Applying to Law School from Abroad Forum

[everything_bagel]

Hi all,

I'm planning to apply to law school from outside of the United States (i'm doing a postgrad fellowship in asia). I'll have a permanent address for part of but not all of the year. I'd love advice from those who have done so in the past: did you list your international address or a domestic address? If domestic, was it your previous American address/your parents'/a willing friend's address? Did you get admissions offers by email or by telephone? Did you have any issues coordinating interview offers?

Specific details for anywhere in the T-14 would be really helpful.

Mainly I don't want admissions offer(s) to sit in my stateside voicemail without my knowing or to feel like I have to take a mega-expensive international phone call from a suspicious-looking area code. I'm considering setting up Google Voice forwarding but haven't decided yet. I know I've heard somewhere that schools will respond via email if it's clear you're living internationally, but I've had trouble finding concrete details on the interwebs, so I'm turning to the TLS hivemind.

Thanks for your help!

[HorseThief]

I applied while abroad, but kept my folks' address on all of my applications. I then wrote an addendum explaining that I didn't have an international address, and asked that all communication take place over e-mail. This worked for me, as I got all of my acceptances/rejections via e-mail.

I think I didn't include a phone number in my application so I never ran into the voicemail issue.

International applications are fairly common (international students, peace corps, etc), so schools should be receptive. Just be ready to use Skype in case they want to interview you.

[cookiejar1]

I applied while abroad. I just used a relative's address in the US as my permanent address and had them check my mail occasionally (you'll get a lot of mail). With status checkers I don't really think you'll ever need to communicate with schools over the phone. I never notified schools that I was abroad (although my Resume's work experience indicated such). For phone I simply put in my international number. Nobody bothered calling me.

[heythatslife]

I've been abroad the whole time, from the day the applications were sent up until now.

The schools that I applied to and required interviews (namely, Harvard and Chicago) conducted Skype interviews for all applicants anyway. I was able to coordinate LORs and transcripts over e-mail without too much hassle. As for the results, they'll just send you an e-mail to notify you. To the extent that it affects you at all, you'll get to find out several hours later than the other people who got admitted/dinged the same day.

[everything_bagel]

Thanks for the helpful responses, everyone! Seems pretty straightforward. I wouldn't have thought to write an addendum, so thanks for that piece especially.

[quijotesca1011]

I listed my local in-country address and phone number. All schools communicated by email. A friend of mine was also living abroad, and Yale did call her when she got in there But I didn't get calls, probably because of my foreign number. I think as soon as you list a foreign address/number, they will do almost everything by email. That said, I did get all the same acceptance materials mailed to my address (just with a bit of a longer delay). I wouldn't worry about your number -- they won't call it unless that's their protocol (i.e. apparently Yale), in which case they do it every year.