4. Student Visas – If you need a student visa to attend law school, your window of opportunity will start to close. The international office of each university will have its own internal deadline, after which they do not want the admissions offices to accept new students who need a visa. (If you`re an international applicant but don`t need a visa or have the option to transfer an I-20 or something else that simplifies the process, mention it loud and clear in your next communication with schools. Also, don`t hold back if you think you might have a chance later in the summer. Your time to make a difference is now until mid-June or the end of June. Predictions: Note that this is only our best guess, please do not take any of the following as absolute. At Law Preview, our goal is to teach new 1L students how to conquer law school. Taught by the best law students in the country, Law Preview covers everything from 1L core material to proven exam strategies. Many of our students have successfully progressed to other law schools after achieving the top marks of 1L with the help of Law Preview. A few thoughts for current law school applicants at this anxious time of year for you: If you are on the waiting list early enough in your admission cycle (some time before the summer), you may have the opportunity to retake the LSAT. Repetition and an improved score can increase your chances of admission, especially if the score you were on the waiting list with is at or below the median of the desired school.
It is very likely that students on the waiting list will be notified of their admission between late spring and late summer. This can only happen on the first day of orientation! This will encourage last-minute admissions to fight for housing at the location of their new school. In general, remember that you also have some control in this process. The law school waiting list movement is in schools, but it is up to candidates to decide whether to stay on the waiting list. If you get to a point in the summer or earlier where you can`t wait any longer, ask to be removed from the exam at any law school where you were on the waiting list. This will allow you to come out of limbo, commit to making a decision and make concrete plans to move forward and prepare for classes at your new school! 3. Second Deposit/Double Deposit – For schools with second filing deadlines, this is often the period when applicants drop out. If they don`t want to participate, they don`t want to pay more money. Even if an applicant has contributed to two schools, perhaps because they could not decide on the deadline or perhaps because they were recently admitted to the waiting list at one of these schools, a second payment deadline could prompt them to make a decision. 4.
For schools, you would say „yes”, stay in touch during the summer. If your contact information changes, let them know because you want them to be able to reach you at any time. Unless they specifically ask you to email them earlier, email them about once a month starting in late April to remind them of your keen interest (assuming this is true – see #1 and #2 above; if not, leave that waiting list behind). These are known as „letters of continuing interest,” also known as LOCIs, but you don`t need to use this terminology in your emails. If you have any real app updates (job change, completed degree/degree, summer plans, etc.), add them as well, unless you`re specifically told not to. If you want to report a new character and fitness issue, you must also submit this update. (Sorry!) It is also common to experience waiting list movements around filing deadlines, as this is the case when accepted students get their spots. The admissions committee typically reviews its incoming class once these deadlines have elapsed and turns to the waiting list to select students who meet their needs for a proportional and diverse 1L class. This may mean that you are selected for a higher than normal LSAT value, even if your GPA is low, or vice versa; There are many reasons why the admissions committee may choose you over someone else, so it can be difficult to predict. Most law schools don`t even think about the people on their waiting list until they have the first filings from those who approved them. It`s pretty much a second intake cycle, so any hopes you had of solidifying your decision by April 1 should be dashed away. You see, it`s only after schools see these numbers come back that they start evaluating candidates on the waiting list.
When to expect to hear about a waiting list is a common question for many law students, but it is one that unfortunately has no concrete answer. Law schools process their admissions at different speeds, and in most cases, the waitlist movement won`t happen until a higher-level school starts selecting students from its waiting list, creating opportunities at each grade level as the movement progresses. 10. If you haven`t received a final decision by April 15th, you`re still in the game! Real. Stay in active candidate mode for every school that matters to you. The registration cycle does not end until the first orientation day. What for? Because there is always someone who has filed, but has not shown up for orientation and suddenly has a place to fill. Of course, you wouldn`t consider accepting an offer until so late in the game for a school you really, REALLY care about.
It is difficult to move around the country on such short notice, with or without family, to find a new apartment, etc., etc. Know which schools, if any, will be on your shortlist over the summer, and you`ll be nearing the beginning of orientation at the school where you originally enrolled. People give up too soon. In addition, people assume that there will be no scholarship offers from the schools where they will be admitted from the waiting list. This was the case before, but in recent years this has changed and more and more schools are reserving (or distributing) scholarship money after payment deadlines for admitted students and those who have just been added to the waiting list. While being on a law school waiting list may seem like a terrible thing, it may not be the worst thing that can happen to you. After all, a waiting list means there`s still hope that you`ll be accepted into school. If you want to increase your chances of being admitted to a waiting list, follow our advice on what to do if you`re on the waiting list, and remember to maintain a positive attitude while waiting for a response from your dream law school.
Some attribute the increase in law school applicants to the death of Justice Ginsberg (aka „Notorious R.G.B.”) in September 2020 and a renewed appreciation for her work promoting gender equality and women`s rights as the reason for the increase. Sending a letter with sustained interest is one of the most important things you can do once you`ve been put on a waiting list. This letter was written to inform the law school that you are still interested in their program and to assure them that if you were offered a place on the waiting list, you would certainly accept it.