Opinions please Forum

[stayway]

I've been put on a waitlist for my #1 school. I have already sent in my LOCI to the admissions office. Should I e-mail the associate dean directly expressing my extreme interest in attending this school?

[poprox]

It depends. What are your reasons for wanting to attend so badly?

[stayway]

It depends. What are your reasons for wanting to attend so badly?

location, program, diverse curriculum, clinics. mainly location.

[stayway]

i hand delivered my LOCI but the secretary got it. she told me she was going to put it in my file (which is probably normal). But I kind of want to "pop out" by showing them I didn't apply for the hell of it. maybe i should e-mail the dean that same LOCI?

[poprox]

It depends. What are your reasons for wanting to attend so badly?

location, program, diverse curriculum, clinics. mainly location.

Location could be a good reason, or a weak reason (i.e. I love the weather in San Diego, so I really want to attend law school there versus All my family lives in Austin, and I plan to stay in the area long term to practice law after graduating).

[poprox]

I'd say if you've a solid reason for wanting to attend law school in location X, go ahead and send a brief email to the dean of admissions. As long as your email is honest, articulate, and succinct, I would not expect it to hurt your chances of admission.

[stayway]

It depends. What are your reasons for wanting to attend so badly?

location, program, diverse curriculum, clinics. mainly location.

Location could be a good reason, or a weak reason (i.e. I love the weather in San Diego, so I really want to attend law school there versus All my family lives in Austin, and I plan to stay in the area long term to practice law after graduating).

the latter reason. But I feel like just the "location" reason is insufficient to make myself pop out from the large WL pool.

Are part-time and full-time WL pools different? do they make decisions separately?

[stayway]

I'd say if you've a solid reason for wanting to attend law school in location X, go ahead and send a brief email to the dean of admissions. As long as your email is honest, articulate, and succinct, I would not expect it to hurt your chances of admission.

It's just that I don't want to be repetitive and "annoy" the dean since she is eventually going to review my file. My e-mail will probably be same as the LOCI I delivered.

[robin600]

It depends. What are your reasons for wanting to attend so badly?

location, program, diverse curriculum, clinics. mainly location.

Location could be a good reason, or a weak reason (i.e. I love the weather in San Diego, so I really want to attend law school there versus All my family lives in Austin, and I plan to stay in the area long term to practice law after graduating).

the latter reason. But I feel like just the "location" reason is insufficient to make myself pop out from the large WL pool.

Are part-time and full-time WL pools different? do they make decisions separately?

I'm on 8 wait lists right now, and this is what I do to make sure the right eyes see my stuff. I send a LOCI via snail mail addressed to the Dean or Head of Admissions Committee (appropriate title), then about a week later I call them up directly and ask if they have received my letter. Usually this leads to a "yes, I've read it, thank you." I then ask them about wait list procedures, and then ask them if they have any questions for me (surprisingly if you take the time out to talk them, they will talk with you back and hence ask questions). When the conversation is done, I say I will keep in touch through regular contact, and then they usually say they look forward to hearing from me.

I think this approach is def. more personable then the standard letter of I wanna go here really bad and here's why. Send in a LOCI, but not the one that was just added to your file, and make sure it is directly addressed to the dean. It's a little bit of name dropping, brown-nosing, and more in-depth communication. I like it, it's working for me. I did this before getting my wait list notifications as well at the schools I was most interested in, but had no shot in hell at getting in, but I got wait listed. If you make the effort they will notice!

[stayway]

yeah, i addressed the LOCI under the associate dean's name (the one who "wrote" my WL letter).

I'm afraid to call her directly at this point because the normal application cycle is not finished yet; and that she/adcoms may have not yet started to review the WL pool.

Maybe I'll just e-mail her a brief version of my LOCI. I plan on sending a "Why X" essay as well.

[stayway]

any more advice?