Top Law Schools

Hey guys,

First time poster, long time lurker. I sent all of my apps in last week (1/4/12). I heard back from my top choice two days later on Friday (1/6/12) and I applied binding. Needless to say, it would be nice if I got back some of the $700ish I sunk into apps.

Is there precedent for schools refunding application fees? And if so, what's the process?

I appreciate any help that I can get. I'm a fairly poor, independent recent college grade with a low paying job, and $700 represents a very large portion of my savings. Thanks in advance for your help.

skywalkersblade5 wrote:Hey guys,

First time poster, long time lurker. I sent all of my apps in last week (1/4/12). I heard back from my top choice two days later on Friday (1/6/12) and I applied binding. Needless to say, it would be nice if I got back some of the $700ish I sunk into apps.

Is there precedent for schools refunding application fees? And if so, what's the process?

I appreciate any help that I can get. I'm a fairly poor, independent recent college grade with a low paying job, and $700 represents a very large portion of my savings. Thanks in advance for your help.

Most say they will if you get a fee waiver. In my experience, while I don't want to call schools liars with no evidence, I did not get waivers to any schools I paid to apply to, but got waivers to schools much higher. Also, others with my numbers got waivers to these schools. I mean I think it's fair. Why refund money if you don't need to? Also, reading our apps is work and the school is paying people to do this so why not cross your name off the waiver check box if you're a law school?

I can't imagine law schools would be generous enough to give you your money back. I think you might be boned.

AriGoldButNicer wrote:Most say they will if you get a fee waiver. In my experience, while I don't want to call schools liars with no evidence, I did not get waivers to any schools I paid to apply to, but got waivers to schools much higher. Also, others with my numbers got waivers to these schools. I mean I think it's fair. Why refund money if you don't need to? Also, reading our apps is work and the school is paying people to do this so why not cross your name off the waiver check box if you're a law school?

My experience is the same. I sent in a few apps the day I got my 12/11 LSAT score. The following week, I proceeded to get more fee waivers than I could count, many of which were to much higher-ranked schools than those to which I'd applied. I browsed TLS and found no shortage of people with lower numbers than me who had gotten waivers to schools I'd paid for (oops!), so I'm guessing they do have a way to know who's already applied as long as you're applying through LSAC.

Some schools' waiver invitations have invited me to ask for a refund if I've paid, and some have explicitly said that they're unable to give refunds. Most say nothing at all, which leads me to believe they do cross-check against applications already submitted before CRS waiver e-mails are sent.