Top Law Schools

Hi All - first time poster

I just got a fee waiver for U Virginia, which I was not planning on applying to because I assumed I was out of their range.
I'm a splitter in the worst way (3.9, 164), but I do like many things about Virginia. I have a solid PS, very good LOR and decent softs.

Worth a shot? Do people that get a fee waiver have any better chance at acceptance than those who do not?
Or do you think they're just looking for more people to reject.

I look forward to any advice. Thanks!

I say go for it! The chances of you being accepted are VERY teeny tiny, but if the app is free, why not? I think I remember somebody with 161/3.9 (non-URM) type numbers that got in, so anything can be possible

Go for it.

Assuming you can spare the $12, what do you really have to lose?

Yes. No. Maybe.

..

Who cares if they're just looking for more people to reject?

Same situation with me and Northwestern. I have no WE, and 94% of their incoming classes do. I have dec numbers, so I figure I have a 2% chance (just speculating). That's not worth $112, but $12 since they sent me a fee waiver....why the hell not??? $12 for a chance to surprise yourself with a benefit that'll pay off for a lifetime???

It's twelve bucks.

I had same situation (165, 3.8) and got UVA fee waiver so I applied although I'm not expecting much. It's a no-risk, high reward scenario, unless 12 bucks will bankrupt you.

Go for it, but don't get your hopes up.

After my June score back in a day, I received a bunch of fee waivers. In October I visited the Chicago law forum with one of my aims being to try to determine how much FWs meant by talking to the adcomms. When I realized the Virginia adcom was handing out FWs to every single person that approached UVA's table with questions, I knew I had my answer.

Bottom line: they don't appear to be terribly selective with fee waivers at all. That said, you should still apply if you have interest in the school.

dresden doll wrote:Go for it, but don't get your hopes up.

After my June score back in a day, I received a bunch of fee waivers. In October I visited the Chicago law forum with one of my aims being to try to determine how much FWs meant by talking to the adcomms. When I realized the Virginia adcom was handing out FWs to every single person that approached UVA's table with questions, I knew I had my answer.

Bottom line: they don't appear to be terribly selective with fee waivers at all. That said, you should still apply if you have interest in the school.

Shit! I should've gone to one of those law forum things. Probably could've saved myself a couple hundred dollars at least

Definitely apply!! I'm attending UVA and I got in with VERY similar numbers

use it

Do it. I got one, applied, got WL. Only a 160 LSAT, so that's more than I expected.

.

..

If you are in-state, you'll probably get in.

Of course you should apply -- I got a fee waiver (161/4.0) and thought it would be a waste of time but applied anyway and managed to get in! You have nothing to loose but $12!

Splitt3r wrote:

dresden doll wrote:Go for it, but don't get your hopes up.

After my June score back in a day, I received a bunch of fee waivers. In October I visited the Chicago law forum with one of my aims being to try to determine how much FWs meant by talking to the adcomms. When I realized the Virginia adcom was handing out FWs to every single person that approached UVA's table with questions, I knew I had my answer.

Bottom line: they don't appear to be terribly selective with fee waivers at all. That said, you should still apply if you have interest in the school.

Shit! I should've gone to one of those law forum things. Probably could've saved myself a couple hundred dollars at least

Actually, as far as I could tell, UVA was the only law school giving out FWs like candy (worthless for my purposes, btw, since I already had one). I did manage to snag an FW from Santa Clara, but those only got handed out to certain people (she asked my stats before giving it to me). I did have some hopes of extracting FWs from schools that I had interest in but hadn't gotten an FW from yet, but it didn't happen.

So you likely wouldn't have saved much, though the experience of meeting adcomms was rather interesting in and of itself.

you should apply! UVA is great

uva seems to have sent out fee waivers to anyone with a 160+ and a high gpa. i got one recently, and am pretty sure that the only reason why they are doing this is to lower their %age acceptance numbers to make them look competitive. when i think about it, it makes me kinda mad that they would toy with people like that. congrats to all the people above who got in with numbers similar to these, but i think you are in the minority. i've been wrestling with the idea of applying and am definitely leaning towards not.

I'm struggling with this, too. I've received waivers from other schools I know are out of my range (Michigan, Northwestern) and I went ahead and applied. I think you should go for it, but with a 162/3.9 I think I'm going to pass.

nlb238 wrote:I'm struggling with this, too. I've received waivers from other schools I know are out of my range (Michigan, Northwestern) and I went ahead and applied. I think you should go for it, but with a 162/3.9 I think I'm going to pass.

it is comforting to know that i am not the only one jumping at the chance to apply to these top schools without the numbers to actually get in. did you get in or wl to mich or nu, nlb?

It's funny that I hopped on this thread after reading through the vitriol being spewed in the "Garbage Threads" thread. What a contrast. This one is alive with positive vibes and contradicts what that OP was spouting.

Thanks folks. I just got the waiver too. Don't have the numbers. But what the hell.

Any UVA adcomms out there... You're welcome. Because of TLS you might be able to reject enough of us to get a shot at t5.

Anyway, I just enjoyed the encouragement here. Of course it also helps that the application was just a pleasure to fill out compared to some others.