Visiting law schools (for the first time) while on waitlist Forum

[philswfc2008]

I am currently in a position where I have been accepted into a few schools, with my top choice of the accepted schools being Temple. However, I have been waitlisted from three other schools (GW, W&M, and American), all of which are higher-ranked than Temple. (I am also awaiting decision from BU, but I am going to omit BU from this discussion because I highly anticipated being dinged there).

I know that I'd be 100%, completely happy if I decided to attend Temple, but I would like to visit the other schools, since they are solid schools in their own right (and in the instances of GW and W&M, much higher-ranked). The only law school I have visited thus far is Temple, so that is my only basis of comparison. I live in Philadelphia, so that was an easy trip. The trips to the D.C. schools won't be so bad, although it will be a longer journey to W&M for sure.

Anyways, I have a few questions on how to handle all of this:

- Should I go visit the schools on a weekday where the admissions offices will be open? (I'm assuming they will be closed on weekends). I assume that this is the best course of action, so the office can put a face to my name. The only potential pitfall would be if I was cornered into difficult questions, such as being asked which school is my top choice, to which I am really unsure (GW and W&M would have to be, but I wouldn't be able to say for sure until I had visited both). I guess the dilemma is "How do I show interest, but not make it seem like I would definitely attend if admitted?". And what other things should I say/do if I did go to the admissions office?

- Do I go and visit before or after deposit deadlines? From what I have read/heard, admissions offices won't even touch waitlists until deposit deadlines are due (which is April 15 at all of the above schools, except for W&M, which I believe is May 1). I also assume though that I need to visit before the semester ends, since admissions offices aren't open then (is that the case?). There is there any benefit to making my visit before/after the deadline, or does it not matter?

- Who else here has visited schools (for the first time) after being waitlisted? What other thoughts/observations do you have?

Thanks for any feedback, I appreciate it!

[tourdeforcex]

Should I go visit the schools on a weekday where the admissions offices will be open?

yes

The only potential pitfall would be if I was cornered into difficult questions, such as being asked which school is my top choice, to which I am really unsure (GW and W&M would have to be, but I wouldn't be able to say for sure until I had visited both). I guess the dilemma is "How do I show interest, but not make it seem like I would definitely attend if admitted?". And what other things should I say/do if I did go to the admissions office?

if asked which school is your top choice, say the school you are visiting. i doubt they will ask a straight, if accepted here, will you attend? if they do, you can be just as honest and say, if accepted, i will send in my seat deposit. however, to be completely open, i am on multiple wait-lists and i would have to give those schools a chance if they accept me.

other things you can do is write a thank you letter to the office or to the person you met w/. not an e-mail, a letter.

Do I go and visit before or after deposit deadlines? From what I have read/heard, admissions offices won't even touch waitlists until deposit deadlines are due (which is April 15 at all of the above schools, except for W&M, which I believe is May 1). I also assume though that I need to visit before the semester ends, since admissions offices aren't open then (is that the case?). There is there any benefit to making my visit before/after the deadline, or does it not matter?

visit when you have time. doesn't matter before or after. if you decide to visit, just do it. i don't think going before or after matters.

to manage expectations, find out what percentage of people on wait lists get accepted. to have an idea, try going to lawschoolnumbers.com and look at previous cycles.

best wishes.

[philswfc2008]

Thanks for the reply, I appreciate it! On a similiar note (and maybe this varies per school)...do admissions offices tend to be open during the summer, when school is not in session? I probably will end up visiting my schools earlier than then anyways, but in case I can't make it down somewhere, I'd like to know if I have the flexibility of visiting with admissions officers past April. Obviously, classes won't be in session, but I am not sure as per the admissions offices themselves...I'll have to look into it with each school I suppose

[tourdeforcex]

not sure about admissions offices being open in the summer... maybe you can call or e-mail about that?

hoping you get pulled into accepted from waitlist

[zla2014]

Thanks for starting this thread! I'm in a really similar situation as you! I have been accepted to a couple of schools but have been waitlisted at 5 schools and still have 10 apps pending!

Fortunately, the schools you are waitlisted at are not the same ones as me! lol. I am really hoping to get off the UIUC, UW Madison and UC Hastings waitlists. Have you sent in your LOCIs yet? I already sent all of mine and believe they are pretty strong. Since the seat deposit deadline for most schools hasn't approached yet, I was asking myself the same question, better to visit now, or after the deadline is up?

I'm thinking that since I already sent in my LOCIs a couple of weeks ago, I want to make sure they aren't going to forget about me. I'll probably call the schools in advance to ask when a good time to visit is and make an appt. if possible. You want to make sure you meet the staff in the Admissions Dept. of course. Then, after my visit, I'll follow up with an additional LOCI and will make sure to thank them for allowing me to meet them in person.

I attended a law school forum about a month ago in Los Angeles and asked about 9 schools how many ppl usually get off the waitlist. The general answer I got was that it varies year to year from anywhere to less than 10 to over 100. Since apps are down like 11% or something this year, hopefully there won't be as many ppl on the waitlists in general. Schools probably won't be able to answer the "what are your chances" questions until after deposit deadlines b/c waitlist offers trickle down, T14 waitlist acceptances allow T30 admits to withdraw and allow us to get off our waitlists. Hopefully we'll be seeing some movement soon and that visiting will help us stand out among the other waitlisted applicants.

[singingkris]

Thanks for starting this thread! I'm in a really similar situation as you! I have been accepted to a couple of schools but have been waitlisted at 5 schools and still have 10 apps pending!

Fortunately, the schools you are waitlisted at are not the same ones as me! lol. I am really hoping to get off the UIUC, UW Madison and UC Hastings waitlists. Have you sent in your LOCIs yet? I already sent all of mine and believe they are pretty strong. Since the seat deposit deadline for most schools hasn't approached yet, I was asking myself the same question, better to visit now, or after the deadline is up?

I'm thinking that since I already sent in my LOCIs a couple of weeks ago, I want to make sure they aren't going to forget about me. I'll probably call the schools in advance to ask when a good time to visit is and make an appt. if possible. You want to make sure you meet the staff in the Admissions Dept. of course. Then, after my visit, I'll follow up with an additional LOCI and will make sure to thank them for allowing me to meet them in person.

I attended a law school forum about a month ago in Los Angeles and asked about 9 schools how many ppl usually get off the waitlist. The general answer I got was that it varies year to year from anywhere to less than 10 to over 100. Since apps are down like 11% or something this year, hopefully there won't be as many ppl on the waitlists in general. Schools probably won't be able to answer the "what are your chances" questions until after deposit deadlines b/c waitlist offers trickle down, T14 waitlist acceptances allow T30 admits to withdraw and allow us to get off our waitlists. Hopefully we'll be seeing some movement soon and that visiting will help us stand out among the other waitlisted applicants.

Hi, I was just curious as to how you know that apps are down by 11% this year. I too have been waitlisted (6 schools total) 3 schools I really want to attend. Not T30's more like T71-84..lol!
TY

[zla2014]

Thanks for starting this thread! I'm in a really similar situation as you! I have been accepted to a couple of schools but have been waitlisted at 5 schools and still have 10 apps pending!

Fortunately, the schools you are waitlisted at are not the same ones as me! lol. I am really hoping to get off the UIUC, UW Madison and UC Hastings waitlists. Have you sent in your LOCIs yet? I already sent all of mine and believe they are pretty strong. Since the seat deposit deadline for most schools hasn't approached yet, I was asking myself the same question, better to visit now, or after the deadline is up?

I'm thinking that since I already sent in my LOCIs a couple of weeks ago, I want to make sure they aren't going to forget about me. I'll probably call the schools in advance to ask when a good time to visit is and make an appt. if possible. You want to make sure you meet the staff in the Admissions Dept. of course. Then, after my visit, I'll follow up with an additional LOCI and will make sure to thank them for allowing me to meet them in person.

I attended a law school forum about a month ago in Los Angeles and asked about 9 schools how many ppl usually get off the waitlist. The general answer I got was that it varies year to year from anywhere to less than 10 to over 100. Since apps are down like 11% or something this year, hopefully there won't be as many ppl on the waitlists in general. Schools probably won't be able to answer the "what are your chances" questions until after deposit deadlines b/c waitlist offers trickle down, T14 waitlist acceptances allow T30 admits to withdraw and allow us to get off our waitlists. Hopefully we'll be seeing some movement soon and that visiting will help us stand out among the other waitlisted applicants.

Hi, I was just curious as to how you know that apps are down by 11% this year. I too have been waitlisted (6 schools total) 3 schools I really want to attend. Not T30's more like T71-84..lol!
TY

I forget what site it was, but it was an online article. I'm sure if you google "law school applications down 2010-2011" you'll find it. Dean Pless also posted that apps were down 5% at UIUC alone. I have been WLed at schools ranking from 23 to 84 so I hear you! I now have been waitlisted at 6 different schools too. 9 still pending.

[singingkris]

[/quote]


I forget what site it was, but it was an online article. I'm sure if you google "law school applications down 2010-2011" you'll find it. Dean Pless also posted that apps were down 5% at UIUC alone. I have been WLed at schools ranking from 23 to 84 so I hear you! I now have been waitlisted at 6 different schools too. 9 still pending.[/quote]

Thanks and Good Luck! I found the article published by the Wall Street Journal, fairly new it was written/release March 17, 2011.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142 ... 31986.html

[zla2014]

I forget what site it was, but it was an online article. I'm sure if you google "law school applications down 2010-2011" you'll find it. Dean Pless also posted that apps were down 5% at UIUC alone. I have been WLed at schools ranking from 23 to 84 so I hear you! I now have been waitlisted at 6 different schools too. 9 still pending.[/quote]

Thanks and Good Luck! I found the article published by the Wall Street Journal, fairly new it was written/release March 17, 2011.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142 ... 31986.html[/quote]

hopefully this is a good thing for us! Good luck!

[gatorgirl2012]

Bumping this!!

I got WLed and Accepted at two schools in the same city. Thinking of visiting both, more with the intention of demonstrating interest at the WL school (it's higher ranked)! Does anyone have testimonials of successful WL strategies?

[hurldes]

Bumping this!!

I got WLed and Accepted at two schools in the same city. Thinking of visiting both, more with the intention of demonstrating interest at the WL school (it's higher ranked)! Does anyone have testimonials of successful WL strategies?

The same thing happened to me. I visited both schools and was not impressed with the school I was accepted to, but LOVED the school that waitlisted me. Before the visit, I scheduled a tour of the school and asked the admissions office if sometime during my visit I could meet with the dean of admissions to discuss my pending application. I ended up meeting with a different person from admissions, but I think it still helped. During the meeting I simply expressed my enthusiasm for the school and asked if there was anything I could do to help my chances. There really wasn't anything besides wait and pray.

But I did send a handwritten card to the admissions office a few days later thanking them for their time and giving a few reasons why the school would be a good fit for me. In the letter I said "If admitted, I WILL attend." I also put in a picture of my wife and myself... don't know if that helped or not. All this occurred in late February, and I was finally admitted in May.


Good luck!

[gatorgirl2012]

Bumping this!!

I got WLed and Accepted at two schools in the same city. Thinking of visiting both, more with the intention of demonstrating interest at the WL school (it's higher ranked)! Does anyone have testimonials of successful WL strategies?

The same thing happened to me. I visited both schools and was not impressed with the school I was accepted to, but LOVED the school that waitlisted me. Before the visit, I scheduled a tour of the school and asked the admissions office if sometime during my visit I could meet with the dean of admissions to discuss my pending application. I ended up meeting with a different person from admissions, but I think it still helped. During the meeting I simply expressed my enthusiasm for the school and asked if there was anything I could do to help my chances. There really wasn't anything besides wait and pray.

But I did send a handwritten card to the admissions office a few days later thanking them for their time and giving a few reasons why the school would be a good fit for me. In the letter I said "If admitted, I WILL attend." I also put in a picture of my wife and myself... don't know if that helped or not. All this occurred in late February, and I was finally admitted in May.

Good luck!

Thank you! That was so helpful! I've also read about people sending a LIOC right away and then another one after visiting that might discuss what they learned on their visit or that the visit made them more sure of wanting to attend the school. I don't think two LIOCs spread over the course of a few months is overkill, but if I'm wrong, I'd like to know haha