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Hello,

I recently received a fee waiver from Cardozo Law in NYC. My LSAT and GPA aren't very close to their ranges. This brings up a question, does getting a fee waiver from a school mean you have a decent shot at getting in? Or do some schools just send them out as a way to pad their application numbers?

In this case, I think it means that you should strongly consider retaking the LSAT.

Tot12Tator wrote:schools just send them out as a way to pad their application numbers

Yes.

You need to retake the LSAT if your score isn't near Cardozo's range.

It means they want to reject you and raise their selectivy

Are you URM? I found there's some correlation between fee waivers, and getting in. For instance, Chicago doesn't send fee waivers to individuals with a 150 LSAT. At the very least, it suggests they're interested in your application. The acceptance rate is too small of a factor in the USNews rankings to be a significant motivator. It's worth one fifth of the LSAT, and one fourth of the of the GPA. On the other hand, it is a cheaper way to artificially boost a score. You don't have to give out scholarship money to boost it, and getting people who would not have applied to apply for free only uses the time of salaried employees.

But if you get in, it would be at sticker and that's incredibly risky for Cardozo being that barely half at all graduates get any legal job. Only about twenty percent will get jobs enabling them to pay back sticker loans within ten to twenty years of graduation. You should also know that those on full scholarship are generally at least marginally more likely to get these jobs going in than you are due to admission numbers having, albeit limited, predictive value.

Regardless of how special you might be, scholarships are mostly contract clauses that are measured by your respective bargaining ability. If they know your numbers preclude you from getting a scholarship elsewhere, they are unlikely to give you one. Even with a full ride, Cardozo is risky due to the high cost of living in the area. You'd likely have seventy-five to eighty-five thousand dollars in cost of living debt assuming you had a roommate.

It means

1. You can apply with only $28

2. They might want to reject you

3. TCR: Retake your LSAT.