Illinois Class of 2014 (With Dean Pless) Forum

[Pless]

It was nice, thanks... but I think you gave a few hundred people a collective heart attack with the "JOIN THE CLASS OF 2014 FACEBOOK PAGE!" part.

Yeah, that was my fault. The email was set to go out just to admitted students and I said "Hey, wouldn't it be nice to send it to everyone?" and the email didn't get changed before it went out. Sorry.

Transparency includes admitting mistakes. My bad.

[Jen Loblaw]

my heart definitely skipped a beat or two haha

[registeredtosay]

Hi Dean Pless-

I hope you don't take this question as presumptuous or arrogant; that's definitely not my intention. I was hoping to be accepted with a scholarship at your school, so I was somewhat surprised to be waitlisted last Friday.

So I was wondering... do you offer scholarships to applicants admitted off the waitlist? If so, how do they compare to scholarships given out to normal admits?

Thanks for your help and your transparency in the admissions process. I know you've heard this a million times, but I really do appreciate you answering questions here.

[Pless]

Hi Dean Pless-

I hope you don't take this question as presumptuous or arrogant; that's definitely not my intention. I was hoping to be accepted with a scholarship at your school, so I was somewhat surprised to be waitlisted last Friday.

So I was wondering... do you offer scholarships to applicants admitted off the waitlist? If so, how do they compare to scholarships given out to normal admits?

Thanks for your help and your transparency in the admissions process. I know you've heard this a million times, but I really do appreciate you answering questions here.

We do offer scholarships to WL applicants. Typically they are comparable. This year the WL is going to work a little differently. I would anticipate making some WL decisions earlier (March) then in previous years.

[chrisbru]

my heart definitely skipped a beat or two haha

Love the Arrested Development reference in your handle, Jen

[Jen Loblaw]

my heart definitely skipped a beat or two haha

Love the Arrested Development reference in your handle, Jen

ha thanks

[Aggiegrad2011]

Hi Dean Pless-

I hope you don't take this question as presumptuous or arrogant; that's definitely not my intention. I was hoping to be accepted with a scholarship at your school, so I was somewhat surprised to be waitlisted last Friday.

So I was wondering... do you offer scholarships to applicants admitted off the waitlist? If so, how do they compare to scholarships given out to normal admits?

Thanks for your help and your transparency in the admissions process. I know you've heard this a million times, but I really do appreciate you answering questions here.

We do offer scholarships to WL applicants. Typically they are comparable. This year the WL is going to work a little differently. I would anticipate making some WL decisions earlier (March) then in previous years.

If someone was to find themselves on the wait-list, and they offered to unequivocally accept admission as soon as it was offered (i.e., forego any scholarship monies), would that at all influence your decision when a seat becomes available?

[Pless]

If someone was to find themselves on the wait-list, and they offered to unequivocally accept admission as soon as it was offered (i.e., forego any scholarship monies), would that at all influence your decision when a seat becomes available?

I do take applicants demonstrated interest in Illinois into consideration when making all of my decisions, not just from the WL. However, that extreme of an approach isn't really required (I do appreciate the sentiment). I think it is best for applicants to have options and I don't like seeing people limit themselves. Also, that promise is unenforceable, despite what some other schools try to pull, and against the Good Admissions Practices standard.

[jaydizzle]

My GPA is probably going to go up before an official transcript is available to send to LSAC. Can I send an unofficial version from my student account by email to show the increase?

[Aggiegrad2011]

If someone was to find themselves on the wait-list, and they offered to unequivocally accept admission as soon as it was offered (i.e., forego any scholarship monies), would that at all influence your decision when a seat becomes available?

I do take applicants demonstrated interest in Illinois into consideration when making all of my decisions, not just from the WL. However, that extreme of an approach isn't really required (I do appreciate the sentiment). I think it is best for applicants to have options and I don't like seeing people limit themselves. Also, that promise is unenforceable, despite what some other schools try to pull, and against the Good Admissions Practices standard.

Really! So say I'm Applicant X, and there's Applicant Y and we're both on the WL and we're both pretty much "vanilla" applicants with good enough numbers to get WL'd at Illinois in the first place. One seat opens up because someone decided not to go to law school this year, or whatever, and now you have to choose - all else equal (impossible but this is an hypothesis!), wouldn't you rather have the applicant who you won't have to approve for money from the budget than the one that will have you grant money from the budget?

[Pless]

My GPA is probably going to go up before an official transcript is available to send to LSAC. Can I send an unofficial version from my student account by email to show the increase?

Sure.

[Pless]

If someone was to find themselves on the wait-list, and they offered to unequivocally accept admission as soon as it was offered (i.e., forego any scholarship monies), would that at all influence your decision when a seat becomes available?

I do take applicants demonstrated interest in Illinois into consideration when making all of my decisions, not just from the WL. However, that extreme of an approach isn't really required (I do appreciate the sentiment). I think it is best for applicants to have options and I don't like seeing people limit themselves. Also, that promise is unenforceable, despite what some other schools try to pull, and against the Good Admissions Practices standard.

Really! So say I'm Applicant X, and there's Applicant Y and we're both on the WL and we're both pretty much "vanilla" applicants with good enough numbers to get WL'd at Illinois in the first place. One seat opens up because someone decided not to go to law school this year, or whatever, and now you have to choose - all else equal (impossible but this is an hypothesis!), wouldn't you rather have the applicant who you won't have to approve for money from the budget than the one that will have you grant money from the budget?

For the most part I try to give money based on merit and have offers be roughly equal for equal candidates. So yeah, really. Law school is three years and how you feel on day 1 may be different than on day 802 and I want our students to be as excited about Illinois on day 802 as they are on day 1.

[Aggiegrad2011]

If someone was to find themselves on the wait-list, and they offered to unequivocally accept admission as soon as it was offered (i.e., forego any scholarship monies), would that at all influence your decision when a seat becomes available?

I do take applicants demonstrated interest in Illinois into consideration when making all of my decisions, not just from the WL. However, that extreme of an approach isn't really required (I do appreciate the sentiment). I think it is best for applicants to have options and I don't like seeing people limit themselves. Also, that promise is unenforceable, despite what some other schools try to pull, and against the Good Admissions Practices standard.

Really! So say I'm Applicant X, and there's Applicant Y and we're both on the WL and we're both pretty much "vanilla" applicants with good enough numbers to get WL'd at Illinois in the first place. One seat opens up because someone decided not to go to law school this year, or whatever, and now you have to choose - all else equal (impossible but this is an hypothesis!), wouldn't you rather have the applicant who you won't have to approve for money from the budget than the one that will have you grant money from the budget?

For the most part I try to give money based on merit and have offers be roughly equal for equal candidates. So yeah, really. Law school is three years and how you feel on day 1 may be different than on day 802 and I want our students to be as excited about Illinois on day 802 as they are on day 1.

That is awesome, thanks again for taking time out to answer these questions for us. Maybe I just speak for myself here, but the whole process is so detached and ephemeral. Submit apps and check status checkers... and hope for no WL / Rejection.

One last question before I overstay my welcome: Can you give me(us) any data on how many students you are able to pull from the wait-list every year? I ask a lot about the wait-list because that's probably where I'm going to find myself, so it's pertinent information.

[Pless]

That is awesome, thanks again for taking time out to answer these questions for us. Maybe I just speak for myself here, but the whole process is so detached and ephemeral. Submit apps and check status checkers... and hope for no WL / Rejection.

One last question before I overstay my welcome: Can you give me(us) any data on how many students you are able to pull from the wait-list every year? I ask a lot about the wait-list because that's probably where I'm going to find myself, so it's pertinent information.

Last year it was 6, the year before it was 47.

[Aggiegrad2011]

That is awesome, thanks again for taking time out to answer these questions for us. Maybe I just speak for myself here, but the whole process is so detached and ephemeral. Submit apps and check status checkers... and hope for no WL / Rejection.

One last question before I overstay my welcome: Can you give me(us) any data on how many students you are able to pull from the wait-list every year? I ask a lot about the wait-list because that's probably where I'm going to find myself, so it's pertinent information.

Last year it was 6, the year before it was 47.

And approximately how many folks did you have to select from, on the WL, for those 6 lucky souls to be chosen?

[Pless]

That is awesome, thanks again for taking time out to answer these questions for us. Maybe I just speak for myself here, but the whole process is so detached and ephemeral. Submit apps and check status checkers... and hope for no WL / Rejection.

One last question before I overstay my welcome: Can you give me(us) any data on how many students you are able to pull from the wait-list every year? I ask a lot about the wait-list because that's probably where I'm going to find myself, so it's pertinent information.

Last year it was 6, the year before it was 47.

And approximately how many folks did you have to select from, on the WL, for those 6 lucky souls to be chosen?

A lot. The point of me telling you those two numbers was that it is impossible to tell from year to year how many people I will admit from the WL. If I had to guess, this year I would say it will be closer to the 47 then to the 6.

[jaydizzle]

Wow, nice. I was Googling around for some environmental organization in the Chicago, and I came across a whole new program Illinois has that I had no idea of.

Joint Law Degree with Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences


This meshes perfectly with my undergrad curriculum. I think I am going to work on a whole new Why Illinois now.

[NancyBotwin]

Law school is three years and how you feel on day 1 may be different than on day 802 and I want our students to be as excited about Illinois on day 802 as they are on day 1.

This is so true. Illinois was not my first choice, and I wasn't thrilled about living in Champaign, but now I love it...well, except finals. I don't love finals at all.

[Aggiegrad2011]

That is awesome, thanks again for taking time out to answer these questions for us. Maybe I just speak for myself here, but the whole process is so detached and ephemeral. Submit apps and check status checkers... and hope for no WL / Rejection.

One last question before I overstay my welcome: Can you give me(us) any data on how many students you are able to pull from the wait-list every year? I ask a lot about the wait-list because that's probably where I'm going to find myself, so it's pertinent information.

Last year it was 6, the year before it was 47.

And approximately how many folks did you have to select from, on the WL, for those 6 lucky souls to be chosen?

A lot. The point of me telling you those two numbers was that it is impossible to tell from year to year how many people I will admit from the WL. If I had to guess, this year I would say it will be closer to the 47 then to the 6.

Oh I understand that you were making a comparison with the two years: It's totally and wholly unpredictable and I read that loud and clear. Since wait-lists are not ranked, I'm just trying to get a feel for how many people I am competing with again to get the opened-up seats.

Do you throw all the WLs into one stack and then go through them each time a seat opens, or are they separated by 'ability group'? If someone with, say, a 172 LSAT and a 3.80 GPA decides not to put the seat deposit down and that spot is therefore open, I assume you'd do your best to filter another high LSAT, high GPA student into that slot rather than, say, a 166/3.65?

I know I said I'm out of questions, but I'm totally not. It's awesome to actually have a dean of admissions to answer some of these questions, even if it is only just for one school (one school to which I have very happily applied and am anxiously waiting to hear from, despite the weather in Urbana-Champaign!). THIS will hopefully be the last one: When you place a candidate on the WL, you're essentially saying that you think they're capable of handling the curriculum at Illinois, but for whatever reason (their allocated slots were already filled by the same LSAT/GPA range, what have you) you couldn't get them a seat (perhaps they applied later in the cycle)?

[krad]

Wow, nice. I was Googling around for some environmental organization in the Chicago, and I came across a whole new program Illinois has that I had no idea of.

Joint Law Degree with Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences


This meshes perfectly with my undergrad curriculum. I think I am going to work on a whole new Why Illinois now.

Thanks for sharing, jay!

[Pless]

Law school is three years and how you feel on day 1 may be different than on day 802 and I want our students to be as excited about Illinois on day 802 as they are on day 1.

This is so true. Illinois was not my first choice, and I wasn't thrilled about living in Champaign, but now I love it...well, except finals. I don't love finals at all.

Only one more to go Nancy.

[jaydizzle]

Wow, nice. I was Googling around for some environmental organization in the Chicago, and I came across a whole new program Illinois has that I had no idea of.

Joint Law Degree with Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences


This meshes perfectly with my undergrad curriculum. I think I am going to work on a whole new Why Illinois now.

Thanks for sharing, jay!

Yeah, I think it's pretty sweet. I have a concentration in sustainability, so when I saw this it made me like Illinois even more.

[NancyBotwin]

Law school is three years and how you feel on day 1 may be different than on day 802 and I want our students to be as excited about Illinois on day 802 as they are on day 1.

This is so true. Illinois was not my first choice, and I wasn't thrilled about living in Champaign, but now I love it...well, except finals. I don't love finals at all.

Only one more to go Nancy.

I know, and now I totally understand why she said she hates to be the last one - talk about being worn out! Bleh.

But I made it this far, I'm not giving up now. Bring it, crim!

By the way, if you guys have any questions about stuff other than admissions (I try to help with those when I can, but my knowledge is limited), I'm available in the 1L thread.

[Pless]

Oh I understand that you were making a comparison with the two years: It's totally and wholly unpredictable and I read that loud and clear. Since wait-lists are not ranked, I'm just trying to get a feel for how many people I am competing with again to get the opened-up seats.

Do you throw all the WLs into one stack and then go through them each time a seat opens, or are they separated by 'ability group'? If someone with, say, a 172 LSAT and a 3.80 GPA decides not to put the seat deposit down and that spot is therefore open, I assume you'd do your best to filter another high LSAT, high GPA student into that slot rather than, say, a 166/3.65?

I know I said I'm out of questions, but I'm totally not. It's awesome to actually have a dean of admissions to answer some of these questions, even if it is only just for one school (one school to which I have very happily applied and am anxiously waiting to hear from, despite the weather in Urbana-Champaign!). THIS will hopefully be the last one: When you place a candidate on the WL, you're essentially saying that you think they're capable of handling the curriculum at Illinois, but for whatever reason (their allocated slots were already filled by the same LSAT/GPA range, what have you) you couldn't get them a seat (perhaps they applied later in the cycle)?

The WL only works on that one for one basis at the every end of the cycle and then only if I am really tight on the medians. We don't rank it and we don't sort it, but when I decide to go to the WL I am usually looking for certain things. A lot of times it is not purely LSAT or GPA. You are correct that everyone offered a spot on the WL is someone that I believe could be very successful at Illinois. They almost always are, something that they tend to remind me of when grades come out.

[Aggiegrad2011]

How can you not one-for-one basis something when you have only 6 slots to fill? :O