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Do the way schools handle admissions affect your decision?
Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2012 11:36 am
by Marie34
So after still reading "application complete" at an unnamed school since BEGINNING of October, and then after being ignored/recieving one word generic responses from admissions office, I'm to the point of withdrawing even if given acceptance solely because the way this whole thing is handled. I understand admissions offices are bombarded, and I have been more than patient, but come on! If you're not even going to put my application into review even after 5 months (when my numbers are above the 50% for LSAT and GPA), then at least give me the decency of sending me a short polite email when I inquire on whether there's a hold up on my application.
Anyone else taking the admissions committee's behavior into their final decision? Because as I'm writing this the angrier I'm getting and my withdraw email is in process...
Re: Do the way schools handle admissions affect your decision?
Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2012 11:38 am
by The Duck
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Re: Do the way schools handle admissions affect your decision?
Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2012 11:39 am
by rinkrat19
No, because I'm not 12 years old, nor am I so narcissistic that I take every little thing that doesn't go exactly my way in this universe as a personal affront.
Re: Do the way schools handle admissions affect your decision?
Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2012 11:41 am
by nkp007
Marie34 wrote:So after still reading "application complete" at an unnamed school since BEGINNING of October, and then after being ignored/recieving one word generic responses from admissions office, I'm to the point of withdrawing even if given acceptance solely because the way this whole thing is handled. I understand admissions offices are bombarded, and I have been more than patient, but come on! If you're not even going to put my application into review even after 5 months (when my numbers are above the 50% for LSAT and GPA), then at least give me the decency of sending me a short polite email when I inquire on whether there's a hold up on my application.
Anyone else taking the admissions committee's behavior into their final decision? Because as I'm writing this the angrier I'm getting and my withdraw email is in process...
I'm surprised at how poorly some law schools are treating applicants.
Maybe spring break is running long this year.
Maybe they don't give an eff.
Maybe it's chaos behind closed doors as applicant numbers plummet.
Re: Do the way schools handle admissions affect your decision?
Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2012 11:43 am
by tennisking88
rinkrat19 wrote:No, because I'm not 12 years old, nor am I so narcissistic that I take every little thing that doesn't go exactly my way in this universe as a personal affront.
Re: Do the way schools handle admissions affect your decision?
Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2012 11:53 am
by nkp007
rinkrat19 wrote:No, because I'm not 12 years old, nor am I so narcissistic that I take every little thing that doesn't go exactly my way in this universe as a personal affront.
Straw man.
Re: Do the way schools handle admissions affect your decision?
Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2012 11:54 am
by puppylaw
Rightly or wrongly, admissions offices definitely reflect something about law schools.
Re: Do the way schools handle admissions affect your decision?
Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2012 11:56 am
by Real Madrid
rinkrat19 wrote:No, because I'm not 12 years old, nor am I so narcissistic that I take every little thing that doesn't go exactly my way in this universe as a personal affront.
So instead I take it that you let people walk all over you in real life?
In response to the OP, I'm not sure which school you're talking about, but I will say that one school I was accepted at has been unhelpful and downright rude in the little communication I've had with them. I agree with the above poster who said it reflects very poorly on the school.
Re: Do the way schools handle admissions affect your decision?
Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2012 12:00 pm
by Tiago Splitter
I'm not 12, but I am a narcissist. So yes. Although secretly I think I was looking for reasons not to want this school up front.
Re: Do the way schools handle admissions affect your decision?
Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2012 12:00 pm
by rinkrat19
Real Madrid wrote:rinkrat19 wrote:No, because I'm not 12 years old, nor am I so narcissistic that I take every little thing that doesn't go exactly my way in this universe as a personal affront.
So instead I take it that you let people walk all over you in real life?
Realizing that busy people performing an impersonal administrative task are not personally insulting me by taking a long time to get through a list =/= being a pushover
Re: Do the way schools handle admissions affect your decision?
Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2012 12:05 pm
by Real Madrid
rinkrat19 wrote:Real Madrid wrote:rinkrat19 wrote:No, because I'm not 12 years old, nor am I so narcissistic that I take every little thing that doesn't go exactly my way in this universe as a personal affront.
So instead I take it that you let people walk all over you in real life?
Realizing that busy people performing an impersonal administrative task are not personally insulting me by taking a long time to get through a list =/= being a pushover
Just as not permitting people to continuously treat you rudely =/= being a 12-year-old or a narcissist.
Law schools are businesses. If other businesses treated you rudely, I hope you would have enough dignity to reconsider why you were doing business with them in the first place. But maybe you don't.
Re: Do the way schools handle admissions affect your decision?
Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2012 12:08 pm
by nkp007
rinkrat19 wrote:Real Madrid wrote:rinkrat19 wrote:No, because I'm not 12 years old, nor am I so narcissistic that I take every little thing that doesn't go exactly my way in this universe as a personal affront.
So instead I take it that you let people walk all over you in real life?
Realizing that busy people performing an impersonal administrative task are not personally insulting me by taking a long time to get through a list =/= being a pushover
After five months, I think we're in pushover territory.
If I was an adcom and I kept someone in the complete dark for 5+ months and got no follow-up from them, I probably wouldn't want them at my school. I want people with spine who will stick up for themselves.
Re: Do the way schools handle admissions affect your decision?
Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2012 12:18 pm
by jrthor10
I think it is perfectly fine to judge schools based on their admissions offices. One school I was interested in at the beginning of the cycle seems in complete chaos because they have been moving students to under review many times only after a student has called and harassed them.
A school's admissions office, to me, is at least somewhat on a reflection on the school as a whole. If the admissions office is like this, I am left wondering, how are they going to help me get a job?
I think applicants need to be patient in waiting for decisions, but if a school says 8-12 weeks, and an applicant has been waiting 3-4+ months (as some on here have) I think an e-mail explaining the rationale for the long wait is good etiquette.
Re: Do the way schools handle admissions affect your decision?
Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2012 12:24 pm
by T00L
IMO, it is impossible for it to not have an impact, no matter how small, on the general feeling you have for the school as a whole.
Personally, I count it like a tie breaker... all other things being equal. However, no impression can be as good as the one an applicant can gain through a visit.
Re: Do the way schools handle admissions affect your decision?
Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2012 12:43 pm
by romothesavior
I can understand it having an impact psychologically, but try not to let it do so. If X school is the best school for you, you shouldn't turn it down out of spite or something just because admissions was slow with your app. I know this is a stressful time for 0Ls, but try to keep a cool head and analyze things rationally. You'll likely never deal with admissions again.
Re: Do the way schools handle admissions affect your decision?
Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2012 2:11 pm
by Marie34
rinkrat19 wrote:No, because I'm not 12 years old, nor am I so narcissistic that I take every little thing that doesn't go exactly my way in this universe as a personal affront.
If I had it exactly my way I would've gotten in the day after I applied with full scholarship + stipend. Am I asking for a scholarship? No. Am I asking to even get accepted? No. I'm asking for them to have the decency to at least give me some idea on whats going on with my application that I worked very hard to get in as early as possible as to not run into this problem.
Applicants put a lot of time into putting together their application, I think its only fair we are responded with equal efficiency and respect. While they may be holding the balance on the scale now as we ask for their acceptance, tables are quickly turned when we choose where to send our money. I have had other admissions offices who have gone far and beyond what is expected to help me in any way needed. If they can do it, I don't see why any other admission office in the country can't do the same. If not, at least treat their applicants with a little bit of dignity.
Re: Do the way schools handle admissions affect your decision?
Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2012 2:14 pm
by StarLightSpectre
I didn't hear anything from a school in 5 months. I didn't even get a status checker. Then they accepted me and gave me 115K in a two week window. Go figure.
Re: Do the way schools handle admissions affect your decision?
Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2012 2:20 pm
by spleenworship
I think I would take it into account. But there are many factors. Don't let it get to you too much.
Re: Do the way schools handle admissions affect your decision?
Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2012 2:31 pm
by dingbat
I think this only matters at equivalent schools, such as Columbia/NYU or BC/BU
Yale could treat me like utter garbage, but I'd still go there in a heartbeat (I got rejected - as expected)
Re: Do the way schools handle admissions affect your decision?
Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2012 3:01 pm
by splitbrain
Just to add a positive example, the school I am choosing had a 3 week turnaround time and they've been great to deal with ever since; so, yeah, that has had a positive impact on my impression. I aleady knew I liked them for objective reasons, and now I get to add subjective reasons on top of that. Life is good.
To the OP: it sounds like you're putting a lot of stock into this one school. Is it your last hope of a reach school? Why is it getting to you so much? Have you contacted their office to express a continued interest and see if they would be willing to provide any status updates? Would it really make a tangible difference if they let you know one or two months ago or is this just an emotional response that would be mitigated by patience?
Re: Do the way schools handle admissions affect your decision?
Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2012 3:08 pm
by rinkrat19
StarLightSpectre wrote:I didn't hear anything from a school in 5 months. I didn't even get a status checker. Then they accepted me and gave me 115K in a two week window. Go figure.
Good thing you didn't get into a snit over them taking too long and withdraw!
Re: Do the way schools handle admissions affect your decision?
Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2012 3:11 pm
by JustE
tl;dr.
Short answer: Not really, but I did refuse to apply to GULC this year because of the way they handled their waitlist last year.
Re: Do the way schools handle admissions affect your decision?
Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2012 3:42 pm
by JoeMo
I don't know if you might be talking about the Blue complete. But the truth of the matter is this, when you started out your application cycle you should've been aware that the majority of the answers (not just at the school you're talking about but at most schools) go out now-April. Even then, a lot of those decisions result in Waitlists and Rejections. You should have been mentally prepared for that.
On the other hand, the issue that you mention with them treating you unkindly when you try to talk to them would upset me. Presumptively, you paid an application fee, at the very least a report fee and are willing to pay exorbitant amounts of money to go there so they should at least be nicer in their responses to you.
If you're e-mailing them every day I can see where they'd get frustrated. Also, every encounter I've had to have (even before being admitted) with the school of the blue completes has been nothing but pleasant which is why it would surprise me a great deal if that were the school you were talking about.
Good luck and try to not let this crazy ride get to you but at the end of the day unless you get a scholarship from them you're probably going to have a bitter taste in your mouth and should probably not go.
Re: Do the way schools handle admissions affect your decision?
Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2012 3:55 pm
by futurejdgirl
I emailed the Dean of a Law school recently for scholarship negotiation purposes and even detailed personal circumstances that are very hard to talk about. I mean, it was my choice to mention them and all but when I got a cold response from him it really turned me off. I can understand feeling pushed over and neglected. But, on the bright side - I got a response two days later from someone ELSE in Financial Aid who was a lot more accommodating and helpful. Apparently the Dean had forwarded my email to her. So I say, give them the benefit of the doubt and visit and talk to multiple admissions people and high up staff. Everyone is different and you never know what kind of day they could be having or who you're talking too and what they're dealing with. Give them a real chance and visit, I think you'll get more of a sense of how they treat their students when you're there in person.
Re: Do the way schools handle admissions affect your decision?
Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2012 4:40 pm
by JoeMo
futurejdgirl wrote:I emailed the Dean of a Law school recently for scholarship negotiation purposes and even detailed personal circumstances that are very hard to talk about. I mean, it was my choice to mention them and all but when I got a cold response from him it really turned me off. I can understand feeling pushed over and neglected. But, on the bright side - I got a response two days later from someone ELSE in Financial Aid who was a lot more accommodating and helpful. Apparently the Dean had forwarded my email to her. So I say, give them the benefit of the doubt and visit and talk to multiple admissions people and high up staff. Everyone is different and you never know what kind of day they could be having or who you're talking too and what they're dealing with. Give them a real chance and visit, I think you'll get more of a sense of how they treat their students when you're there in person.
Wow... well, I'm glad it worked out for you.