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Does anyone ever actually get off a waitlist? When if at all does that happen?

3.93, 171, interested in PI and clerking

Full ride + stipend at Alabama
Out at Harvard, Chicago, and Cornell
Waitlisted at NYU, Columbia, Penn, UVA, Duke, Northwestern, and Michigan

Got into Texas last year but decided I didn't want to go to Texas for what they were offering and didn't reapply
Also got rejected at Georgetown and waitlisted at one of the Boston schools (BC or BU, I forget which) last year and didn't reapply

Retook the LSAT in December, scored 3 points higher, applied in January, now regretting wasting my time and money

I don't know why this is a choosing thread since I don't really have a choice. I'm just bitter I guess

Sitting out a cycle is not really an option at this point, I did that twice already.

stego wrote:Does anyone ever actually get off a waitlist? When if at all does that happen?

3.93, 171, interested in PI and clerking

Full ride + stipend at Alabama
Out at Harvard, Chicago, and Cornell
Waitlisted at NYU, Columbia, Penn, UVA, Duke, Northwestern, and Michigan

Got into Texas last year but decided I didn't want to go to Texas for what they were offering and didn't reapply
Also got rejected at Georgetown and waitlisted at one of the Boston schools (BC or BU, I forget which) last year and didn't reapply

Retook the LSAT in December, scored 3 points higher, applied in January, now regretting wasting my time and money

I don't know why this is a choosing thread since I don't really have a choice. I'm just bitter I guess

Sitting out a cycle is not really an option at this point, I did that twice already.

Are you interested in living in Alabama? What kind of PI? Like PD/AD or Legal Aid or government or impact lit stuff?

Alabama seems ok.

Interested in all types of PI especially civil rights.

I think you should sit out and have someone go over your app. With that Gpa you should have gotten SOME bites from the t13. Not all waitlists. Honestly if clerking and Pi is your goal and you aren't sure if you want to stay in Alabama you're doing yourself a disservice.

Hi

I would advise the 3 you like on the waitlist of your offer to see what happens. If you take the scholarship can you transfer after 1L or not?

Do you have any idea what state you want to practice in?

A free education is a wonderful thing. I would focus on Duke, Columbia, NYU. UVA is so overated.

uh 3.9/171 and not a single decent T13 offer?

there's something you're not telling us

jbagelboy wrote:uh 3.9/171 and not a single decent T13 offer?

there's something you're not telling us

Agreed. Above both medians for a bunch of t13? Straight rejected from Gt?

Something is up bigly. One of your letters of rec might be throwing you under the bus, maybe you have an atrocious grammatical error, or maybe some CF thing you aren't sharing. But something is up.

jbagelboy wrote:uh 3.9/171 and not a single decent T13 offer?

there's something you're not telling us

Well, I applied in January
Unimpressive WE
I have a masters degree with worse grades than my undergrad degree
I have been using the same letters of rec from two professors for the past three cycles
No C&F issues to speak of, just like some traffic tickets
IDK maybe my personal statement sucks

I wouldn't go to Alabama for free with those numbers. Have you been to the school? Do you want to live in Alabama?

stego wrote:

jbagelboy wrote:uh 3.9/171 and not a single decent T13 offer?

there's something you're not telling us

Well, I applied in January
Unimpressive WE
I have a masters degree with worse grades than my undergrad degree
I have been using the same letters of rec from two professors for the past three cycles
No C&F issues to speak of, just like some traffic tickets
IDK maybe my personal statement sucks

Well having a lower masters gpa is a problem but not that big of a problem. You should get new, strong letters and really work on your whole application. Write a compelling PS. Apply first day apps open in fall.

grades?? wrote:

jbagelboy wrote:uh 3.9/171 and not a single decent T13 offer?

there's something you're not telling us

Agreed. Above both medians for a bunch of t13? Straight rejected from Gt?

Something is up bigly. One of your letters of rec might be throwing you under the bus, maybe you have an atrocious grammatical error, or maybe some CF thing you aren't sharing. But something is up.

I got rejected from Georgetown a few weeks after doing an alumni interview. I was running a few min late to the interview because I underestimated how difficult it would be to find parking.

Got waitlisted last year at UChicago. This year, no waitlist but I did a Skype interview a few weeks back with the dean of admissions. Rejected a couple days ago.

Npret wrote:I wouldn't go to Alabama for free with those numbers. Have you been to the school? Do you want to live in Alabama?

It's not free, they are paying me to go there.
I have visited the campus twice.
I probably don't want to live in Alabama forever but I live in Oklahoma right now so it's not really a downgrade.

So does anyone ever get in off a waitlist or do those mostly exist to offer false hope

people get off WL, the problem is that they rarely get off them with scholarship aid, which means any of those schools you listed would be too costly to attend. So it's really Alabama or don't go at this point, and you're in a tough spot because you've already applied so many times. What's your MA in?

jbagelboy wrote:people get off WL, the problem is that they rarely get off them with scholarship aid, which means any of those schools you listed would be too costly to attend. So it's really Alabama or don't go at this point, and you're in a tough spot because you've already applied so many times. What's your MA in?

Philosophy. It's completely useless to me at this point.

Why no Washington & Lee? Ranked near Alabama, loves giving people money, places well in PI, and one of the most portable non-T13s.

stego wrote:

grades?? wrote:

jbagelboy wrote:uh 3.9/171 and not a single decent T13 offer?

there's something you're not telling us

Agreed. Above both medians for a bunch of t13? Straight rejected from Gt?

Something is up bigly. One of your letters of rec might be throwing you under the bus, maybe you have an atrocious grammatical error, or maybe some CF thing you aren't sharing. But something is up.

I got rejected from Georgetown a few weeks after doing an alumni interview. I was running a few min late to the interview because I underestimated how difficult it would be to find parking.

Got waitlisted last year at UChicago. This year, no waitlist but I did a Skype interview a few weeks back with the dean of admissions. Rejected a couple days ago.

Being late to the GTown interview certainly killed your chances.

Why did you apply to Alabama if you have no interest in going or living there?

kellyfrost wrote:Being late to the GTown interview certainly killed your chances.

Why did you apply to Alabama if you have no interest in going or living there?

The Alabama app is a holdover from my first cycle, when I applied wildly to a list of schools that doesn't make sense. I think the free iTunes credit the school offers helped lure me into applying.

At the time I was living in Wisconsin but at a previous job, back during the brief time in my life when I had good jobs, I had a customer in Alabama and had made a couple of business trips to Birmingham. I also had two friends from undergrad who were in Birmingham for seminary. (They have since recently moved to Africa to be missionaries.) I had also spent a weekend in Tuscaloosa back in like 2010 I think helping clean up after that tornado they had.

Alabama paid to fly me for a campus visit on short notice when they accepted my app. I was impressed with how nice they were and how much they wanted me to come there.

Alabama is pretty. I have nothing against the place or the idea of living there for a while. I just have no family there or any reason to stay there forever.

I agree that there must be something wrong with your application package. You have the numbers for T14 full rides. I don't think Alabama is a good choice unless the PI you want is like DA/PD work.

What kind of stuff could be wrong with his application that could be causing his application woes?


Sorry, I am unfamiliar with this process as I had a high GPA, low LSAT, no work experience, and didn't have a clue and what I was doing when applying to law school.

stego wrote:

jbagelboy wrote:uh 3.9/171 and not a single decent T13 offer?

there's something you're not telling us

Well, I applied in January
Unimpressive WE
I have a masters degree with worse grades than my undergrad degree
I have been using the same letters of rec from two professors for the past three cycles
No C&F issues to speak of, just like some traffic tickets
IDK maybe my personal statement sucks

You need new letters, there is something in your application that's killing you. Either your letters suck or your personal statement is dragging you down. What is unimpressive WE? Mine was "unimpressive" but because of how plain jane it was I really think it helped me, very few law students had it. Have a consultant or friend glance at it. With your numbers you should have way better options and money than Alabama. Applying in January isn't that late, it will affect you but not that drastically.

IExistedOnceBefore wrote:

stego wrote:

jbagelboy wrote:uh 3.9/171 and not a single decent T13 offer?

there's something you're not telling us

Well, I applied in January
Unimpressive WE
I have a masters degree with worse grades than my undergrad degree
I have been using the same letters of rec from two professors for the past three cycles
No C&F issues to speak of, just like some traffic tickets
IDK maybe my personal statement sucks

You need new letters, there is something in your application that's killing you. Either your letters suck or your personal statement is dragging you down. What is unimpressive WE? Mine was "unimpressive" but because of how plain jane it was I really think it helped me, very few law students had it. Have a consultant or friend glance at it. With your numbers you should have way better options and money than Alabama. Applying in January isn't that late, it will affect you but not that drastically.

Unimpressive WE = basically, a couple of long employment gaps and other jobs where I was clearly underemployed.

stego wrote:

IExistedOnceBefore wrote:

stego wrote:

jbagelboy wrote:uh 3.9/171 and not a single decent T13 offer?

there's something you're not telling us

Well, I applied in January
Unimpressive WE
I have a masters degree with worse grades than my undergrad degree
I have been using the same letters of rec from two professors for the past three cycles
No C&F issues to speak of, just like some traffic tickets
IDK maybe my personal statement sucks

You need new letters, there is something in your application that's killing you. Either your letters suck or your personal statement is dragging you down. What is unimpressive WE? Mine was "unimpressive" but because of how plain jane it was I really think it helped me, very few law students had it. Have a consultant or friend glance at it. With your numbers you should have way better options and money than Alabama. Applying in January isn't that late, it will affect you but not that drastically.

Unimpressive WE = basically, a couple of long employment gaps and other jobs where I was clearly underemployed.

You need to hit up Spivey, bro.

stego wrote:So does anyone ever get in off a waitlist or do those mostly exist to offer false hope

One of my friends showed up to a t13 at orientation and basically said (and I mean this), "Am I in or what? I need to know so I can buy books."

They let him in. He did well. Maybe pick a school and do that?

My cousin also visited a T14 she was waitlisted at around this time and asked to basically speak with someone in admissions, financial aid, professor, etc. She was let in around a week later via phone call by the same person she first talked to on campus.

There is literally zero reason why Cornell, Michigan, et al did not bite. Something's up. Have some people look at your apps.

kellyfrost wrote:

stego wrote:

IExistedOnceBefore wrote:

stego wrote:

jbagelboy wrote:uh 3.9/171 and not a single decent T13 offer?

there's something you're not telling us

Well, I applied in January
Unimpressive WE
I have a masters degree with worse grades than my undergrad degree
I have been using the same letters of rec from two professors for the past three cycles
No C&F issues to speak of, just like some traffic tickets
IDK maybe my personal statement sucks

You need new letters, there is something in your application that's killing you. Either your letters suck or your personal statement is dragging you down. What is unimpressive WE? Mine was "unimpressive" but because of how plain jane it was I really think it helped me, very few law students had it. Have a consultant or friend glance at it. With your numbers you should have way better options and money than Alabama. Applying in January isn't that late, it will affect you but not that drastically.

Unimpressive WE = basically, a couple of long employment gaps and other jobs where I was clearly underemployed.

You need to hit up Spivey, bro.

Agreed, there is something in there that is hurting you. While the January applications, low grad GPA and meh WE are all not fabulous, you should have gotten at least acceptances from the lower T14 and WUSTL should have thrown money at you.

Underemployed isn't an issue, I was woefully underemployed but my job was all anyone ever wants to talk about because while it's a job that a lot of people have, it's not a job a lot of law students had. There is something sending up red flags in your application and if you can't find it, you need to send up the bat signal to Spivey.