Receiving law school fee waivers from "reach" schools Forum

[ed]

I have recently received law school fee waivers and invitations to apply from Penn and Cornell. I never considered my numbers, 3.72 and a 156 lsat, up to par with the admissions criteria for these schools. The schools do make referrence to my ethnicity in their invitations to apply. I was wondering if receiving these letters makes the appliciations worth while, or are they simply formalities that should not be paid any attention? Thanks for the help, Ed

[jmnc]

I received a law school fee waiver from UChicago and am tempted to apply, but my numbers aren't that strong. UGPA: 3.41 and LSAT: 164. I've got some good work experience (two years in the Peace Corps and now I'm a 7th grade Spanish teacher at a public school in my home town). And I'm Latino (my mother is Uruguayan). I read on another message board that some schools entice people who don't have strong numbers to apply so that their applicant is larger and hence their US News rankings increase. I don't know if it's true, but it's an interesting theory. Regardless of the conspiracy theory, if you are interested in applying to those schools, you should since you won't be paying anything to do so. Maybe Ken (the moderator) will have some more insight. Good luck with all your applications.

[dag35]

If you have the time and the interest, it is definitely worth applying to those schools that give you fee waivers. For what it's worth, I received law school fee waivers from 3 schools that I was interested in. Of the 3 schools at which I received law school fee waivers, I got accepted at one, wait listed at one, and rejected at one.

While your numbers may not be as competitive, it would still be worth looking into. Even top schools will take a chance and offer law school fee waivers and then admission on one or two students who have numbers that are below what they usually take. Who's to say it won't be you? Take action on your law school fee waivers!

[Ken]

In general, I am always inclined to recommend that applicants apply to many law schools, particularly when you get any law school fee waivers. There are so many variables that go into admissions committees determining what students they want to compose and interesting and diverse class. Applying to many law schools can be particularly to your advantage if you have some sort of wild card, such as ethnicity, a strong, upward grade trend, great work experience or recs, etc.


Ed, I would definitely apply to Penn and Cornell as I picture these law schools wanting a diverse class. Additionally, your strong GPA may overshadow your lower LSAT score. Given my overall belief that it is best to apply to ten or more law schools, take advantage of the fee waivers and apply. Please keep us updated if you do get in for that would be encouraging news to other site visitors.

Jmnc, I am a little less hopeful of the University of Chicago Law School. These are just my thoughts, but I anticipate their being a much more "by the numbers" type of law school in their admissions criteria. I certainly am not against your applying because you have a good background and being a Latino is a great plus, I just do not have a lot of faith in the U. of Chicago Law School being nontraditional in their admissions process.

The University of Chicago is one of the most traditional law schools existing today, with professors still drilling students with the Socratic Method. You get an amazing education at the U. of Chicago, but I just anticipate that its being such a traditional school in its learning philosophy that this will carry over to its admissions as well.

But hey, if you do not mind the extra work, than the only thing you have to lose is your time. I say apply where you received your law school fee waivers.

[nanshee]

i recently opened one of the envelopes from one of the many law schools that i've been receiving mail from... to realize that they were waiving my application fee... now i'm wondering how many other schools were providing me with law school fee waivers.
goodness sakes...

[Stephanie13]

I hope this is not a dumb question but I tried searching the forums for the topic. How does one get fee waivers? I've heard that you can directly ask the schools for a fee waiver via email or phone call. Is this the most common method? Or is there a way to get a fee waiver through application?

Thanks in advance!!!

[jigga-hjalmar]

Some schools send out fee waivers by email or snail mail to potential applicants, some have their own special applications for them and some you just need to ask and they will waive the fee. It all depends on the school.

[Stephanie13]

So basically there is not one easy way to do this then. haha. thanks!!

[TrojanBadger]

Fee waivers are a wonderful racket. Selectivity is a major component of USNWR rankings, so schools want to reject people, so they waive the fee for people who don't have a great chance of getting in.

This racket works out in favor of students, so long as you don't let it impact your expectations. A fee waiver just means you don't have to pay to apply, that is all--no hint of a chance you never suspected, no hint of a lock.

It does mean you get to apply to a reach for just $12, and anything can happen once your application is in the door.
It also encourages law schools to keep application fees low.

It's a wonderful unintended consequence of the USNWR rankings, but it is not an indicator that you have a great chance of admission.

[chola]

If you apply for and receive the LSAC fee waiver, most schools automatically waive the fee when you apply. After you submit your application through LSAC, instead of asking you to mail or pay for the application fee online, you get a message that goes something like... "Application fee waived due to LSAC fee waiver."

[aryncita]

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[magnumxlv]

I almost didn't apply to Stanford because I thought I stood no chance with my numbers. I ended up being accepted. (I was accepted at Chicago as well, and my numbers were only slightly better than the earlier poster in the thread.) If you are a URM and you receive a fee waiver to a school, I think it is worth applying even if your numbers indicate that you don't stand a chance. Worst-case scenario is that you are out $12, and you may end up with an acceptance.

Wow! Congrats on Stanford.

[JustBelieve]

I almost didn't apply to Stanford because I thought I stood no chance with my numbers. I ended up being accepted. (I was accepted at Chicago as well, and my numbers were only slightly better than the earlier poster in the thread.) If you are a URM and you receive a fee waiver to a school, I think it is worth applying even if your numbers indicate that you don't stand a chance. Worst-case scenario is that you are out $12, and you may end up with an acceptance.

This is an excellent example of the power of hope. If you are meant to go to a specific law school, regardless of your numbers, you will get in! If it's your destiny, it WILL be fulfilled. CONGRATS!!!

[POSERmyLOVE]

I also received fee waivers from a couple of east coast schools that I had not considered applying to. Mainly Penn Law. This only happened after my second lsat score was released (151, 156). My improvement was good but makes me feel obtaining a seat at Penn Law to be impossible. I am also a URM with 3.71 GPA so hopefully that helps my application.

it would be awesome to be accepted!

[citykitty]

I got fee waivers from a few t14 schools, which I figured I had no chance of getting into. At this point in the current cycle, I think I have the lowest LSDAS GPA accepted at UVA, and that was one of the schools that gave me a waiver. IMO $16 is so worth the very slim chance of getting into a great school.

[snowpeach06]

I think they send out these fee waivers to up their application numbers, honestly. But, what do you have to loose by applying? Especially as a URM, your numbers don't matter as much, so you may as well apply. Worse thing that can happen is you waste an hour writing a personal statement and then get rejected. Best thing that can happen is you get in.

[ReallyRosie]

I apologize for the dumb question. I'm just getting started in the application process. One of the things that is of concern is the COST of law school. So, I'm curious....when you all refer to the "fee waiver", are you ONLY referring to the application fee waiver, or are there law schools that waive their tuition altogether? Thank you in advance for your responses.

[nickb285]

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[Clarity]

I apologize for the dumb question. I'm just getting started in the application process. One of the things that is of concern is the COST of law school. So, I'm curious....when you all refer to the "fee waiver", are you ONLY referring to the application fee waiver, or are there law schools that waive their tuition altogether? Thank you in advance for your responses.

A fee waiver only refers to the cost of the application, generally somewhere between $50-75 depending on school. Note that this does not cover the $16 per application fee paid to LSAC. Scholarships are a different matter altogether.

On the topic, the selectivity thing is huge. I'm sitting at a 3.17 and a 169, and got a fee waiver to Columbia . Not sure that one's even worth the $16. I did get some for schools at the upper end of my range though (UCLA, Minnesota), so in those cases it's worth it.

LSAC upped the fee to $21 per report now.

[nickb285]

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[t0wlie]

I got a ridicolous amount of fee waivers, probably 50 or more.. Some from crappy schools (Cooley, Akron, Dayton, etc) some from decent schools (univ of ariz,BU, BC, Washington and lee, Fordham, Indiana, iowa, etc) and a good amount from top 20s. Of the best were USC, Univ Of Michigan, UC berekely, Columbia, univ Of Virginia, upenn, and univ Chicago today... Most Of These schools I wasn't even going to apply to but I figure why not for top20s.

My numbers aren't great though, I got a 160 and have a 3.84 gpa. I'm also Mexican American so I guess that helps. Hopefully it won't be a waste of time!


Well see. Anyone
Else have some info on where they got waivers then rejected or accepted?

[BigZuck]

Some solid necroing ITT.

Duke sent me a priority track invite in September. I was facing a wall of death with my numbers, mylsn.info showed about 60 applicants to Duke with my numbers, about half waitlisted and the other half rejected. I figured I was waitlist material at best but decided to apply and screamed "YOLO" when I pushed the submit button. I was accepted a few days later.

/anecdote

If a school sends you a waiver just apply. I think this is especially applicable advice to URMs.

[nickb285]

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[kw25]

I apologize for the dumb question. I'm just getting started in the application process. One of the things that is of concern is the COST of law school. So, I'm curious....when you all refer to the "fee waiver", are you ONLY referring to the application fee waiver, or are there law schools that waive their tuition altogether? Thank you in advance for your responses.

A fee waiver only refers to the cost of the application, generally somewhere between $50-75 depending on school. Note that this does not cover the $16 per application fee paid to LSAC. Scholarships are a different matter altogether.

On the topic, the selectivity thing is huge. I'm sitting at a 3.17 and a 169, and got a fee waiver to Columbia . Not sure that one's even worth the $16. I did get some for schools at the upper end of my range though (UCLA, Minnesota), so in those cases it's worth it.

LSAC upped the fee to $21 per report now.

For anyone coming in to this thread years later, LSAC upped the fee to $35 per school. (2017-2018) pure garbage

[jgloster]

Now they upped it $45. And they can't even get our scores out to us on time!

FUCKING AMAZING!