Top Law Schools

Hey all,

No surprise here, I'm at Duke. I've used this website for its admissions articles/dean interviews, but this would be my first time in your forum.

My long term significant other is currently wait listed, and I was wondering how to go about informing the admissions folks of my personal interest in having her come. Any tips appreciated - I'm not at all sure how and what to tell the admissions people here.

Does anyone have experience with this or know someone who had success/failure?

dukey wrote:Hey all,

No surprise here, I'm at Duke. I've used this website for its admissions articles/dean interviews, but this would be my first time in your forum.

My long term significant other is currently wait listed, and I was wondering how to go about informing the admissions folks of my personal interest in having her come. Any tips appreciated - I'm not at all sure how and what to tell the admissions people here.

Does anyone have experience with this or know someone who had success/failure?

Is this a troll? Be honest now...

alexonfyre wrote:

dukey wrote:Hey all,

No surprise here, I'm at Duke. I've used this website for its admissions articles/dean interviews, but this would be my first time in your forum.

My long term significant other is currently wait listed, and I was wondering how to go about informing the admissions folks of my personal interest in having her come. Any tips appreciated - I'm not at all sure how and what to tell the admissions people here.

Does anyone have experience with this or know someone who had success/failure?

Is this a troll? Be honest now...

...definitely not. I sincerely am interested in this information - we've been dating for years, and we'd like to be in the same location. She has not disclosed this info at all in her application.

I don't think there is anything you can do to help.

The best she can really do is send a LOCI. To know approximately how likely she is to get off the WL we would need her numbers. That being said, iirc, Duke did not accept a single person off of their waitlist last year. I would resign yourself to the fact that she is probably not going to get into Duke.

Can she get into UNC? You could get an apartment midway.

If in state is a prob, she could work for a year and reapply to both Duke and UNC - it might be nice to have that extra income anyway, and less stressful than you both going through 1L at the same time.

dukey wrote:Hey all,

No surprise here, I'm at Duke. I've used this website for its admissions articles/dean interviews, but this would be my first time in your forum.

My long term significant other is currently wait listed, and I was wondering how to go about informing the admissions folks of my personal interest in having her come. Any tips appreciated - I'm not at all sure how and what to tell the admissions people here.

Does anyone have experience with this or know someone who had success/failure?

Well, all the effort is going to be on her part; I don't think one applicant/student can really lobby for another to be admitted. She should include in her letter of continued interest (LOCI) that her significant other currently attends Duke. This can complement the other reasons for attending like its employment prospects, faculty, reputation, etc. by showing a personal interest in the school and a reason that she has for attending that school over its peers. Schools like to see a real commitment to attend from their waitlisted applicants, since they usually get admitted from the WL later in the cycle when it becomes more important to get the class to the right size and therefore more important to be sure that who you admit will actually attend. Including information about the SO connection will make the school more likely to see her as someone who will definitely attend if admitted and will therefore make her more attractive as someone to admit from the WL.

esq wrote:Can she get into UNC? You could get an apartment midway.

If in state is a prob, she could work for a year and reapply to both Duke and UNC - it might be nice to have that extra income anyway, and less stressful than you both going through 1L at the same time.

Right then they get two whole years of dealing with 1L bullshit, which is twice as much fun!

Introduce her to professor. Have her write about it in her loci.

bk187 wrote:I don't think there is anything you can do to help.

The best she can really do is send a LOCI. To know approximately how likely she is to get off the WL we would need her numbers. That being said, iirc, Duke did not accept a single person off of their waitlist last year. I would resign yourself to the fact that she is probably not going to get into Duke.

Thanks for your note, bk187. I've been hearing from friends here that admissions should be better with their WL candidates this year.

esq wrote:Can she get into UNC? You could get an apartment midway.

If in state is a prob, she could work for a year and reapply to both Duke and UNC - it might be nice to have that extra income anyway, and less stressful than you both going through 1L at the same time.

To clarify, I am a student at Duke already, and she is currently on the wait list. UNC isn't really an option right now - she wants to attend a top 20 law school and has received admission + $ from a few.

Bildungsroman wrote: Well, all the effort is going to be on her part; I don't think one applicant/student can really lobby for another to be admitted. She should include in her letter of continued interest (LOCI) that her significant other currently attends Duke. This can complement the other reasons for attending like its employment prospects, faculty, reputation, etc. by showing a personal interest in the school and a reason that she has for attending that school over its peers. Schools like to see a real commitment to attend from their waitlisted applicants, since they usually get admitted from the WL later in the cycle when it becomes more important to get the class to the right size and therefore more important to be sure that who you admit will actually attend. Including information about the SO connection will make the school more likely to see her as someone who will definitely attend if admitted and will therefore make her more attractive as someone to admit from the WL.

This is really useful information. Thanks Bildungsroman.

alexonfyre wrote:

esq wrote:Can she get into UNC? You could get an apartment midway.

If in state is a prob, she could work for a year and reapply to both Duke and UNC - it might be nice to have that extra income anyway, and less stressful than you both going through 1L at the same time.

Right then they get two whole years of dealing with 1L bullshit, which is twice as much fun!

If she can't get into Duke, I'd much prefer this setup - where he could even help her with some of the material, and she would balance the income during his 1L - than the stress of being in 1L and tight on funds at the same time.

dukey wrote:

bk187 wrote:I don't think there is anything you can do to help.

The best she can really do is send a LOCI. To know approximately how likely she is to get off the WL we would need her numbers. That being said, iirc, Duke did not accept a single person off of their waitlist last year. I would resign yourself to the fact that she is probably not going to get into Duke.

Thanks for your note, bk187. I've been hearing from friends here that admissions should be better with their WL candidates this year.

Last year was a terrible year for waitlisted applicants, as law schools were unprepared for the massive surge in applications and over-enrolled. This year applications are down and law schools, learning their lesson from last year, seem to be more conservative about admissions. I'd say that the waitlist at most schools is probably going to be drawn from more than last year (or at least I hope so ).

jarofsoup wrote:Introduce her to professor. Have her write about it in her loci.

Will toy around with this thought - thanks for your tip.

Bildungsroman wrote:Last year was a terrible year for waitlisted applicants, as law schools were unprepared for the massive surge in applications and over-enrolled. This year applications are down and law schools, learning their lesson from last year, seem to be more conservative about admissions. I'd say that the waitlist at most schools is probably going to be drawn from more than last year (or at least I hope so ).

Even so, the odds of getting off any waitlist is pretty bad. I would be more focused on what to do in the eventuality that she does not get Duke as opposed to what to do now (due to the fact that there isn't much you can do now).

Did she mention that Duke was her top choice law school? If not, that would be good info to include in a LOCI, and have her support that assertion with the fact that her significant other is currently a student at Duke and the other reasons why Duke is her top choice school.

edit: If her LSAT was what was holding her back, she could always consider retaking in June to try and gain a few more points to help her cause in getting off the WL.

Bildungsroman wrote:

dukey wrote:

bk187 wrote:I don't think there is anything you can do to help.

The best she can really do is send a LOCI. To know approximately how likely she is to get off the WL we would need her numbers. That being said, iirc, Duke did not accept a single person off of their waitlist last year. I would resign yourself to the fact that she is probably not going to get into Duke.

Thanks for your note, bk187. I've been hearing from friends here that admissions should be better with their WL candidates this year.

Last year was a terrible year for waitlisted applicants, as law schools were unprepared for the massive surge in applications and over-enrolled. This year applications are down and law schools, learning their lesson from last year, seem to be more conservative about admissions. I'd say that the waitlist at most schools is probably going to be drawn from more than last year (or at least I hope so ).

This shouldn't inspire confidence in anyone.

Richie Tenenbaum wrote:Did she mention that Duke was her top choice law school? If not, that would be good info to include in a LOCI, and have her support that assertion with the fact that her significant other is currently a student at Duke and the other reasons why Duke is her top choice school.

edit: If her LSAT was what was holding her back, she could always consider retaking in June to try and gain a few more points to help her cause in getting off the WL.

Yeah, she will be retaking the LSAT in June and has already expressed that Duke is her #1. Thanks though - this is great that I'm getting different perspectives.

bump

dukey wrote:bump

I mean, what do you want us to tell you, dude? The only thing you can do is try to talk with someone with influence on the admissions process. I guarantee you there are respected alumni who couldn't pull an acceptance. Good luck.

d34dluk3 wrote:

dukey wrote:bump

I mean, what do you want us to tell you, dude? The only thing you can do is try to talk with someone with influence on the admissions process. I guarantee you there are respected alumni who couldn't pull an acceptance. Good luck.

Sorry - I just figured that I'd bump this thread across the different time zones to see (even though chances are slim) whether someone on this forum had a success story to share.

call them. talk to a lowly phone answering assistant and ask her for her opinion. proceed from there. Dean's are people.

Cupidity wrote:call them. talk to a lowly phone answering assistant and ask her for her opinion. proceed from there. Dean's are people.

Hmm, I have been thinking about speaking with our dean of student affairs.

bump - anyone with experience?

dude. she's probably not getting in, and there's nothing you can do about it.

fatduck wrote:dude. she's probably not getting in, and there's nothing you can do about it.

yeah I know that she's probably not getting in

But I'm trying to figure out whether students have, in the past, written to the admissions committees on behalf of their SO.