Significance of Application Fee Waivers

Graduate School Law School
1

<p>Can anyone speak to the significance of "Application Fee Waiver" letters or "Encourage You to Apply" letters? (And by significance, I mean does the fact that they have sent these to you imply anything about likelihood to be accepted at this particular school. For the wise guys that post here, and I've been addicted to reading this site for the last 5 hours so I know you are out there, I obviously understand that part of their significance is that I save $30 to $80 per school by getting the waiver.)</p>

<p>Let me give more background that I think is relevant. I am a female, Native American (50% Hawaiian) with a BS in Mathematics (cum laude) who just got what I'm beginning to think is seriously some sort of golden Willy Wonka ticket: a 179 on the December 06 LSAT. Before that came out, I was receiving little recruitment correspondence from law schools - basically just stuff from schools ranked below 50, especially Tier 4. </p>

<p>This week all of a sudden, I get an email from Northwestern asking me to apply and waiving their $80 fee. I get other similar notes from Tier 1 schools below the top 20. And today, I get a letter from the Harvard Admissions Committee "encouraging me to apply," signed by the President of their student Native American organization. All of these letters specifically state that the letters do not assure admittance BUT would I be correct in thinking that my odds are good to these schools? Or are these just common mass mailings that don't imply much at all about my odds. ...</p>

<p>Anyone's thoughts would be much appreciated! I'm on pins and needles and don't know how I'm going to last over the next few months waiting for admissions decisions to come in (esp Harvard).</p>

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<p>First, congratulations on your LSAT score.</p>

<p>Second, and I do not wish to be rude in any way, the fee waivers are not only the result of your scoring a 179, but also of your being a Native American, which is a URM in law school admissions. For those two factors, in addition to your GPA–which I assume is above a 3.5, since you graduated cum laude, though some colleges can be different–I think you have an excellent shot at any school.</p>

<p>Third, merit-based fee waivers are an excellent sign that you will be admitted if you apply. </p>

<p>Good luck:)</p>

<p>PS. Keep in mind that Harvard usually starts admitting students in mid-November, so if everything goes well, you <em>could</em> receive a decision by then. Stanford started accepting students in early December, and I know Yale admitted at least one student last week.</p>

3

<p>My GPA is a 3.36 (the LSAC rules dropped it down from the 3.45 normally reported by ASU). </p>

<p>How significant of a difference do you think that makes in my admissions chances to Harvard? </p>

<p>Oh, and thanks for the reply!</p>

4

<p>
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How significant of a difference do you think that makes in my admissions chances to Harvard?

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</p>

<p>I am unsure. But given that top law schools receive few applications from URMs you score in the 99th percentile of the LSAT, and given that top law schools usually admit students in the lower GPA quartile when they have certain qualities that distinguish them from others (ie. being a URM, winning a Pullitzer, and so forth), I would say you have a decent shot.</p>

<p>Good luck:)</p>