University of Florida Forum

[Sky'stheLimit]

I would tend to agree with you. Last year there was clearly a 3/18 Acceptance and a 3/20 Waitlist group. This year I haven't seen the equivalent acceptance and waitlist batch unless it was on 3/5 and 3/11...

There were 3/18 Acceptances and WL together, assuming the dates are correct.

[mango26]

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[cjs20]

Ahh well...I have resigned myself to the fact that 3/16 = waitlists. This will only be my 4th waitlist with zero acceptances.

I was born to ride the waitlist!

FSU should probably just get it over with and add me to the WL as well.

[JCougar]

Did they have this primary pool/secondary pool stuff last year as well?

[Alexdw85]

hey there. first time poster but i am also in the 3-16 batch. my numbers were 162 and a 3.4. I have great softs but I dont think that matters much. Seems kind of odd that all these would be waitlists after they sent an earlier batch of waitlists out a week ago and our numbers seem to be slightly better. oh well. im considering trying it again next year and retaking the LSAT as I only did it once, but Im already 25 and have been out of school since Dec 2007.

[Lomax]

I repeat my condolences to the 3/16ers. I hate to be right sometimes. But remember that this is the supreme waitlist batch (though red flags could disqualify some of you) - I would strongly recommend that all 3/16ers remain on the waitlist for as long as possible.

Well, if my mail comes and I find out that UF wants to waitlist me, they can suck it. I'll do fine in the Capitol as I have always done..WITH scholarship. I knew I was never going to go there, but there is something about being waitlisted that makes me cringe. This whole process is truly, truly annoying. Good luck to everyone in law school!

Like I said before, the smart thing for you to do here would be to put the gun down, and stay on the waitlist. You are in a good position - if you can refrain from selling your soul to FSU while still moving towards matriculating there, then keeping your options open may end up paying unsuspected dividends. You are angry because you have been snubbed, but you shouldn't now let yourself be blinded by that anger.

In the end all, I have been told that you are supposed to go where you have gotten the most positive vibes from in the beginning. Because the fact of the matter is, whether your school is ranked 51, or 52, or any other number for that matter, you are the one that is going to have been to be dealing with the people and the environment at that school for the next three years.
The thing is, I got a personal phone call from FSU 2 weeks after applying letting me know they'd be more than happy to have me join them for the incoming class of 2010 and that a scholarship would be on it's way.
Since then I've had numerous amounts of phone calls and invitations from the law school and it's students. I guess it was always meant to be, and I'm totally content with that. I KNOW i've worked too hard to remain on any waitlist.

See above, and whoever gave you that advice is, based on that evidence alone, an idiot. You are supposed to go to the school that will best help you get a desirable job once you graduate. I'm sure I'd get great vibes from the University of Hawaii, and I'm sure I'd hate Harvard, but having to choose between the two, I'd choose Harvard, and even you wouldn't think me the least bit wrong in doing so.

FSU made you feel wanted because you would boost their stats and they figured you might actually matriculate. UF made me feel wanted for the same reasons. All of the good vibrations you've been getting from FSU I've been getting from UF. The problem for you is that you don't have the numbers to be getting them from UF. You need to look at things objectively here. Surely you have worked too hard to be waitlisted - but many others have worked too hard to be rejected. By every decent law school they've applied to. Taking yourself off of UF's waitlist will do no good, unless you have a binding agreement to attend FSU. It won't even help you emotionally, because you'll be wondering for the rest of your life how different things might have been if only you had stayed on that waitlist and gone to the best law school in Florida instead.

hey there. first time poster but i am also in the 3-16 batch. my numbers were 162 and a 3.4. I have great softs but I dont think that matters much. Seems kind of odd that all these would be waitlists after they sent an earlier batch of waitlists out a week ago and our numbers seem to be slightly better. oh well. im considering trying it again next year and retaking the LSAT as I only did it once, but Im already 25 and have been out of school since Dec 2007.

Softs almost never matter much for admission decisions, unless you redefine "great". The oddity you see might be explained by UF wanting to wait another week to let more withdrawals come in and get a better idea of whether or not more acceptances would be necessary to achieve the desired class size. Perhaps the 3/16s were originally going to be held longer, but then UF decided to pull the trigger early based on their confidence in meeting quota with the offers they had already put out. The earlier batch of waitlists were clearly not going to be acceptances at that point, so they could be swiftly dealt with for the applicants' convenience. As it stands, the 3/16s are, for the most part, almost certainly at the head of the waitlist.

Before you decide to hold off on law school and try the LSAT again, you should probably try and get an idea of whether or not you have a good shot at increasing your score. Studying a bit and taking some practice tests can help you do that. If you figure that making an improvement is a realistic possibility, and you don't have, say, a scholarship offer on the table from the University of Miami and a strong desire to live in South Florida, then the plan you're considering going with is probably a decent one. Of course, hopefully it won't come to that and you'll be accepted off the waitlist.

[Alexdw85]

yeah i actually have got into Miami and I do live in south florida. Id like to practice in Florida and the Miami area is home, but I would like the option of having a nice job in Orlando too. UM hasnt offered me anything yet for financial aid and Im a bit averse to piling up $180,000 in debt but if they did theres a better chance of me going. Honestly Ive given FIU a decent look. Its not Miami, FSU or UF but they are a decent option for me given that Im not looking to make six figures right out of law school. (It would be nice)

Lomax uve pretty much read my mind about the retake of the LSAT. The one time I did take it, I had to go to the bathroom in the last section and it kind of cost me. I got a little flustered but again it theoretically threw me off only a few questions which might have raised me to a 163 or 164. I dont know if that would have been enough. I took an LSAT course and I took a bunch of practice tests along with buying 3 different LSAT test prep books (mostly for the practice tests tho, I didnt think id learn much more from one to the other). I could do that again but again Id be delaying for another year on something Im not sure would make much difference in the end. I was averaging 166-165 on the practice tests but those are practice tests and my 162 is right around where I should be on the actual LSAT. Its a bit of a risk and theres no guarantee I get in next year either.

But Im gonna wait through the waitlist regardless. At this point in the game, theres no point in not doing so especially since I agree Im probably somewhere near the top of the list.

[cigator]

I'm not giving up hope until I actually get the wait list letter. I clearly was not an auto-admit, but it seems like my 162/3.62 would have me equal to or ahead of 50% of the current UF student body. I realize they always want to improve the class, but I can't believe my numbers still don't rate an admit. Should know Monday I hope.

[JCougar]

I'm not giving up hope until I actually get the wait list letter. I clearly was not an auto-admit, but it seems like my 162/3.62 would have me equal to or ahead of 50% of the current UF student body. I realize they always want to improve the class, but I can't believe my numbers still don't rate an admit. Should know Monday I hope.

Yeah, yours and Alexdw85's numbers are definitely ones that normally could be admits. A lot of the 3/16 crew were splitters, but you guys, unless you are part of the "red flag" crew, seemingly have no reason not to get in, unless UF is trying to yield protect this year. But they don't usually do that.

Looking at last year's stats, though, they have rejected or waitlisted a smattering of people with LSATs just above median and pretty decent GPAs. UF isn't entirely a numbers-based school, it seems, so there are other factors that seem to be in play. It's also entirely possible that this is a mixed batch and that, as one poster said, the bigger acceptance packages took longer to put together and send out, but I have a feeling that this may be wishful thinking. The one thing that gives me pause is that there were a few people who still haven't heard anything that seem to have as good, if not better, numbers than the 3/16 crew -- perhaps these are people that UF is still deciding whether to outright accept or waitlist.

[miamiman]

This bit of information might be helpful to all of those who are confused about having been WL'd with seemingly auto-admit #s.

I was admitted a while back and, just last week, attended a function at a large firm in which the Dean of Admissions and Dean Jerry were recruiting some of the best admits. A few interesting points:

(1) Dean Jerry noted that they anticipated a +2 pt increase in their lsat median. He said that they had never been this late in the cycle with such a high gpa/lsat profile. This may explain why some of you are getting wl'd.

(2) Re: Jobs. There has been a tremendous pullback from large firms. Dean Jerry was frank about the situation and suggested students seek government positions because of the pullback. A few admits probed deeper and he really did not have anything positive to say about the situation -- noting that legal employment generallly lags the larger economy and that even the c/o of 2013 would probably be too early to the game.

(3) Re: USNWR. Dean Jerry noted that they had really been hesitant in prior years to engage in deceptive practices to increase their USNWR profile. He said they finally have given in to the temptation, only because peerr schools are. He identified job reporting (externships counted as jobs) as the greatest area of manipulation.

I think I'll be withdrawing fairly soon. Hang in there, all.

[freakingout2]

DLIT 3/17 - Waitlisted.

Sorry everyone, but it looks like 3/16 and 3/17 are both the same group.

[cigator]

DLIT 3/17 - Waitlisted.

Sorry everyone, but it looks like 3/16 and 3/17 are both the same group.

what #'s did you have

[JCougar]

(1) Dean Jerry noted that they anticipated a +2 pt increase in their lsat median. He said that they had never been this late in the cycle with such a high gpa/lsat profile. This may explain why some of you are getting wl'd.

That's incredible. I don't know if I've ever seen a +2 pt LSAT median increase in one year. Especially after they increased their LSAT median a point last year (although this was likely partially due to the decreased class size). Last year, their entering class had a 75th percentile of 163 and a median of 161. This would mean that at least 75 people had a 163 or higher, and another ~75 had LSATs of 161 and 162. In just one year's time, they've suddenly attracted double the number of 163+ candidates and expect them to matriculate.

This economy must really be pushing people to lower cost options. There's not that many extra applicants out there this year. Even with that said, if this is true, it's surprising that so many more people are choosing UF given the announcement of a) tuition going up 15% per year for the next few years, and b) the regional nature of employment prospects at the school. But maybe the in-state tuition is just keeping a lot more people in-state this year.

[waverider]

From what I see on LSN it doesn't look like many are accepted off of the waitlist.

Should we consider the waitlist as a soft rejection?

[JCougar]

There's another factor in play here that some people seem not to be considering: the secondary applicant pool. Technically, people are not even done applying to the school. I'm still not sure how that works if you're someone with a February LSAT but applied as a primary applicant. And I have no idea how many people even apply through this pool, much less get accepted.

[freakingout2]

158/3.8

DLIT 3/17

Waitlisted.

[cigator]

[quote="miamiman"]This bit of information might be helpful to all of those who are confused about having been WL'd with seemingly auto-admit #s.


(2) Re: Jobs. There has been a tremendous pullback from large firms. Dean Jerry was frank about the situation and suggested students seek government positions because of the pullback. A few admits probed deeper and he really did not have anything positive to say about the situation -- noting that legal employment generallly lags the larger economy and that even the c/o of 2013 would probably be too early to the game.



Hmm, maybe FSU with the government exposure while in law school wouldn't be a bad thing based on that comment

[Sky'stheLimit]

(1) Dean Jerry noted that they anticipated a +2 pt increase in their lsat median. He said that they had never been this late in the cycle with such a high gpa/lsat profile. This may explain why some of you are getting wl'd.

That's incredible. I don't know if I've ever seen a +2 pt LSAT median increase in one year. Especially after they increased their LSAT median a point last year (although this was likely partially due to the decreased class size). Last year, their entering class had a 75th percentile of 163 and a median of 161. This would mean that at least 75 people had a 163 or higher, and another ~75 had LSATs of 161 and 162. In just one year's time, they've suddenly attracted double the number of 163+ candidates and expect them to matriculate.

This economy must really be pushing people to lower cost options. There's not that many extra applicants out there this year. Even with that said, if this is true, it's surprising that so many more people are choosing UF given the announcement of a) tuition going up 15% per year for the next few years, and b) the regional nature of employment prospects at the school. But maybe the in-state tuition is just keeping a lot more people in-state this year.

Not necessarily Jcougar, it could have been:

1-75 had 158s
76-150 had 161s
151-300 had 163+

Obviously this unlikely, but there's not a lot we can infer other than if the class were ordered in from highest to lowest LSAT scores, then the 75th person had a 158 (but that could be the lowest), the 150th person had a 161(but 151st could have a 163), and the 225th person had a 163

[mango26]

This bit of information might be helpful to all of those who are confused about having been WL'd with seemingly auto-admit #s.


(2) Re: Jobs. There has been a tremendous pullback from large firms. Dean Jerry was frank about the situation and suggested students seek government positions because of the pullback. A few admits probed deeper and he really did not have anything positive to say about the situation -- noting that legal employment generallly lags the larger economy and that even the c/o of 2013 would probably be too early to the game.



Hmm, maybe FSU with the government exposure while in law school wouldn't be a bad thing based on that comment

+1

[anders08]

can anyone speculate the likelihood of getting in off of the WL at UF? Is it pretty rare?

[steven3579]

I guess it depends on how many students matriculate. If there truly hasn't been a rise in applicants my guess is that more people applied to safeties and UF will end up having to pull from the waitlist. As seat deposit deadlines approach for other schools, UF will have a more realistic idea of the class profile.

[JCougar]

Not necessarily Jcougar, it could have been:

1-75 had 158s
76-150 had 161s
151-300 had 163+

Obviously this unlikely, but there's not a lot we can infer other than if the class were ordered in from highest to lowest LSAT scores, then the 75th person had a 158 (but that could be the lowest), the 150th person had a 161(but 151st could have a 163), and the 225th person had a 163

Not necessarily, but I think it's highly unlikely it looked like that. Presumably, the 163+ people would have even less incentive to go to UF because they would have more options available to them, and UF doesn't give out many additional scholarships to attract these people. Chances are there were a lot more 162s and 161s in their class than the numbers above them. Raising the median 1 point this cycle wouldn't surprise me in the least bit, but 2 points is a pretty big accomplishment. Just two years ago, their median was 160 and their 75th percentile was 162. Now, the median is all of a sudden going to be 163? It takes schools many years to raise their medians just two points, but to raise it 3 points in 2 years seems unheard of. Cutting down the class size likely helped, but it couldn't have helped that much. Their median now represents the top 150 students they can attract, rather than the top 200. That accounted for a 1 point increase last year. Now the top 150 all of a sudden have 163 and above? It's possible that the economy drove a ton more people to take in-state tuition, though, but that's still pretty amazing if actually true.

[cigator]

Is everyone as tired of this situation as I am? I am losing faith in getting admitted. A 162 is 86th percentile. I find it hard to believe that UF as the 50th ranked school fills its class with above 86th percentile. My 3.62 is right around the UF median. So my logic is the only way applicants like me don't get in is if quite a few seats are awarded to admits with lower #'s. If that is the case I would be pretty upset, and wind up at FSU. Keep the faith.

[mango26]

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[lawduder]

Not necessarily Jcougar, it could have been:

1-75 had 158s
76-150 had 161s
151-300 had 163+

Obviously this unlikely, but there's not a lot we can infer other than if the class were ordered in from highest to lowest LSAT scores, then the 75th person had a 158 (but that could be the lowest), the 150th person had a 161(but 151st could have a 163), and the 225th person had a 163

Not necessarily, but I think it's highly unlikely it looked like that. Presumably, the 163+ people would have even less incentive to go to UF because they would have more options available to them, and UF doesn't give out many additional scholarships to attract these people. Chances are there were a lot more 162s and 161s in their class than the numbers above them. Raising the median 1 point this cycle wouldn't surprise me in the least bit, but 2 points is a pretty big accomplishment. Just two years ago, their median was 160 and their 75th percentile was 162. Now, the median is all of a sudden going to be 163? It takes schools many years to raise their medians just two points, but to raise it 3 points in 2 years seems unheard of. Cutting down the class size likely helped, but it couldn't have helped that much. Their median now represents the top 150 students they can attract, rather than the top 200. That accounted for a 1 point increase last year. Now the top 150 all of a sudden have 163 and above? It's possible that the economy drove a ton more people to take in-state tuition, though, but that's still pretty amazing if actually true.

I think is a huge problem with the way UF tries to attract students to attend. They really pushed that they're a "bargain" when it comes to going to law school, but for a few of us they really aren't that great of a deal without scholarship money. In my situation, UF is about 5-6k cheaper per in terms of tuition than Emory will be after being offered a scholarship. That's not anywhere near enough to make me think twice.