Top Law Schools

I know that top schools probably don't care whether you show interest similar to undergrad - but what about schools like Notre Dame? It says on their website that applicants are "encouraged to visit"? Which schools worry about yield and expressed interest?

If you plan on spending 3 years somewhere, you should probably visit either way.

It can help, but is marginal at best. Submit your application along with a thoughtful "Why X" essay, and see what the result is. If you are waitlisted, then visiting can be a great way to show interest if you're really serious about riding it, but there's not much reason to invest the money into travel if you are going to end up denied anyway.

Visiting a school has absolutely almost 0.00% chance of helping you. 99% of the time its at 0.

The other 1% varies wildly.

In the end - don't visit a school with helping your chances as any one of your listed or unlisted intentions.

Sandro wrote: The other 1% varies wildly.

This. Most of the time, it won't affect anything. Every once in awhile, though, you'll end up meeting with someone who takes a liking to you (maybe because you were reading a book by their favorite author at the time) and is a cheerleader for you during the process. Not something to count on, but, since you should be visiting a school you like anyway, an added bonus.

Oh, and every once in awhile you'll offend someone who will then sink your chances. Seriously, be polite to EVERYONE you meet if you go for a visit. This shouldn't need to be said, but it does.

It would be great to visit each school before making a decision. I hope I have the luxury of the opportunity to choose between several. In trying to maximize my chances, wouldn't schools where my gpa/LSAT are around the midrange prefer when an applicant has shown interest by visiting in order to increase their yield? How do you write a "why this school" essay without visiting?

Probably helps at schools ranked outside of the top 16 or so. Obviously, it can help at Notre Dame.

No and Yes. Yes so you can see what you might be getting into in addition to meeting admin, professors, students and maybe the dean. Also if your numbers and not at or above their numbers. And NO at schools who are trying to maintain or move up in the rankings. It's all about the numbers.

Sandro wrote:Visiting a school has absolutely almost 0.00% chance of helping you. 99% of the time its at 0.

The other 1% varies wildly.

In the end - don't visit a school with helping your chances as any one of your listed or unlisted intentions.

Yeah, visiting doesn't help your chances at all.

Perhaps for supplementary essays. Visiting helps more for b-school because of essays and interviews to get to know about the specific school.