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To what extent can one interpret receiving a fee waiver as signalling a probable chance of being admitted? I realize many schools will give waivers come whoever come who may, but the top schools tend to be more selective with their waivers. I find it strange that they would say, "Hey, we want you to apply so badly that we don't even want money from you," to a person they would deny anyway, but given my numbers (167, 3.90), I find it hard to believe that I'll actually be admitted to every one of these schools, even though I received a waiver from pretty much every one except the top few. Opinions?

schools give fee waivers so they can increase the number of applicants and consequently the number of rejections....fee waivers help a school appear to be more selective than it would be if only qualified applicants applied

Nope, use law school predictor to figure that out, sometimes they give them to everyone with a certain LSAT and up (so not completely arbitrary)

they use fee waivers to increase applications, increased # applications mean they can deny more people, means they are more "selective"

They may want to use fee waivers to influence their admit profile or application profile somewhat. This also should indicate nothing to you about your chances. A school that wants to boost its LSAT might offer fee waivers to everyone over 170 LSAT. If you have a 170/2.2, your chances are still terrible because of the 175/3.7 applications that are also getting that fee waiver and applying.

You know those credit card offers that get mailed to you that say "You are pre-approved! And your membership fee has been waived!" Those don't necessarily mean you're getting a good credit line or even a card. It's just another kind of marketing.

Or think about Illinois. They have decided that they are way better off just not charging a fee. Sure they lose money, but what they get out of it (higher selectivity, plus a few extra people get in that maybe wouldn't have applied to Illinois for $75, a few of those people actually decide to attend, and now you have a better class).