Held at Harvard Law 2011 Forum

[Knock]

The Law School Admission Council publishes a Statement of Good Admission and Financial Aid Practices, by which all member schools agree to abide. If you read the Statement carefully, you will see that item number 6 under "Application Procedures" states the following:

After April 1, except under binding early decision plans, every accepted applicant should be free to accept a new offer from a law school even though a scholarship has been accepted, a deposit has been paid, or a committment [sic] has been made to another school. To provide applicants with an uncoerced choice among various law schools, no excessive nonrefundable deposit should be required solely to maintain a place in the class. (Emphasis added.)

http://blogs.law.yale.edu/blogs/admissi ... power.aspx

You can deposit elsewhere and wait it out until you get a decision (waitlists and held are technically not a final decision) from H. The only thing a school can prohibit is deposits at multiple schools at the same time - most schools dont even do that (CLS is the one example I saw). I think for sanity and in fairness to other applicants it is best to make one deposit but there is nothing wrong with remaining on waitlists. Everyone who is on a waitlist will have deposited elsewhere and is also allowed to change their mind if they get in - thats the whole point of waitlists.

Not 100% on scholarship contracts but I'd guess they follow the same principle?

Yeah, I'm not 100% on whether this applies to scholarship contracts. It would be awful if it didn't...
Any ideas?

It seems to differ by school. Carefully read the fine text on your deposit agreements before submitting. For example, the Chicago scholarship acceptance agreement seems to require you withdraw from schools you have not heard from, i.e., Harvard for those currently held, though you can stay on wait lists at other schools:

[EDIT: I got clarification from Chicago that they consider being held to be a wait list, so disregard this particular warning, but still be careful in general...]

Commitment Response Form (Regular Decision)
If you wish to reserve a seat in the University of Chicago Law School Class of 2014, you must submit the Commitment Response Form below. Places in the Class of 2014 will be reserved for all candidates who indicate they wish to reserve a seat and submit a $500 seat deposit. Whether you will be attending the Law School or not, please submit the Commitment Response Form as soon as you have finalized your law school plans. Your cooperation will assist the University of Chicago Law School, as well as other law schools, in determining how many offers of admission to extend and will ensure that candidates with pending applications receive decisions as early as possible. The Law School has a policy that applicants should have, at any time, only one deposit or letter of intent to enroll at a law school unless there are extenuating circumstances that prevent the applicant from making a decision among outstanding offers of admission. When you reserve a seat in the Class of 2014, we request that you withdraw any deposits or commitments to attend any other law school and withdraw any outstanding applications for which you have not received a decision. You are not required to remove your name from waitlists at other law schools. Please do not check this option unless you are fully committed to attending the University of Chicago Law School at this time. [Emphasis added]

Thanks for this post. It's weird, the fine print on my scholarship agreement only says "I am required to
withdraw all applications to law schools to which I have already been admitted."

But you're right, in the regular decision commitment page it says "We request that you withdraw any deposits or commitments to attend any other law school and withdraw any outstanding applications for which you have not received a decision. You are not required to remove your name from waitlists at other law schools."

[hellome]

Yeah, I'm not 100% on whether this applies to scholarship contracts. It would be awful if it didn't...
Any ideas?

It seems to differ by school. Carefully read the fine text on your deposit agreements before submitting. For example, the Chicago scholarship acceptance agreement seems to require you withdraw from schools you have not heard from, i.e., Harvard for those currently held, though you can stay on wait lists at other schools:

[EDIT: I got clarification from Chicago that they consider being held to be a wait list, so disregard this particular warning, but still be careful in general...]

Commitment Response Form (Regular Decision)
If you wish to reserve a seat in the University of Chicago Law School Class of 2014, you must submit the Commitment Response Form below. Places in the Class of 2014 will be reserved for all candidates who indicate they wish to reserve a seat and submit a $500 seat deposit. Whether you will be attending the Law School or not, please submit the Commitment Response Form as soon as you have finalized your law school plans. Your cooperation will assist the University of Chicago Law School, as well as other law schools, in determining how many offers of admission to extend and will ensure that candidates with pending applications receive decisions as early as possible. The Law School has a policy that applicants should have, at any time, only one deposit or letter of intent to enroll at a law school unless there are extenuating circumstances that prevent the applicant from making a decision among outstanding offers of admission. When you reserve a seat in the Class of 2014, we request that you withdraw any deposits or commitments to attend any other law school and withdraw any outstanding applications for which you have not received a decision. You are not required to remove your name from waitlists at other law schools. Please do not check this option unless you are fully committed to attending the University of Chicago Law School at this time. [Emphasis added]

Thanks for this post. It's weird, the fine print on my scholarship agreement only says "I am required to
withdraw all applications to law schools to which I have already been admitted."

But you're right, in the regular decision commitment page it says "We request that you withdraw any deposits or commitments to attend any other law school and withdraw any outstanding applications for which you have not received a decision. You are not required to remove your name from waitlists at other law schools."

Hm this is scary.

[jtemp320]

Are there still a ton of us who are held and haven't heard anything? Is precedent that we'll get a rejection or waitlist soon?

[WestOfTheRest]

Are there still a ton of us who are held and haven't heard anything? Is precedent that we'll get a rejection or waitlist soon?

This seems to be the consensus.

[neonx]

I really do mean this in the nicest possible way, but I've been telling myself this every hour of every day:

[WestOfTheRest]

I really do mean this in the nicest possible way, but I've been telling myself this every hour of every day:

At this stage, we are all aware (or at least we should be) that Harvard isn't going to happen, and if it does it is because we are the exception not the rule.

[chasgoose]

I really do mean this in the nicest possible way, but I've been telling myself this every hour of every day:

At this stage, we are all aware (or at least we should be) that Harvard isn't going to happen, and if it does it is because we are the exception not the rule.

I mean yeah, but then why is it taking them so long? If they are just going to waitlist/reject all of us, what's the hold-up?

[WestOfTheRest]

I really do mean this in the nicest possible way, but I've been telling myself this every hour of every day:

At this stage, we are all aware (or at least we should be) that Harvard isn't going to happen, and if it does it is because we are the exception not the rule.

I mean yeah, but then why is it taking them so long? If they are just going to waitlist/reject all of us, what's the hold-up?

Same thing happened last year, and I presume the year before that. It's just how they run their ship.

[ilovemulch]

I really do mean this in the nicest possible way, but I've been telling myself this every hour of every day:

At this stage, we are all aware (or at least we should be) that Harvard isn't going to happen, and if it does it is because we are the exception not the rule.

I mean yeah, but then why is it taking them so long? If they are just going to waitlist/reject all of us, what's the hold-up?

Same thing happened last year, and I presume the year before that. It's just how they run their ship.

yeah it sucks bc it gets your hopes up. I guess it's sort of like a contingency plan. They hold onto everything until they are basically sure their class is fine and dandy and they don't need any of the "backups"...then they let them all go? (this from a recent reject, already released haa)

[misterbingley]

although...most of the january holds have recently been axed, right?
a tiny piece of me thinks that they are still going through the holds in some way to do some further weeding

#futilehope

[WestOfTheRest]

although...most of the january holds have recently been axed, right?
a tiny piece of me thinks that they are still going through the holds in some way to do some further weeding

#futilehope

I'm still here.

[Dany]

although...most of the january holds have recently been axed, right?
a tiny piece of me thinks that they are still going through the holds in some way to do some further weeding

#futilehope

I'm still here.

[neonx]

although...most of the january holds have recently been axed, right?
a tiny piece of me thinks that they are still going through the holds in some way to do some further weeding

#futilehope

I'm still here.

Very few have been ax'd from the hold pile.

[WestOfTheRest]

Very few have been ax'd from the hold pile.

This is my feeling as well. Although, I think that when I look at LSN, it appears that there is a bias towards those who haven't been axed being TLS members.

[misterbingley]

random speculation poll:

what percentage of LSN members are also members of TLS?
(members = non-lurkers)

[ElvisAaron]

random speculation poll:

what percentage of LSN members are also members of TLS?
(members = non-lurkers)

My uneducated guess is about 60%. I've talked to quite a few LSN members on other boards who had never heard of TLS... tough to say though. A lot of people have different usernames for each account.

[misterbingley]

My uneducated guess is about 60%. I've talked to quite a few LSN members on other boards who had never heard of TLS... tough to say though. A lot of people have different usernames for each account.

yeah, it's impossible to know. but i figured i'd try to give the thread something to talk about

[r6_philly]

WL!!! 1/10 Held

[syezzie]

WL!!! 1/10 Held

+1 (no JR1)

[tipler4213]

WL!!! 1/10 Held

+1

+2

[Dany]

Just got the WL email!!!

This is probably going to sound sad but... OMG HARVARD DIDN'T REJECT ME!!!!!

[c_dubya_s]

Just got the WL email!!!

This is probably going to sound sad but... OMG HARVARD DIDN'T REJECT ME!!!!!

I can completely agree

[boushi]

WL!!! 1/10 Held

+1

+2

+3

[r6_philly]

Just got the WL email!!!

This is probably going to sound sad but... OMG HARVARD DIDN'T REJECT ME!!!!!

I can completely agree

Especially they did last year!!! I am elated

[forward]

Just got the WL email!!!

This is probably going to sound sad but... OMG HARVARD DIDN'T REJECT ME!!!!!