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A week ago, I was offered a deferment at UVA. I would be waiting a year and then accepted for the next cycle. I will be able to re-take the LSAT for scholarship money. I could also be pulled off of their waitlist.

My goals are big law in NY or DC and I have no strong ties. I have a 3.9x and a 167 LSAT. I will be using my last retake in Sept. no matter what. The cost of attendance will most likely be sticker if pulled off of the WL, or it will depend based off of how well I do on the LSAT and scholarship $. I also will be paying for school with loans.

As of right now, I am unsure if the deferral is binding. From their website, it says deferrals after you are accepted are binding, but I'm not sure if it applies in this case (I was pulled off of a Waitlist). I will be calling their office as soon as possible. For now, does anyone know if it is binding?

If it isn't binding, its an obvious accept to me. I have excelled in my PTs and a few extra points could get me some serious money. I love UVA and it is one of my top choices.

However, if the decision is binding, then I am worried they will have no incentive to give me scholarship $ and I will miss out on other opportunities. Penn emailed me a waitlist update as soon as I got the letter with the deferral, so well played Penn admissions.

Thanks guys!

i would think its binding

james.bungles wrote:well call and find out lol

I'm gonna call as soon as I can. But its the weekend, and my decision needs to be in on Monday.

Not sure what incentive they have to offer if its not binding.

I wouldn't bind myself. You think you can score higher and all indications are that applications will continue to drop (first time LSAT takers were down 14% for June). Chances are you will have better options and smaller class sizes next cycle.

Do you love UVA enough that you are you willing to pay sticker if your LSAT doesn't net you cash? Then take the offer, even if it's binding and relax while everyone else plays the waiting game.

Would you take a lower ranked (or just another) school if they gave you money? You say UVA is one of your top choices, but how seriously would you consider other schools if you were accepted? Accepted with money? Did you apply early, is there a chance that earlier in the cycle might garner you more choice?

It would be hard for me, because I love UVA (family school), but I think that if it was binding, I would have to wait. You just never know with cycles and LSAT scores, etc. Maybe you can talk to Cordel and really express your interest, to see what he might say about your chances in regular admission next cycle. Emphasize that the main/only reason for not accepting would be financial but declining is not at all an indication of lessened interest in Virginia.

Sorry that's not a very definitive answer.

I had the same numbers (167, 4.05) - for the love of god RETAKE. UVA is a great school (obviously), but not a day goes by where I don't wonder "what if" had I gotten just 3 questions - three mother effing questions - more.

As an aside, UVA at sticker is not good for your numbers - I got 60k

TFALAWL wrote:I had the same numbers (167, 4.05) - for the love of god RETAKE. UVA is a great school (obviously), but not a day goes by where I don't wonder "what if" had I gotten just 3 questions - three mother effing questions - more.

As an aside, UVA at sticker is not good for your numbers - I got 60k

60k as a reverse splitter isn't good? My GPA was barely below median with a 170 and I only managed 45k, so the amount can probably vary quite a bit around his numbers.

I've always planned to retake. That's never been the issue. The issue is if I take this deferral and retake for money or not. I would love to, I'm worried if I don't take it, they'll be angry and not admit me regular decision. I applied late in the cycle too so that might explain the lack of money.

And yes I love UVA, but I love not having to take huge loans more.

NotASpecialSnowflake wrote:I've always planned to retake. That's never been the issue. The issue is if I take this deferral and retake for money or not. I would love to, I'm worried if I don't take it, they'll be angry and not admit me regular decision. I applied late in the cycle too so that might explain the lack of money.

And yes I love UVA, but I love not having to take huge loans more.

Either way, even if it were to hurt your chances next year (which I don't think it would, especially if you write a solid Why UVA), I think there's too much of an upside to reapplying assuming you increase your score. How confident are you that you'll improve? I never really liked the idea of binding applications or deferments unless you had financial support.

Pull the trigger and go!

SteelPenguin wrote:

NotASpecialSnowflake wrote:I've always planned to retake. That's never been the issue. The issue is if I take this deferral and retake for money or not. I would love to, I'm worried if I don't take it, they'll be angry and not admit me regular decision. I applied late in the cycle too so that might explain the lack of money.

And yes I love UVA, but I love not having to take huge loans more.

Either way, even if it were to hurt your chances next year (which I don't think it would, especially if you write a solid Why UVA), I think there's too much of an upside to reapplying assuming you increase your score. How confident are you that you'll improve? I never really liked the idea of binding applications or deferments unless you had financial support.

I'm pretty confident. I'm doing really well on my practice tests. But I've seen them all before, so who knows.

NotASpecialSnowflake wrote:I've always planned to retake. That's never been the issue. The issue is if I take this deferral and retake for money or not. I would love to, I'm worried if I don't take it, they'll be angry and not admit me regular decision. I applied late in the cycle too so that might explain the lack of money.

And yes I love UVA, but I love not having to take huge loans more.

Has anyone ever heard of admissions getting angry and not admitting someone because they withdrew and reapplied the next year?

I don't think this fear is valid.

It's binding and money is an unknown as scholly funds are apparently distributed in Feb.

They aren't going to be angry. Lots of people decide not to attend because they hope to get more money or to get in better schools after a re-take. They get in.

Beyond that I really wouldn't do UVA at sticker. Your debt at repayment is going to be astronomical. You're looking at over 3k/month on a 10 year repayment plan. Even if you get biglaw (hardly a guarantee at UVA) you could easily burn out or get pushed out with 175k of debt still out there. Even biglaw salaries don't justify UVA at sticker.

It really is a solid move on uva's part if they could provide some financial reassurance to candidates that choose to defer. Even if the deal isn't definitive, it would go a long way

BornAgain99 wrote:It really is a solid move on uva's part if they could provide some financial reassurance to candidates that choose to defer. Even if the deal isn't definitive, it would go a long way

Yeah I think some financial aid would really go a long way.

I'm 99% it's gonna be binding. You should just politely withdraw and say you've decided to wait until next year (exciting job opportunity, travel, whatever bs you're comfortable with, and that they'll hear from you in early fall. Don't worry about insulting them. If you're polite, they'll forget about you immediately. It's all business this time of year.

Source: 3L who applied to UVA and was accepted three years in a row, declined admission twice, and then didn't accept the third year until they coughed up merit aid after the first signing deadline. If they want you, they want you.

I was originally in the cycle for the Class of 2013. UVA offered me an admit-defer, which sounds much like what they're offering you. Yes, it is binding.

(Actually, mine might not have been binding. They admitted me and "bound" me without me assenting to the terms, either in writing or orally. But I went anyway.)