Categories: Advice, Wait lists, waitlist
Tags: law school waitlist
133 Comments »
A client just sent me this e-mail:
I was wondering if you could give me (or blog about) a little more insight about how wait lists usually work. Is there a weighted order in which applicants are ranked and then applicants are taken off according to that? Is the ranking based on their admissions index number or the order in which they received apps? Would retaking the LSAT in June and getting a higher score give them more of a reason to take an applicant off the WL?
As a director of admission for a law school, I looked at my waitlist for a combination of the following:
1. Likelihood of attendance if offered admission.
2. Numbers.
I didn’t have time to make phone calls going down the list – I wanted to make one call to an applicant who I knew would be thrilled to hear from me and who would commit to my school practically on the spot.
This is why Letters of Continued Interest are so important. This is why likeability is a factor. Whose day do I want to make? That’s what I would think about.
Now, not every school uses its waitlist in the same way, and not every school uses its wait list the same way from year to year or week to week. Some do place people in quartiles or priority lists. Others use numbers only or residents first or perhaps even take diversity factors back into account depending on how it seems the class is shaping up so far. You can’t predict what will happen, and nothing I tell you will change that.
The key thing to keep in mind is that, yes, people get into their dream schools off the waitlist. Absolutely. So, if it’s important to you, then pursue it. If you’re staying on the waitlist just to get another acceptance letter in your portfolio, then perhaps consider a polite bowing out in favor of that applicant who would be thrilled at the acceptance. (Just because the law schools play games doesn’t mean you have to : )
Lastly, I have seen people improve on the June LSAT and be admitted off a waitlist as a result. Yes. I had a client with a 165 waitlisted at Northwestern. He came back with a 170 on the June LSAT and was admitted.
I’m sure there will be a few comments on this post, and I’m happy to answer questions. Just keep in mind I can’t give individual advice about your personal “waitlist campaign” in this format.
Categories: Wait lists
14 Comments »
Is opening up. One of my clients just was asked via email to re-confirm his interest and within 5-minutes he had an acceptance letter (and 24 hours to submit a deposit).
Categories: Wait lists
10 Comments »
Anna Ivey, fellow member of AIGAC, has a great blog post about (1) why schools waitlist and (2) what to do about it.
Categories: Wait lists
4 Comments »
Did a law school put you on a waitlist? What does that mean and what can you do to boost your chances of being admitted to that law school?
First, why were you waitlisted? Simple Answer: U.S. News & World Report Rankings.
Schools are very concerned with their rankings and an easy way for them to control things from an admission standpoint are (a) watching the LSAT/GPA for admitted students; and (b) keeping acceptance rates low. What this means is that if you are at or below their median LSAT/GPA, they may waitlist you and make you fight your way in to make sure (before having to count you as an “admit”) that you are actually fairly likely to attend their school.
So, how do you demonstrate that your attendance is likely? Here are some ways:
1. Visit the law school. Schedule a visit through the admissions office and ask to sit in on a class and go on a tour. You may even have the opportunity to meet with someone in the admissions office. This shows your interest and likelihood to attend a school in the geographic region.
2. Follow up with a thank-you letter reiterating your interest in the school based on what you learned during your visit. Be specific!
3. If you can’t visit, write a letter with an update about what you’ve done since submitting your application.
4. Write a letter stating the reasons for your specific interest in that law school and highlight things from your background that tie into those interests.
5. Send an additional Letter of Recommendation if they will allow it.
Good luck! And thanks so much to everyone who voted on topics – I will try to address the other requests in the next week or so.
Categories: Wait lists
5 Comments »
It’s July. And I know many of you are still on waiting lists. Those calls are coming in every day so don’t lose hope. But many schools will go to a wait list once Orientation has already started. It makes for some hectic changes, but no one will ever know you were a waitlist admit – you get the same degree and the same opportunities as everybody else.
For those of you still waiting, if you haven’t sent a letter expressing your continuing interest in the school then now is the time. If you can schedule a time to visit the school and meet an admissions officer, even better. The follow-up after that visit is crucial. I’ve also had clients offered a place in the class during a campus visit (Duke is one of those schools, btw).
Congratulations to T.M., one of my clients who was just pulled off the waitlist at UCLA this morning!
Ann K. Levine, Esq., former director of law school admissions for two ABA approved law schools, is a law school admission consultant and owner of Law School Expert,
