when to decide on a school?

[brownstudy]

I'm still waiting for decisions from two other schools. If I don't hear from them in March, I think I should pay the seat deposit to the other school that I've been admitted to. But I heard that the seat deposit does not equal the formal acceptance of the admission. So when's the deadline fir deciding on a school and is there usually a formal form to fill out for that purpose?

Thanks!

[bk1]

There is no formal deadline. Generally you can't put seat deposits down at multiple schools (it's frowned upon and sometimes the schools can get in a tizzy about it).

Put a seat deposit down at your best option by the deadline and then if you get in somewhere else later (whether it is a straight acceptance or waitlist=>acceptance) then you can withdraw your seat deposit (you may or may not get partial refund) and then put one down at the place you like better.

[HWS08]

I'm still waiting for decisions from two other schools. If I don't hear from them in March, I think I should pay the seat deposit to the other school that I've been admitted to. But I heard that the seat deposit does not equal the formal acceptance of the admission. So when's the deadline fir deciding on a school and is there usually a formal form to fill out for that purpose?

Thanks!

What's the advantage of putting down a seat deposit earlier than you have to? Just wait until you hear from the other school(s). You'd have to check with your school re: if there's a form or not. Sometimes there is, sometimes there isn't.

[CanadianWolf]

@bk187: Where have you read that placing seat deposits at more than one law school is frowned upon ? Thanks !

[subtle]

@bk187: Where have you read that placing seat deposits at more than one law school is frowned upon ? Thanks !

Columbia reserves the right to revoke your admission if they catch you putting down multiple seat deposits.

[bk1]

@bk187: Where have you read that placing seat deposits at more than one law school is frowned upon ? Thanks !

Some on TLS posted this from the CLS admit site:

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.

There are probably others like that. Also, if I'm not mistaken, LSAC notifies schools of all cross deposited people by some date and I think schools then start contacting the cross depositors and telling them "wtfmate."

[brownstudy]

I see! Then I'll email the schools that gave me admissions to let them know I won't attend except the one which I'll put a deposit before the deadline (April 1st). Hopefully I'll hear from the other two that I'm waiting for before end of March.

It seems that there should be another wave of admissions to be sent out after the first deposit deadline since I think most ppl would have more than one admission. But ppl probably have picked their best choice before the date of first deposit since most schools send out admissions much earlier than late March.

[CanadianWolf]

Placing deposits at more than one law school is not uncommon, unless restricted by one of the law schools (such as Columbia). Read each law school's deposit form restrictions before making more than one seat deposit.

Dean Pless of Illinois addresses this issue in his TLS interview.