<p>My son is still waiting to hear from several schools. Is there a set time that schools render decisions or is it just an ongoing process established by each individual school? The school that is currently his first choice, out of the schools where he has been accepted, requires a deposit by 4/15, but he hasn't heard from one particular school - his #1 choice. He is assuming he will get a rejection from this school, but is holding off sending in the deposit as long as he possibly can, hoping for a miracle. Can anyone shed a little light? Thanks!</p>
<p>Going by my experience applying to schools last year, the longer the schools wait to respond, the more likely it is that you will get rejected–the last “positive” response I got from a school was at the end of March, after that was a string of rejections from super-reaches. </p>
<p>Keep in mind that the deposit is not binding. It’s not refundable, but if you can afford to lose the money, there’s nothing wrong with sending the deposit in to secure the spot prior to 4/15 while you wait for a response from the #1 school. If the response is positive, then your son can deposit to the #1 school and just not send a 2nd deposit to the “backup”. If the response is negative, then you still have a spot secured at the “backup”. Not the most optimal situation, but it’ll work.</p>
<p>If you go to top law schools.com, you will find that a lot of the cycles are still going, students are still being accepted and many schools saying that they are giving out acceptances until May. Many schools (Cornell, Northwestern and Columbia) are holding students stating that they will give decisions in May. there is still going to be quite a bit of activity in the next coming weeks. I also think that there is going to be a lot of waitlist action depending on how people’s money is running.</p>
<p>If your son has a school he likes, and wants to hold that spot he should just hold the spot. Many schools have dates where the deposit is refundable if you contact them by that date. If your son is accepted at a school where the seat deposit has passed, they will just move back the seat deposit date (one of D’s friends just received an acceptance today and the deposit date was april 1). </p>
<p>By June 15 the LSAC will release a list of all students who have seat deposits at more than one school.</p>
<p>Thanks for your responses. Another question: If you send in multiple seat deposits, is that a no-no like it is when you are accepting a spot for regular college admission?</p>
<p>from the LSAC</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>The LSAC will inform the other schools if you have multiple seat deposits. Keep in mind if you have multiple deposits, you risk a lot of your money being non-refundable especially as you approach May. You can definitely withdraw from school “A”, if you get off a waitlist at school “B” and choose school “B” (you will most likely just lose your deposit at school “A”).</p>
<p>However, you should check each school’s policy on seat deposits as their policy may vary. Some schools will rescind if they find out you have multiple deposits.</p>
<p>Example:</p>
<p>Columbia</p>
<p>Multiple Deposits
We recognize that choosing a law school can sometimes be overwhelming; however, out of consideration for and fairness to the rest of our applicant pool, we cannot support the practice of placing deposits at multiple law schools. Therefore, if you decide to hold a place at Columbia ; we ask that you refrain from doing the same at other law schools. Should we discover that a candidate has made commitments to multiple law schools, Columbia reserves the right to revoke our offer of admission.</p>
<p>NYU</p>
<p>“I plan to enroll at NYU School of Law in Fall 2009. I have no commitment to attend another law school, have not deferred enrollment at another law school, will not apply to another law school, and have withdrawn from other law schools to which I was admitted.”</p>
<p>Thanks, sybbie. This is just an area where I am totally uninformed and I don’t want to keep asking my son - you know - that nagging thing!</p>