April Angst: “Deposits are Due and I’m Still Waiting!”

Categories: Advice, Deferral, Financing a Legal Education, Law School Admission Trends, Re-Applying to Law School, Reapplying to Law School
Tags: interest on student loans, number of February LSAT takers, sallie mae
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There is so much going on in the world of law school applicants right now that I feel compelled to address some of the recent trends. Think of this as a “Super Blog-Post” because it’s going to be long and involved and a little all over the place. I hope it’s also the most worthwhile law school admission related reading you’ve done in a while, and certainly it’s time better spent than reading all the gloating posts on discussion forums from people deciding between Harvard and Stanford.

Topic #1: April Angst

What I like to call “April Angst” is the patent unfairness of having deposit deadlines approaching and still not hearing anything back from many of the schools you applied to. This sucks. It totally sucks. You held up your end of the bargain and applied to law school in a timely fashion and the law schools are not responding accordingly. Be bitter. Be upset. Just don’t do anything rash. This is just par for the course. It happens every year and it happens to everyone. Put in a seat deposit somewhere while keeping an open mind about where you might attend. Don’t sign any leases yet. As schools get deposits back from already-admitted applicants, they will slowly open up spots. Hang in there.

Topic #2. Student Loans.

Please, please, please do your research about the availability of funding options before commiting yourself to an expensive private school in an expensive city. Sallie Mae announced this week that it will be requiring students to pay monthly interest on their loans while in school. This could amount to $500/month, which ain’t peanuts on a student budget when you’re prohibited from working more than 5 hours a week as a full time law student. If this isn’t changing how you choose a law school, then you are probably the person who won’t need any loans in the first place and will simply be writing a check for everything from the get-go. This is a big deal. Don’t underestimate its importance.

Topic #3.Don’t panic.

Right now, many applicants have not heard back from any schools – especially February LSAT takers. Please don’t panic and start thinking about developing a worst case scenario plan. Reapplying for Fall 2010 and/or deferring admission to the one school you’ve heard back from is not necessarily going to be a wise plan this year. Be prepared. Fall 2010 admission is going to be even more competitive than Fall 2009 has been. February LSAT takers were up by 11% and law schools are bracing for a huge influx of applications.  Applications will be up overall, applications to top law schools will be WAY up because those schools offer (generally) greater job prospects, and more people will be fighting for scholarships to schools at all levels – thereby increasing the popularity of lower ranked schools. If you get into a decent law school this year and it’s one you can afford, it might be wise to go ahead and start rather than waiting to reapply or defer for Fall 2010 admission.

I will happily address your questions, comments and concerns about this. And, to make sure you don’t miss further updates please subscribe to the blog. Thanks so much!

Deferral to Regular Admission?

Categories: Deferral, Early Action, Early Decision Deadlines

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Santa Clara Law is among the schools that sent out “deferral” notices this week. What does a “deferral to regular admission” really mean?

If you applied Early Action or Early Decision (binding) to any law schools, they will make one of 3 decisions on your application by the deadline they provide (usually December 15th). They may decide to:

1. Accept (but this is very rare; the law school’s only interest here is to admit those that will help bring their numbers up and to offer scholarships – thereby creating excitement early on in the feedback part of the admission cycle);

2. Reject (also very rare because the school has the prerogative to wait to reject you later and there is little reason for them to do so before they know whether or not they’ll be able to fill their class); and

3. The Most Common Response – Deferral to the Regular Admission Cycle.

So, what does this really mean? Absolutely nothing! Your status is completely unchanged from what it was when you applied. You’ll still be considered on the merits.

Regular readers of my blog know that law schools like to defer and waitlist and “hold” applicants because they are judged by rankings partially according to acceptance rates. By giving out fewer “admit” letters, they can control their acceptance rates. They want you to work a little harder. Law Schools want to be able to judge the likelihood with which you’ll actually attend their school before they hand out the precious law school acceptance letter.

So, if you’re deferred to regular admission at a school you’d really like to attend then fight for it. Demonstrate your continued interest in that school. Keep them in the loop with updates, especially new grades coming out this month. (Just don’t annoy anyone in the admissions office by calling too often or saying too much).

Here is further explanation of Early Action and Early Decision programs for those of you just getting up to speed for Fall 2009 Law School Admission. I’m happy to take questions or comments….