Are Applications Public or Private Information? Forum

[jlayne]

Do law schools share your applications, and the essays written for them, with anyone who wishes to view them? With other schools? Are they publicly available or part of a private record for the student? I'm just curious.

Or does this depend on each school's policy? Is there a standard?

Thanks!

[lawrencecis]

+1

[Renzo]

I can't speak with any authority, but it would shock me if they weren't considered confidential. The Bar will, however, have access to them.

[kalvano]

Private, I believe.

[fonzerelli]

Post patriot act, NOTHING is private anymore. (especially anything on the interweb)

[jeeptiger09]

Private per FERPA.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FERPA

[PoorOrpheus]

Private per FERPA.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FERPA

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't this apply only to educational records (admissions materials included) for the school(s) at which the student is/was enrolled?

What rights do we have for schools at which we were denied admission or chose not to attend?

[vanwinkle]

I can't speak with any authority, but it would shock me if they weren't considered confidential. The Bar will, however, have access to them.

The reason that the bar "has access to them" is they require you to either grant them access or present them with a copy. If you don't do that, they can't see it. It's private.

(At least, this is the way I understand it to be. I'm just a 1L, I may be wrong.)

[Renzo]

I can't speak with any authority, but it would shock me if they weren't considered confidential. The Bar will, however, have access to them.

The reason that the bar "has access to them" is they require you to either grant them access or present them with a copy. If you don't do that, they can't see it. It's private.

(At least, this is the way I understand it to be. I'm just a 1L, I may be wrong.)

True. You could always deny them access, and they would likely return the favor.

[vanwinkle]

You could always deny them access, and they would likely return the favor.

Haha, yes, exactly.

[MURPH]

A lot of politicians keep their info private. People tried to get a hold of John Kerry's Harvard school records and he did not release them until after he ran for president. I remember because Bush had better grades then him. I believe I read this in Michele Malkin's column. she was trying to use it as evidence that Bush was not stupid but she only succeeded in convincing me that Kerry was stupid. There was also attempts to get a hold of Obama's application because some of the birthers thought he may have applied as a Kenyan. He did not release them before the election. (I am not trying to start some 10 page long psycho political arguments, just trying to help answer the question)

[chadwick218]

Schools have been known to share information. As other posters have alluded, some state bars will review the admission application to the school where you graduated from and potential discrepencies could lead you down a dark path.

[PoorOrpheus]

Thanks for the comments everyone. I'm going to bump this, though, because I still haven't seen anyone address what happens to the admissions materials at schools that you decide not to attend/are rejected from & some brief research on Google hasn't revealed the answer either.

Thanks.