<p>My son took the June 2013 LSAT and is now getting email and snail mail communications from different law schools.</p>
<p>One is a registration by invitation log-in online panel discussion next Monday by the law school admins of Penn, UVA, Harvard and NYU. It is a mock admission application review and allows the prospective students to ask questions about the admission process.</p>
<p>Did any of you recent admits participate in these things (or similar things) when they were offered?</p>
<p>My kids got loads of this stuff, and went to the law school fairs too. It was somewhat deceptive, since the admissions officers were very encouraging about both his chances and their employment stats. Of course, that’s also what he wanted to hear at the time. </p>
<p>They need lots of applications to boost their numbers. With declining law school enrollments, all of the admissions offices have to work harder. It’s not a waste of time to listen though, especially since it doesn’t cost anything. You never know what they’re going to say, and it’s interesting to hear the competition.</p>
<p>I agree with Neonzeus that these things are deceptive. Unless they also offer you a fee waiver on the application, you should apply according to your numbers, not some mock panel discussion. Law schools are motivated by LSAT first, GPA second, URM third, and everything else in the tiny remaining sliver fourth (if it even exists). From what I’ve seen, however, these mock panel discussion always end up about the fourth sliver.</p>
<p>Ah, the effort to get the applicant’s interest may be more to inflate the school’s stats. OK–I hadn’t really focused on that.</p>
<p>The application waivers have started to arrive. Do you see this as anything different than the attempt to boost the school’s stats? Is it different depending on which law schools they come from. I guess that begs the question of which schools even offer waivers to anyone.</p>
<p>The fee waivers are usually an attempt to induce people with higher numbers to apply. I’ve heard but seen no evidence that some schools send them out to generate rejections to boost their selectivity level. Since the applications are all pretty standard there’s really no reason not to send in an application to a school that waives the fee, assuming you’d consider going there.</p>
<p>I think that is his plan. Apply to every fee waiver school on his list of where he would attend if admitted.</p>
<p>My son has told me that the apps are fairly standardized wanting to know college attended, dates, degrees awarded and GPA. And, then the LSAT score. Plus, personal statement, resume, recommendations from 2 college professors (college thesis advisers ) and school specified topic essays. And Yale has the 250 word open topic essay requirement.</p>
<p>Anyone have an opinion on whether visits to the law school and interviews are a plus or even made known to those who do the admissions decisions?</p>
<p>My D went through the application process this past cycle. First, most fee waivers are not worth the bother since they are from schools not on my D’s academic preference. One worth considering is from Duke, which offers not only fee waiver but also a priority review where the entire process will be completed within 10 days. It took 5 days for my D, and she was offered to be interviewed for their full tuition scholarship. The rapid process gave my D early confidence that her application, letters and personal statement were viewed positively by at least one school. At the end she was admitted to all her applied schools and with full tuition scholarship where available. </p>
<p>School visit does not help and talking to admission is discouraged. Admission Deans do travel to different campuses. Only some schools conduct interviews - by phone (Chicago), Skype (Harvard) or alumni on location (Northwestern). She found the Yale and Harvard admission blog very useful. </p>
<p>My D never went to any events in part because she graduated 2 years ago, and she has the benefit of help from a number of upper-classmate friends who went through the process. </p>
<p>Best wishes to your son.</p>
<p>Regarding “Yale has the 250 word open topic essay requirement”. The 250 words assay is dreaded by all applicants. Most students are admitted by a process involving scoring by three professors independently (see Yale admission blog), and most applicants are admitted with perfect scores. Thus, many applicants feel, rightly or wrongly, that their success hinges on these 250 words.</p>
<p>Thanks. I have heard that the Yale and Harvard blogs are helpful. I’ll mention the Duke arrangement.</p>
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<p>Wonderful!!! If you don’t mind saying did she generally stay within the T14? Did she find that this was much more a numbers (GPA and LSAT) process than college admission?</p>
<p>Yes, my D stayed within T14 but did avoid schools known to yield protect. It is hard for me to comment on the general wisdom here that admission is all driven by LSAT+GPA. My D has an LSAT score above the 75 percentile but below the medium GPA of HYS. She thinks her lower GPA is somewhat offset by her unusual double major, her college and work experience - soft factors that many here would argue as unimportant. Despite her GPA, she was not precluded from being offered the Hamilton Fellowship from Columbia. Thus, there were something in her application beyond her numbers that Columbia thought she may be admitted by HYS.</p>
<p>My S applied to 10 of T14, plus one safety. Had LSAT below, but GPA above 75 percentile for HYS. Had decent softs. Only 2 schools offered fee waivers. Got into 9/11 schools; waitlisted at UVA (yield protect?)) and Y, withdrew from both. Had to choose between a full ride at Chicago vs. H or S. Was not offered Hamilton at Columbia or any other full rides. So it appears that each individual experience is unique in its detail. Such anecdotal data will help you develop a perspective, but I am not sure you can use it to devise a reliable application strategy.</p>
<p>Thanks to both of you. Actually, this is a “dad” obsessing over this. The law school interest was developed by my son on his own. He graduated from college in 2011 and has truly been on his own. He is the 75 percentile on both. No more, no less. </p>
<p>But, he has a dual major in Mathematical Economics (4.0) and Dance. His first job was a performance contract in Taiwan. He has found a way to get teaching and tutoring jobs in Asia and the USA so that he has also been able to support himself where every he lives and travel in Asia (extensively) and South and Central America.</p>
<p>I am a second career attorney (28 years) who does appellate work and my BIL in an echo cardiologist who is a professor at a medical school. My son as well as my BIL and I see that his interests are more in the academic/judicial area than a traditional practice. In keeping with the right side tendencies, he has a spreadsheet for everything. If I add anything to this process, it is to encourage him to reveal both sides of his personality including the teaching side. For what it is worth, I’m going to relate to him your soft factor input.</p>
<p>It is kind of fun to be obsessed! Seems to me he is a sure in at YLS. Make sure that he gives you that YLS coffee mug given out at the admitted student weekend!</p>
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<p>Not only Duke, but quite a few of the T14 offer fee waivers. And it never hurts to ask. A short e-mail can save $75.</p>
<p>Thanks bluebayou</p>
<p>I just got an email from my applicant son who is in the process of contacting the various T-14 schools about the merit fee application waiver. The first one that he contacted sent him the confirmation that his scores would entitle him to the waiver.</p>
<p>Sometimes there are “hidden fee waivers”. When he goes on line to send the application, the fee waiver will just show up on the payment page without any notification.</p>
<p>S got waivers from 8 out of 10 T-14 schools he applied, some were hidden, a couple he requested. He applied to Duke only because of “express decision”, helped to put his mind at ease about the strength of his application. His GPA was at 75% and LSAT around median for HYS(out of which he only applied to H for personal reasons). His strongest soft was 2 years of TfA, and it’s still among the main conversation topics during interviews( S just went through EIP and nearing the end of callbacks). He was admitted to all 13 schools he applied, was offered money, but no full rides. So that and a great admitted students weekend settled him on HLS, where he gets as much in need based aid as he would in merit aid at other places.
As for visiting, for S it was actually very helpful. At least 3 schools fell of the list because the places didn’t feel right(YLS was one of those, strangely enough).</p>
<p>Ok – thanks for all the info so far. </p>
<p>I have a question about Duke Law School. I went to the website and it seems to me that the accelerated decision (10 days or less) is BINDING. Am I incorrect?</p>
<p>Th posters who had students use that apparently enrolled at other law schools. So, I am confused. Thanks for any help on this.</p>
<p>Duke offers Early Decision which is binding. But it’s express app service is NOT binding; “Priority Track” just provides a decision in 10 days.</p>
<p>And note, that like all schools, Duke cares about its yield. Thus, someone with HLS stats, could easily be deferred by Duke after 10 days. (That is a decision, right?)</p>
<p>To avoid a possible deferment, a short letter of ‘Why Duke’ can help.</p>