Help- Sticky Situation Forum

[miller1787]

Hi All-

I find myself in a sticky situation and I am curious what the TLS wisdom will think of what I've gotten myself into.

About a month ago I sent off my applications after getting my December lsat score. One school, I had an open ED app to, and I was considering ED'ing there until I got my dec. score back and realized I'd have a pretty good shot there without having to commit myself to the school. As a result, at least to my knowledge, I DELETED the ED application, filled out the separate non-binding one instead, and transmitted it to the school.

Fast forward to this weekend. I get mail on Saturday that indicates I have been accepted to said school, one of my top choices, except the letter indicates I was accepted ED. Huh, I thought? I was, and continue to remain, over 95% sure I applied non-binding. I tried to check my transmitted application via the LSAC website and it wouldn't open. It opened up a file that simply said, "data unavailable." I call LSAC this morning. They begin to look into the problem. In the meantime, in an effort to be as honest as possible with the school, I call the school and inform them of the situation. They look up my app on their end and say it does in fact indicate ED. They offer me the opportunity to write a letter to the Dean, if I wish, explaining my desire to get out of binding ED.

After this conversation I head back to my LSAC account. I find, that when looking at my application after clicking on the school's name in my school list, that it indicates that the Non-binding application was actually the one submitted. Not the binding ED one. Obviously I am relieved because I think this helps my case. At this point, I begin to suspect (as I currently do) that perhaps part of my ED application was never deleted or somehow, through a glitch, it sent the ED part to the school. This, to me, seems the most plausible.

Eventually LSAC gets back to me with a copy of my transmitted app, which does indicate there that it is ED. Nevertheless, it continues to show on my account that I submitted a non binding application to them.

If you're still with me, this is where I remain. I am waiting tomorrow to hear back from LSAC regarding the discrepancy between the ED vs. non binding option. I don't know what they will find or say. I may end up wanting to attend the school in question, but I was hoping to get into a peer school and leverage money. This seems unlikely now. Should I be worried that if they cancel my ED they will rescind my admission outright? Have I burned bridges with this school now that I am making a big deal out of this ED problem?

FWIW I checked all correspondance from the school after submitting my app and nowhere there did it indicate that I had submitted early decision. Not in the e-mails or status checkers. My thinking now is that I will wait to see what LSAC finds, and then submit a letter to the Dean explaining the decision. Hopefully LSAC admits they made a mistake on their end, and this gives me more of a leg to stand on.

Any help or constructive comments are appreciated. This is so beyond bizarre.

[landla]

My only suggestion, really, is to be very careful in your dealings with the school to explain that they are among your top x number of choices (hopefully top 2-3). If there is a high chance of you attending there, perhaps say that you want to attend there, but you do not feel that you can afford to without scholarship and that is why you didn't end up applying ED, even though you began to fill out that application. If it seems unlikely that you will ultimately choose the school, the school may decide to WL or reject you to protect their yield - even if they would have accepted you regular decision otherwise.

Good luck.

[Ghghghhhg2000]

Which school was it? I was involved in a similar situation.

[mrtoren]

You've definitely burned bridges. Think about it. If you finally succeed in getting out of the ED contract, do you really think it would be a good idea to go back with another school's offer and try to leverage them? Do you really think they would take kindly to that?

In my opinion, you either drop your opposition to the ED contract and attend or you plan on going elsewhere.

[miller1787]

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[sach1282]

This situation is definitely awkward. I agree with the above poster though, if you really want to attend this school, I think you accept the fact that you got in ED and hope they give you scholarship money anyway (this is more common than many on TLS assume). I think if you take out the ED app you are certainly risking scholarship money, and possibly risking admission altogether.