Waitlists Advice Forum

[elm84dr]

So I have gotten waitlisted out. Partly, I believe, is due to my low LSAT/GPA. I wrote a compelling essay, have great recs, and impressive softs.

black/Latino male, 3.3, top 30 undergrad, 155 LSAT

I need some "getting of wait list" advice!

Waitlisted at:
Columbia
Cornell (reserve)
Vanderbilt
Fordham
Emory

Rejected at:
BC
BU
Georgetown
NYU

Accepted at:
Northeastern
Wake Forest
UMiami

[gdane]

If you use the search function, you'll find this exact same question asked about 50 times. Read through any one of the threads and you'll get an answer.

There is no one bit of advice we can give you. Send the schools you were WL at a letter of continued interest letting them know how much you want to go to their school and why. Keep it short. No more than a page. Visit whatever schools you can.

Good luck!

[elm84dr]

I was hoping that some one who got off any of these wait list (or similarly ranked ones) would tell me what they did.

[gdane]

Again, use the search function at the bottom of the page. A TLS user named OperaSoprano detailed what she did to get off the waitlist at Fordham. Its useful advice, but still not a guarantee.

Good Luck!

[darknightbegins]

Black and Latino? Damn you got the URM angle covered.

[Sias]

So I have gotten waitlisted out. Partly, I believe, is due to my low LSAT/GPA. I wrote a compelling essay, have great recs, and impressive softs.

black/Latino male, 3.3, top 30 undergrad, 155 LSAT

I need some "getting of wait list" advice!

Waitlisted at:
Columbia
Cornell (reserve)
Vanderbilt
Fordham
Emory

Rejected at:
BC
BU
Georgetown
NYU

Accepted at:
Northeastern
Wake Forest
UMiami

Frankly you hardly deserve to have Wake, so my advice is to be happy with what is clearly a URM handout.

[elm84dr]

So I have gotten waitlisted out. Partly, I believe, is due to my low LSAT/GPA. I wrote a compelling essay, have great recs, and impressive softs.

black/Latino male, 3.3, top 30 undergrad, 155 LSAT

I need some "getting of wait list" advice!

Waitlisted at:
Columbia
Cornell (reserve)
Vanderbilt
Fordham
Emory

Rejected at:
BC
BU
Georgetown
NYU

Accepted at:
Northeastern
Wake Forest
UMiami

Frankly you hardly deserve to have Wake, so my advice is to be happy with what is clearly a URM handout.

Sias, you don't know me or what I have to offer a law program. Like I said, I had a compelling personal statement, unique softs and a lot of work experience with great recommendations. No one ever handed me anything. It's best you refrain from making judgments about a person based purely upon LSAT scores and GPA (I had a STRONG upward trend).

[GoGreenGoWhite]

@ elm84dr:

Hey man, how sold on Wake are you at this point? Are they high on your list? or low? Have you worked out any scenarios where you could see yourself attending Wake in the fall if certain # of your other options don't come thru?? I'm just asking b/c I'm in sorta the same boat as you with similar numbers:

URM male, 2.9/153

[wakefield]

So I have gotten waitlisted out. Partly, I believe, is due to my low LSAT/GPA. I wrote a compelling essay, have great recs, and impressive softs.

black/Latino male, 3.3, top 30 undergrad, 155 LSAT

I need some "getting of wait list" advice!

Waitlisted at:
Columbia
Cornell (reserve)
Vanderbilt
Fordham
Emory

Rejected at:
BC
BU
Georgetown
NYU

Accepted at:
Northeastern
Wake Forest
UMiami

Frankly you hardly deserve to have Wake, so my advice is to be happy with what is clearly a URM handout.

Sias, you don't know me or what I have to offer a law program. Like I said, I had a compelling personal statement, unique softs and a lot of work experience with great recommendations. No one ever handed me anything. It's best you refrain from making judgments about a person based purely upon LSAT scores and GPA (I had a STRONG upward trend).

plenty of people have all those things and the numbers to match. (btw, no one gets "handed" a top LSAT score.) this cycle was competitive, even for people with solid numbers.

go look at law school numbers and note the 3.8/172s getting waitlisted at columbia, or the 3.5/165s at fordham. go ahead and write LOCI's, but don't assume your experiences trump those of all the other applicants on the same waitlists with better numbers.

[elm84dr]

So I have gotten waitlisted out. Partly, I believe, is due to my low LSAT/GPA. I wrote a compelling essay, have great recs, and impressive softs.

black/Latino male, 3.3, top 30 undergrad, 155 LSAT

I need some "getting of wait list" advice!

Waitlisted at:
Columbia
Cornell (reserve)
Vanderbilt
Fordham
Emory

Rejected at:
BC
BU
Georgetown
NYU

Accepted at:
Northeastern
Wake Forest
UMiami

Frankly you hardly deserve to have Wake, so my advice is to be happy with what is clearly a URM handout.

Sias, you don't know me or what I have to offer a law program. Like I said, I had a compelling personal statement, unique softs and a lot of work experience with great recommendations. No one ever handed me anything. It's best you refrain from making judgments about a person based purely upon LSAT scores and GPA (I had a STRONG upward trend).

plenty of people have all those things and the numbers to match. (btw, no one gets "handed" a top LSAT score.) this cycle was competitive, even for people with solid numbers.

go look at law school numbers and note the 3.8/172s getting waitlisted at columbia, or the 3.5/165s at fordham. go ahead and write LOCI's, but don't assume your experiences trump those of all the other applicants on the same waitlists with better numbers.

@ Wakefiled, please show me where I am making an assumption that my experiences trump all others? I do believe that what I wrote in my personal statement is not the experiences of hardly anyone applying to top schools. I chose great people to write recommendations for me. I did not say an LSAT score was handed anything either. If you got a 170+ chances are you are innately smart or you put a lot of hard work into it, kudos. I simply said that sias does not know me. Some of these schools look at more than just numbers, which is obvious in this case. I don't believe that just any URM would have gotten considered (since many of my friends with high 150s, low 160s, got rejected from these schools).

[Sias]

So I have gotten waitlisted out. Partly, I believe, is due to my low LSAT/GPA. I wrote a compelling essay, have great recs, and impressive softs.

black/Latino male, 3.3, top 30 undergrad, 155 LSAT

I need some "getting of wait list" advice!

Waitlisted at:
Columbia
Cornell (reserve)
Vanderbilt
Fordham
Emory

Rejected at:
BC
BU
Georgetown
NYU

Accepted at:
Northeastern
Wake Forest
UMiami

Frankly you hardly deserve to have Wake, so my advice is to be happy with what is clearly a URM handout.

Sias, you don't know me or what I have to offer a law program. Like I said, I had a compelling personal statement, unique softs and a lot of work experience with great recommendations. No one ever handed me anything. It's best you refrain from making judgments about a person based purely upon LSAT scores and GPA (I had a STRONG upward trend).

I could waste time trying to edify you here, but for brevity's sake I'll simply say that you're being naive. Wake is a great school--you should put your energy towards getting excited about that because the other ones just aren't going to happen.

[wakefield]

Frankly you hardly deserve to have Wake, so my advice is to be happy with what is clearly a URM handout.

Sias, you don't know me or what I have to offer a law program. Like I said, I had a compelling personal statement, unique softs and a lot of work experience with great recommendations. No one ever handed me anything. It's best you refrain from making judgments about a person based purely upon LSAT scores and GPA (I had a STRONG upward trend).

plenty of people have all those things and the numbers to match. (btw, no one gets "handed" a top LSAT score.) this cycle was competitive, even for people with solid numbers.

go look at law school numbers and note the 3.8/172s getting waitlisted at columbia, or the 3.5/165s at fordham. go ahead and write LOCI's, but don't assume your experiences trump those of all the other applicants on the same waitlists with better numbers.

@ Wakefiled, please show me where I am making an assumption that my experiences trump all others? I do believe that what I wrote in my personal statement is not the experiences of hardly anyone applying to top schools. I chose great people to write recommendations for me. I did not say an LSAT score was handed anything either. If you got a 170+ chances are you are innately smart or you put a lot of hard work into it, kudos. I simply said that sias does not know me. Some of these schools look at more than just numbers, which is obvious in this case. I don't believe that just any URM would have gotten considered (since many of my friends with high 150s, low 160s, got rejected from these schools).

my only point is that your numbers count, too. many people will also have compelling personal statements, great recommendations, etc etc. i agree with you that not any URM would be placed on those waitlists, and you must have had something in your application those schools liked. but even schools that look beyond the numbers have to draw the line somewhere, so i suggest you make sure you're comfortable with a school you've already been accepted to. there's tons of good advice on TLS on getting off waitlists, but have a backup plan.

[elm84dr]

Most definitely. I cannot bank on getting off a waitlist. I will be going to Northeastern (from the New England) as of now. I hope I can get off the lists, and I work toward that goal. @ Sias, I believe that I'm being optimistic, not naive. Being placed on a waitlist means you are admittable (less so than those already admitted-obviously). The way spots loosen up is if you fill a requirement of one of the people that does not deposit at the school. (A URM, from your region, with your major, etc.)

BTW Sias---great SAT word with edify, lol. I love that word!

[Sias]

Most definitely. I cannot bank on getting off a waitlist. I will be going to Northeastern (from the New England) as of now. I hope I can get off the lists, and I work toward that goal. @ Sias, I believe that I'm being optimistic, not naive. Being placed on a waitlist means you are admittable (less so than those already admitted-obviously). The way spots loosen up is if you fill a requirement of one of the people that does not deposit at the school. (A URM, from your region, with your major, etc.)

BTW Sias---great SAT word with edify, lol. I love that word!

Obviously it's worth hoping for, and I agree that a school wouldn't wait list unless there were a chance of admission, but you get a lot of people who come here and ask "what are my chances?" and we call it like we see it because we're (hopefully) future lawyers here. It's best to be realistic so you can get excited about the school you're likely to end up at.

As to Northeastern: congrats on an awesome school in a great city. I currently live in Boston and can tell you that Northeastern has an outstanding reputation here. I know a few people from college who just graduated and they said the co-op definitely made getting a job easy.