All the necessary application forms are included with or bound into each law school's catalog. Forms change from year to year; make sure you have the ones for the year in which you are going to apply. If you've used an old catalog to put together your preferred list, you may have to write the school to obtain a current edition.
Make a list of all the forms that each school wants you to fill out and return. Some schools have just one form, marked "Application for admission." Others have an application plus a number of supple-mental forms-for residency, financial aid, and so on. Group the forms for each school together, perhaps in a manila folder. Later in this chapter I will give you a checklist of all the forms you'll have to fill out. I suggest that you photocopy it and attach a copy to the manila folder for each school. Use the checklist to make sure each application is complete before you mail it off.
Then make photocopies of all the forms. You'll write your rough drafts on the photocopies, and when you're sure that everything is the way you want it, you'll type the information neatly on the final copy of each form.
When you make the rough draft, answer all the objective questions. You needn't volunteer information, but don't leave a question blank. Admissions officials must work their way through thousands of forms, and there is a powerful temptation to set aside any form that is "not complete" even if the omission is a minor one. It's a defensible way for officials to reduce their workload.
Follow the instructions exactly. Don't write below any line marked "Do not write below this line." Date and sign everything that calls for a signature. There are some officials out there who will consider it a very serious flaw if you use a red typewriter ribbon when a blue or black one was called for.
Repeat information rather than referring back and forth. Cross-references can be confusing. You may find that you're asked to write the same addresses and phone numbers in more than one place. Do so, and don't worry about repeating information.
Whenever you're asked to give an address, take the time to look up the zip code. If you're asked to list the name of an adviser, job supervisor, or other reference, include a phone number, area code first.
Keep in mind, however, that you should avoid volunteering information unless the information will do you some good. If the law school asks you to account for all your time since your graduation from college, then you'll have to tell them about the six weeks you spent in a mental hospital suffering from clinical depression. But if the form doesn't ask about all your time, there's no reason for you to mention it. (Most application forms don't go into that degree of detail; they simply ask you to list all your jobs and all the schools you've attended since graduation.)
If, on the other hand, you spent those six weeks not in a hospital but traveling in India and learning Urdu, you should definitely make it a point to find some way to mention this experience on your application.
As much as possible, you should try to answer all the questions on the application form itself, typing your information only on the blank lines indicated. If the application instructions say you must answer a question in a given space, try to follow the instructions exactly.
If you're listing a large amount of objective information, like the names, addresses, and dates that document your work experience, you may run out of room on the form. Even if you're only asked to describe your three most recent part-time jobs, for example, you may have trouble fitting into three or four skimpy lines the names and addresses of three employers, the dates of your employment, the names and phone numbers of your immediate supervisors, and the descriptions of your duties.
In such cases, you must perform what a newspaper editor calls a jump. Type as much of the information as you can neatly fit in on the application form itself, then type "See attached sheet" on the last line and finish answering the question on a blank piece of 8V2 x 11" paper. At the top of the blank sheet, type "Supplement to application of," type the number of the question that you're continuing, then finish listing the requested information.
