Fee Waivers.... Forum

[raperez129]

Excuse me in advance for being the unsophisticated LS applicant, but what does it mean exactly when you receive an offer to apply to a school and a fee waiver, based on your LSAC file data? I don’t think my numbers are fabulous by any means, but I am a URM. Initially I was just pleased to hit competitive numbers for the couple of schools in my area. It seems statistically I would be out at most of these places that sent fee waivers. Does them sending the offers mean I would actually have a chance?

[rw2264]

schools send fee waivers based on different criteria. so that means you could be getting fee waivers based on just your gpa, just your lsat, or possibly even your urm status. some are more giving than others--UVA for example sends fee waivers to tons of people who are even close to its lsat/gpa range--and others are more strict with people who might be below one median or both. so, in short, it doesn't really mean anything. but if you get fee waivers from reaches, you should apply. you never know.

[r6_philly]

Schools can search through LSAC registered applicants to send out invitation emails to apply along with waiver. They can use whatever criteria they want to try to entice applicants to enrich their applicant pool. I got an invitation before I even took the LSAT, I presume because I am a minority, have a CS major and high GPA 3.9(4). I think the school wants to me to build up their IP or tech. program. I know many top schools routinely search through LSAC data to invite URM's (with certain numbers I suppose) to apply.

[msesquire2b]

Schools can search through LSAC registered applicants to send out invitation emails to apply along with waiver. They can use whatever criteria they want to try to entice applicants to enrich their applicant pool. I got an invitation before I even took the LSAT, I presume because I am a minority, have a CS major and high GPA 3.9(4). I think the school wants to me to build up their IP or tech. program. I know many top schools routinely search through LSAC data to invite URM's (with certain numbers I suppose) to apply.

So do you have a better chance of acceptance if they seek you out? I got letters from top schools such as Washington University-St. Louis, and William and Mary. I applied to W&M... But not to the other... I wonder if I should!?!

[OneKnight]

Schools can search through LSAC registered applicants to send out invitation emails to apply along with waiver. They can use whatever criteria they want to try to entice applicants to enrich their applicant pool. I got an invitation before I even took the LSAT, I presume because I am a minority, have a CS major and high GPA 3.9(4). I think the school wants to me to build up their IP or tech. program. I know many top schools routinely search through LSAC data to invite URM's (with certain numbers I suppose) to apply.

So do you have a better chance of acceptance if they seek you out? I got letters from top schools such as Washington University-St. Louis, and William and Mary. I applied to W&M... But not to the other... I wonder if I should!?!

Sometimes they're actively seeking you out, and some schools are really selective with those it seeks out. UVa is an example of how the opposite is true.
This may be overly pessimistic, but it is also possible that they send out fee waivers to people below their medians so they can reject more people and decrease their %admitted...
That said, you have a fee waiver - how does it hurt you to apply?

[newyorker88]

Schools send fee waivers for a variety of reasons one being to encourage people to apply who have no chance so they can reject them and boost their selectivity rating for US News.

[r6_philly]

I imagine the invited to apply so we can reject thing happens quite often, there is nothing to lose for the school. But I think you can judge yourself if that is the case. Aside from my GPA > 75%, I have been receiving personal corresponences from the admin staff, and they definitely matched my file to the correspondences. I don't know if that will translate to an offer and maybe $ but it has been a pleasant experience.

I say if you get the waiver and you would at least consider attending if accepted then apply. You never know why they seeked you out so may as well proceed as if they want you, the worst that can happen is the same as you didn't apply and you may lose out on an awesome offer. Esp. WUSTL.