Waitlisted at Northwestern 2010 Forum

[aulburch]

A friend was admitted off the waitlist earlier this week for the full time JD program. I didn't apply to NW and don't know their process, but he is not on TLS.

[scf]

Out of curiosity, has anyone gotten any feedback from a LOCI other than the generic Admissions email reply? I'm still hoping for NU but about to sign a lease in Westwood

[NancyBotwin]

Out of curiosity, has anyone gotten any feedback from a LOCI other than the generic Admissions email reply? I'm still hoping for NU but about to sign a lease in Westwood

I didn't even get the generic reply - to any of the LOCIs/updates I sent. I actually called a couple weeks ago just to make sure they got them, because I was starting to think they didn't.

Sheesh, I sound like a stalker.

[Ace4Wins]

Hello all,

I think the Admissions Committee only replies to the Hold and Waitlist Response forms. When I have submitted letters of continuing interest to the Committee via e-mail, I did not receive a response.

@ncct07 – thanks for your feedback on the phone calls you made to Northwestern. It seems like they will not tell us anything concrete until we get in.

@AJO83 – your post really helped me think about my decision. This process has been really challenging on my end as well and I am having trouble focusing on anything beyond Northwestern. I keep putting off visiting Saint Louis and touring WUSTL as I am hoping to get that call from Northwestern. To your point, maybe taking the LSAT again is the best approach as I have splitter numbers and rushed into the LSAT in December on my only attempt after getting laid off two months earlier from my management consulting position due to a massive merger. Perhaps the process has caught up with me as I interviewed with Northwestern in late February and hurried the whole application process together. WUSTL is not truly what I want so maybe I should try again next year as well. 275 people are now in the Facebook group. While you can likely account for a couple of current students and administrators, perhaps they are planning on increasing the class size yet again this year? Let’s hope so!

To everyone, do you all think it is worth it to attend a law school outside the top 14 unless you are offered significant scholarship money? Northwestern is clearly worth the 200k and I think top 20/25 law schools are valuable if they are located in your preferred geographical area but I’m growing more concerned about this glutted legal market. Let’s keep the faith people and hopefully good news or any form of news is on the way tomorrow.

[MURPH]

Northwestern is one of the very few t-14 schools that is admitting people with high LSAT scores from the waitlist. Most of the others are admitting people with high GPAs. I called this morning to ask about my status and to let them know that in a few days I will be purchasing a home near my soon to be law school. Once that happens I will ask to be taken off of the waitlist. Here are the numbers of people from LSN that were admitted this cycle from the waitlist:

Shellbelle 171 3.3 WL, Accepted A
raspberryfruitcake WL, Accepted A
caleng 170 3.2 WL, Accepted A
jml8756 175 3.67 WL, Accepted A
taw856 U 170 2.77 WL, Accepted A
worldpiece17 170 3.3 WL, Accepted A
ainzabo7 UN 163 3.7 WL, Rejected
fl0w UN 161 3.3 WL, Rejected

[AJO83]

Yeah, I was looking at that site and trying to decphier any meaning I could as well. Per that site the opposite is true for some str8 admitted. Low LSAT and high GPA.

Also I spoke to a buddy that's a L2 starting this fall at NU and she said the group numbers on the facebook page aren't reflective of the class size.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that I am really getting tired of talking to the same guy in admissions when I call. LOL. Really if your heart is set on purple like mine u will have to have faith and see it through.

[ncct07]

Northwestern is one of the very few t-14 schools that is admitting people with high LSAT scores from the waitlist. Most of the others are admitting people with high GPAs. I called this morning to ask about my status and to let them know that in a few days I will be purchasing a home near my soon to be law school. Once that happens I will ask to be taken off of the waitlist. Here are the numbers of people from LSN that were admitted this cycle from the waitlist:

Shellbelle 171 3.3 WL, Accepted A
raspberryfruitcake WL, Accepted A
caleng 170 3.2 WL, Accepted A
jml8756 175 3.67 WL, Accepted A
taw856 U 170 2.77 WL, Accepted A
worldpiece17 170 3.3 WL, Accepted A
ainzabo7 UN 163 3.7 WL, Rejected
fl0w UN 161 3.3 WL, Rejected

Have you noticed that the majority of the WL, Accepted are FEMALE????

[MURPH]

I didn't notice that. Someone on another board commented that most T-14 waitlisters are male. I don't know how much weight schools give to sex/gender. I never thought about it. I think about half of all law students are female.
I called them this week to offer them one last chance to admit me before I fly to UCLA. They have not yet accepted my offer.

[NancyBotwin]

Did my daily check of the status checker, and today it says it can't find my info. Is it doing this to anyone else, or have I been ninja WL-released?

[DarkwingDick]

Did my daily check of the status checker, and today it says it can't find my info. Is it doing this to anyone else, or have I been ninja WL-released?

Same.

[mte84]

same thing for me- can't find info.

[NancyBotwin]

Someone else who has been accepted also said hers is doing the same thing, so I guess that just means it's broken or something.

[DarkwingDick]

Someone else who has been accepted also said hers is doing the same thing, so I guess that just means it's broken or something.

Yeah, I just called, and the guy who answered checked the system and confirmed that though my information is not in the online status checker thing, I am still under consideration.

[AJO83]

I checked the Status Checker and it appears that they have fixed whatever was wrong with their system. It would have been great if they would have sent out some acceptances as well. LOL. Given that the school year starts officially 4 weeks from today, I am starting to think that the next tweets are going to be the last notifications of WL offers going out. The last couple of weeks seemed to be completely devoted to transfer students.

I know this was a previously asked question but has anyone received news regarding a recently sent LOCI?

The next four weeks will likely be torture. Good luck everyone.

[NancyBotwin]

nulawadmissions "a small number of JD waitlist offers were just emailed. No other status changes have been made." 14 minutes ago via web


Anyone?

[DarkwingDick]

nulawadmissions "a small number of JD waitlist offers were just emailed. No other status changes have been made." 14 minutes ago via web


Anyone?

Deafening, depressing silence.

[AJO83]

I have not gotten the email but I am not near a computer to check my status. Has anyone received an email? I think we would appreciate any info regarding our chances as time dewindles.

[Ace4Wins]

I called Northwestern a week and a half ago and actually had a reasonably good conversation with some guy in admissions for close to 10 minutes. I asked him how many people typically get off the waitlist in the month of August. Obviously it is different every year but he mentioned somewhere between 5 and 25 people typically get extended a spot during the final month. I also asked him if they plan to release a batch of candidates off the waitlist. He told me that the Admissions Committee will keep you on the waitlist until the day you specified on your Waitlist Response Form. Thus, if you put September 1, 2010 as your date (which I did) you will be on the waitlist until the first day of classes. They only release candidates whose waitlist response form date passes.

Then, I spoke with him about being admitted during Orientation Week or even on the first day of classes. He told me candidates drop out during this period roughly every other year. So once Orientation Week hits, it appears our odds of any spots becoming available are roughly 50%. As badly as I want to attend Northwestern, I am weary of missing Orientation Week and falling behind on reading assignments and classes but he told me the law school is very understanding during the first week and a half of classes that a couple more people may be filtering in and out. Law school is 3 years so I suppose one week can’t kill you.

As you all know, the waitlist is unranked. I asked if there were tiers of candidates and wondered if there was a way to gauge exactly where I stood. There are not tiers as he gave an example saying that if someone with a high GPA drops out, the Committee attempts to fill that seat with someone similar. Basically, they try to match the seat with a waitlist candidate who possesses similar strengths to the candidate who withdrew and the process is tough because the Committee considers so many factors such as the interview and work experience.

Anyways, hopefully this information will help but at the end of the day nothing really changed after this call except the realization that our chances are pretty slim at this point. I never gave my name and called from a private number so I was actually intrigued by the fact this guy cued me into so much detailed information about the process. Still, a few more spots will become available and hopefully a lucky few of our group will get them. I think the decision for everybody at this point is whether to go off to that other law school or try the whole process again if Northwestern does not pan out. I withdrew from WUSTL last week and accepted an M&A/private equity internship starting in September so I’m putting the law school admissions game behind me if Northwestern does not call and going in a different direction. Good luck to everyone else still trying to figure out their future plans and hopefully we will get some answers soon …

[DarkwingDick]

Thanks for the post. Definitely found the info helpful, if not particularly encouraging.

[ncct07]

They just tweeted "Deferrals = guess what?"

Should be more JD waitlist decisions coming!

[mte84]

they tweeted a few more waitlist decisions... anyone here? i want to be happy for someone!

[AJO83]

It's been really quiet the last few weeks even though there have been some tweets noting movement off the waitlist. Has anyone from TLS heard anything from NU?

[Ace4Wins]

Orientation for 1Ls started today at Northwestern. I'm feeling pretty deflated ...

[NancyBotwin]

Orientation for 1Ls started today at Northwestern. I'm feeling pretty deflated ...

Er, no. It starts Monday.

[DarkwingDick]

Wherever you guys go, best of luck for 1L! It's been a fun ride.