally before the end of November.

Recently I applied Early Decision to my top choice school and was placed on the waitlist.

Some of you who applied binding early decision this season are already starting to get fat envelopes from law schools. Woohoo! Congratulations. Your hard work has paid off.

What does that mean going forward?

My current GPA, if I've calculated it correctly, is 3.