Stanford c/o 2015 Applicants (2011-2012 cycle) Forum

[sayornis]

Just called them. If you have an April 15 deadline, email/call SLS next week and they'll add a note to your file to see if they can get back to you faster. No promises though.

[sharktankdean]

Stanford's yield will be around 45-55%. Any boost from US News probably won't amount to much. Harvard has, and will always have, the lay prestige that will allow it to have the higher yield.

very true as well

These schools have been within a spot of each other or even tied for the last ten years. To assume that people who are lucky enough to be able to choose between these two schools (and therefore clearly somewhat intelligent), will base such a huge decision on the arbitrary and narrow rankings by a single publication seems a little absurd.

Agree to all of this. I'm from the East Coast and even educated people outside of the field fail to comprehend that Harvard is not the holy grail of legal education (let's be honest:on TLS, we all know that is Yale). Stanford is so underrated in these parts that people seem to view Georgetown and Stanford as equally prestigious. Lay prestige is going to have 0 weight in my decision making process (except inasmuch as it translates into career options), but I do find the misperceptions surprising.
When I told one friend (who went to a T20 undergrad) that I decided to apply to Yale, she responded, and I kid you not, "Why would you apply there when you already have Georgetown?"

This made me laugh so hard.

[sharktankdean]

Just called them. If you have an April 15 deadline, email/call SLS next week and they'll add a note to your file to see if they can get back to you faster. No promises though.

so this means they expect to be actively reviewing files after April 15th smdh. Once again after reading Asha's blog and seeing some of the decisions that people got after telling stanford to hurry up...i will just wait

[Doorkeeper]

Just called them. If you have an April 15 deadline, email/call SLS next week and they'll add a note to your file to see if they can get back to you faster. No promises though.

so this means they expect to be actively reviewing files after April 15th smdh. Once again after reading Asha's blog and seeing some of the decisions that people got after telling stanford to hurry up...i will just wait

Yes. From past years, acceptances have gone out around 3/30 to 4/9, but in some cases WLs have gone out around 4/15-4/20.

[Parmenides]

My file was submitted for review four months ago today. I hope Stanford remembers our anniversary and gives me a call...

[Aspen]

Stanford's yield will be around 45-55%. Any boost from US News probably won't amount to much. Harvard has, and will always have, the lay prestige that will allow it to have the higher yield.

very true as well

These schools have been within a spot of each other or even tied for the last ten years. To assume that people who are lucky enough to be able to choose between these two schools (and therefore clearly somewhat intelligent), will base such a huge decision on the arbitrary and narrow rankings by a single publication seems a little absurd.

Agree to all of this. I'm from the East Coast and even educated people outside of the field fail to comprehend that Harvard is not the holy grail of legal education (let's be honest:on TLS, we all know that is Yale). Stanford is so underrated in these parts that people seem to view Georgetown and Stanford as equally prestigious. Lay prestige is going to have 0 weight in my decision making process (except inasmuch as it translates into career options), but I do find the misperceptions surprising.
When I told one friend (who went to a T20 undergrad) that I decided to apply to Yale, she responded, and I kid you not, "Why would you apply there when you already have Georgetown?"

Umm...that person just sounds like an idiot. I went to Georgetown for undergrad and even people there don't consider the law center that good...

[yepyepyep]

Just called them. If you have an April 15 deadline, email/call SLS next week and they'll add a note to your file to see if they can get back to you faster. No promises though.

so this means they expect to be actively reviewing files after April 15th smdh. Once again after reading Asha's blog and seeing some of the decisions that people got after telling stanford to hurry up...i will just wait

Yeah I agree with this. A few people I know who did this (not a big sample I know...but still...) got waitlisted. I'll pay the $600 to NYU and wait it out...

[Geneva]

These schools have been within a spot of each other or even tied for the last ten years. To assume that people who are lucky enough to be able to choose between these two schools (and therefore clearly somewhat intelligent), will base such a huge decision on the arbitrary and narrow rankings by a single publication seems a little absurd.

Agree to all of this. I'm from the East Coast and even educated people outside of the field fail to comprehend that Harvard is not the holy grail of legal education (let's be honest:on TLS, we all know that is Yale). Stanford is so underrated in these parts that people seem to view Georgetown and Stanford as equally prestigious. Lay prestige is going to have 0 weight in my decision making process (except inasmuch as it translates into career options), but I do find the misperceptions surprising.
When I told one friend (who went to a T20 undergrad) that I decided to apply to Yale, she responded, and I kid you not, "Why would you apply there when you already have Georgetown?"[/quote]

Umm...that person just sounds like an idiot. I went to Georgetown for undergrad and even people there don't consider the law center that good...[/quote]

Haha, well she works for the FBI so maybe it's a D.C. bias? TBF, I could barely contain my shock when she made that comment. People outside the law bubble seem to be largely oblivious to the way the legal market works. I sometimes hear comments about great school William & Mary is (again, D.C. bias?), or how even people at highly ranked schools like UNC can't find jobs, and can barely contain my opinion. Then I wonder if my reaction, coupled with my "T14 or it's probably not worth it" mentality and TLS addiction, means that I'm the one with the flawed perception...

[Kimberly]

"Then I wonder if my reaction, coupled with my 'T14 or it's probably not worth it' mentality and TLS addiction, means that I'm the one with the flawed perception..."

aaahhh yes, such are the contemplations of life, my friend. Everything is an illusion, made reality only through a filter of personal experience and priorities.

[sharktankdean]

another day seems to be going by without us hearing back....i thought the nyu deposit might shake them a little..but i guess they really don't care

[Doorkeeper]

another day seems to be going by without us hearing back....i thought the nyu deposit might shake them a little..but i guess they really don't care

Not peer, brah. They assume a person depositing at NYU would gladly loose the $600 to get a Stanford acceptance, which is probably correct for most cases.

Also, this wait is killing me. I'm hoping it'll be a very "Good" Friday tomorrow.

Also, this wait is ridiculous. There's nothing like it in the past 4-5 cycles in LSN. Acceptances always started between 3/28 and 4/2 from what I've looked through.

[poe]

another day seems to be going by without us hearing back....i thought the nyu deposit might shake them a little..but i guess they really don't care

Not peer, brah. They assume a person depositing at NYU would gladly loose the $600 to get a Stanford acceptance, which is probably correct for most cases.

Also, this wait is killing me. I'm hoping it'll be a very "Good" Friday tomorrow.

Also, this wait is ridiculous. There's nothing like it in the past 4-5 cycles in LSN. Acceptances always started between 3/28 and 4/2 from what I've looked through.

Not to mention the early-March URM wave that never materialized.

[Doorkeeper]

Want to know something sad?

It has almost been 2 months since I sent in my LOCI.

[splbagel]

Honestly, waiting this long to get back to such a large percentage of the class feels almost disrespectful on Stanford's part -- especially for those of us who made sure our applications were complete before Thanksgiving. A lot of us have complex decisions to make about our budgets, housing, job searches for significant others, summer plans, etc... not to mention choosing between schools... also not to mention booking last-minute cross-country flights for ASW...

I understand that they receive approximately a zillion applications for every spot, and that it doesn't necessarily make sense for them to process them quickly in the order they're received. But you would think that it would be to their advantage to hire extra staff if necessary to get decisions to most pre-Thanksgiving completes by February, and most everyone else other than WL's by late March, so that we have some time to weigh our options, negotiate financial aid if necessary, and make the right decision.

At this point I'm pretty much set on another school which I think is actually a better fit for my interests. This decision is mostly independent of Stanford, and I'm still excepting to be rejected from SLS... but on the off-chance that SLS had admitted me in, say, February, they would have had a chance to make their case and maybe convinced me to hold off on a final decision until ASW. As it is, it's pretty much too late for me to reconsider because I was admitted to HLS exactly 4 months ago today and have been planning accordingly (and they did a good job at ASW convincing me that HLS was a better fit).

Sorry if this comes off as super entitled or obnoxious... have been holding this rant in for a long time. Maybe someone who gets admitted and matriculates might communicate with the admissions office and ask them to reconsider their strategy or at least do whatever needs to get done in the office to bump up their timeline by 2-4 weeks (hire students to temp for the admissions season?).

I hope all of your phones are ringing off the hook tomorrow.

[Doorkeeper]

I totally understand your point, spelbagel. In addition, the craziness of booking a flight to San Francisco in under 2 weeks notice for their ASW will be pretty ridiculous for those who get admitted over the next few days.

I'm not sure why Stanford admits people according to the system that they have in place. It would be very interesting if an admitted student could ask Dean Deal or another Admissions staffer about it. It would probably be particularly useful if that individual was a Harvard cross-admit, as that's their most obvious competitor for yield.

[Geneva]

Honestly, waiting this long to get back to such a large percentage of the class feels almost disrespectful on Stanford's part -- especially for those of us who made sure our applications were complete before Thanksgiving. A lot of us have complex decisions to make about our budgets, housing, job searches for significant others, summer plans, etc... not to mention choosing between schools... also not to mention booking last-minute cross-country flights for ASW...

I understand that they receive approximately a zillion applications for every spot, and that it doesn't necessarily make sense for them to process them quickly in the order they're received. But you would think that it would be to their advantage to hire extra staff if necessary to get decisions to most pre-Thanksgiving completes by February, and most everyone else other than WL's by late March, so that we have some time to weigh our options, negotiate financial aid if necessary, and make the right decision.

At this point I'm pretty much set on another school which I think is actually a better fit for my interests. This decision is mostly independent of Stanford, and I'm still excepting to be rejected from SLS... but on the off-chance that SLS had admitted me in, say, February, they would have had a chance to make their case and maybe convinced me to hold off on a final decision until ASW. As it is, it's pretty much too late for me to reconsider because I was admitted to HLS exactly 4 months ago today and have been planning accordingly (and they did a good job at ASW convincing me that HLS was a better fit).

Sorry if this comes off as super entitled or obnoxious... have been holding this rant in for a long time. Maybe someone who gets admitted and matriculates might communicate with the admissions office and ask them to reconsider their strategy or at least do whatever needs to get done in the office to bump up their timeline by 2-4 weeks (hire students to temp for the admissions season?).

I hope all of your phones are ringing off the hook tomorrow.

You make several good points. Would it have been helpful to receive a hold status? I feel like Harvard is similarly slow but does provide the courtesy of a hold if the wait is going to be longer than 3 months.

[Kimberly]

Honestly, waiting this long to get back to such a large percentage of the class feels almost disrespectful on Stanford's part -- especially for those of us who made sure our applications were complete before Thanksgiving. A lot of us have complex decisions to make about our budgets, housing, job searches for significant others, summer plans, etc... not to mention choosing between schools... also not to mention booking last-minute cross-country flights for ASW...

I understand that they receive approximately a zillion applications for every spot, and that it doesn't necessarily make sense for them to process them quickly in the order they're received. But you would think that it would be to their advantage to hire extra staff if necessary to get decisions to most pre-Thanksgiving completes by February, and most everyone else other than WL's by late March, so that we have some time to weigh our options, negotiate financial aid if necessary, and make the right decision.

At this point I'm pretty much set on another school which I think is actually a better fit for my interests. This decision is mostly independent of Stanford, and I'm still excepting to be rejected from SLS... but on the off-chance that SLS had admitted me in, say, February, they would have had a chance to make their case and maybe convinced me to hold off on a final decision until ASW. As it is, it's pretty much too late for me to reconsider because I was admitted to HLS exactly 4 months ago today and have been planning accordingly (and they did a good job at ASW convincing me that HLS was a better fit).

Sorry if this comes off as super entitled or obnoxious... have been holding this rant in for a long time. Maybe someone who gets admitted and matriculates might communicate with the admissions office and ask them to reconsider their strategy or at least do whatever needs to get done in the office to bump up their timeline by 2-4 weeks (hire students to temp for the admissions season?).

I hope all of your phones are ringing off the hook tomorrow.

Doesn't come off as super entitled or obnoxious... just your opinion and your priorities. That said, I am happy you are going to HLS and I am happy there are people like you who are put off enough by Stanford dragging their feet that you have decided against SLS... leaves my odds better. So now it is time for you to put your money where your mouth is and withdraw yourself from consideration! Tsanks!

[adam1]

Honestly, waiting this long to get back to such a large percentage of the class feels almost disrespectful on Stanford's part -- especially for those of us who made sure our applications were complete before Thanksgiving. A lot of us have complex decisions to make about our budgets, housing, job searches for significant others, summer plans, etc... not to mention choosing between schools... also not to mention booking last-minute cross-country flights for ASW...

I understand that they receive approximately a zillion applications for every spot, and that it doesn't necessarily make sense for them to process them quickly in the order they're received. But you would think that it would be to their advantage to hire extra staff if necessary to get decisions to most pre-Thanksgiving completes by February, and most everyone else other than WL's by late March, so that we have some time to weigh our options, negotiate financial aid if necessary, and make the right decision.

At this point I'm pretty much set on another school which I think is actually a better fit for my interests. This decision is mostly independent of Stanford, and I'm still excepting to be rejected from SLS... but on the off-chance that SLS had admitted me in, say, February, they would have had a chance to make their case and maybe convinced me to hold off on a final decision until ASW. As it is, it's pretty much too late for me to reconsider because I was admitted to HLS exactly 4 months ago today and have been planning accordingly (and they did a good job at ASW convincing me that HLS was a better fit).

Sorry if this comes off as super entitled or obnoxious... have been holding this rant in for a long time. Maybe someone who gets admitted and matriculates might communicate with the admissions office and ask them to reconsider their strategy or at least do whatever needs to get done in the office to bump up their timeline by 2-4 weeks (hire students to temp for the admissions season?).

I hope all of your phones are ringing off the hook tomorrow.

Doesn't come off as super entitled or obnoxious... just your opinion and your priorities. That said, I am happy you are going to HLS and I am happy there are people like you who are put off enough by Stanford dragging their feet that you have decided against SLS... leaves my odds better. So now it is time for you to put your money where your mouth is and withdraw yourself from consideration! Tsanks!

Thank you for saying what I was thinking.

[splbagel]

You make several good points. Would it have been helpful to receive a hold status? I feel like Harvard is similarly slow but does provide the courtesy of a hold if the wait is going to be longer than 3 months.

Yes, a "hold" would have been very helpful. Then at least I would have more information about where I stand and when to expect a decision. As it is, I've been basically waiting with baited breath since late January.

I do see your point Kimberly. My plan was to immediately withdraw if I'm waitlisted. If I'm not rejected before ASW, I'll withdraw then.

[sharktankdean]

Honestly, waiting this long to get back to such a large percentage of the class feels almost disrespectful on Stanford's part -- especially for those of us who made sure our applications were complete before Thanksgiving. A lot of us have complex decisions to make about our budgets, housing, job searches for significant others, summer plans, etc... not to mention choosing between schools... also not to mention booking last-minute cross-country flights for ASW...

I understand that they receive approximately a zillion applications for every spot, and that it doesn't necessarily make sense for them to process them quickly in the order they're received. But you would think that it would be to their advantage to hire extra staff if necessary to get decisions to most pre-Thanksgiving completes by February, and most everyone else other than WL's by late March, so that we have some time to weigh our options, negotiate financial aid if necessary, and make the right decision.

At this point I'm pretty much set on another school which I think is actually a better fit for my interests. This decision is mostly independent of Stanford, and I'm still excepting to be rejected from SLS... but on the off-chance that SLS had admitted me in, say, February, they would have had a chance to make their case and maybe convinced me to hold off on a final decision until ASW. As it is, it's pretty much too late for me to reconsider because I was admitted to HLS exactly 4 months ago today and have been planning accordingly (and they did a good job at ASW convincing me that HLS was a better fit).

Sorry if this comes off as super entitled or obnoxious... have been holding this rant in for a long time. Maybe someone who gets admitted and matriculates might communicate with the admissions office and ask them to reconsider their strategy or at least do whatever needs to get done in the office to bump up their timeline by 2-4 weeks (hire students to temp for the admissions season?).

I hope all of your phones are ringing off the hook tomorrow.

i think your rant is spot on

[AmandaPB]

Honestly, waiting this long to get back to such a large percentage of the class feels almost disrespectful on Stanford's part -- especially for those of us who made sure our applications were complete before Thanksgiving. A lot of us have complex decisions to make about our budgets, housing, job searches for significant others, summer plans, etc... not to mention choosing between schools... also not to mention booking last-minute cross-country flights for ASW...

I understand that they receive approximately a zillion applications for every spot, and that it doesn't necessarily make sense for them to process them quickly in the order they're received. But you would think that it would be to their advantage to hire extra staff if necessary to get decisions to most pre-Thanksgiving completes by February, and most everyone else other than WL's by late March, so that we have some time to weigh our options, negotiate financial aid if necessary, and make the right decision.

At this point I'm pretty much set on another school which I think is actually a better fit for my interests. This decision is mostly independent of Stanford, and I'm still excepting to be rejected from SLS... but on the off-chance that SLS had admitted me in, say, February, they would have had a chance to make their case and maybe convinced me to hold off on a final decision until ASW. As it is, it's pretty much too late for me to reconsider because I was admitted to HLS exactly 4 months ago today and have been planning accordingly (and they did a good job at ASW convincing me that HLS was a better fit).

Sorry if this comes off as super entitled or obnoxious... have been holding this rant in for a long time. Maybe someone who gets admitted and matriculates might communicate with the admissions office and ask them to reconsider their strategy or at least do whatever needs to get done in the office to bump up their timeline by 2-4 weeks (hire students to temp for the admissions season?).

I hope all of your phones are ringing off the hook tomorrow.

I see what you’re saying, but Harvard is doing the same thing to me. It’s definitely not singular to Stanford.

[yepyepyep]

Honestly, waiting this long to get back to such a large percentage of the class feels almost disrespectful on Stanford's part -- especially for those of us who made sure our applications were complete before Thanksgiving. A lot of us have complex decisions to make about our budgets, housing, job searches for significant others, summer plans, etc... not to mention choosing between schools... also not to mention booking last-minute cross-country flights for ASW...

I understand that they receive approximately a zillion applications for every spot, and that it doesn't necessarily make sense for them to process them quickly in the order they're received. But you would think that it would be to their advantage to hire extra staff if necessary to get decisions to most pre-Thanksgiving completes by February, and most everyone else other than WL's by late March, so that we have some time to weigh our options, negotiate financial aid if necessary, and make the right decision.

At this point I'm pretty much set on another school which I think is actually a better fit for my interests. This decision is mostly independent of Stanford, and I'm still excepting to be rejected from SLS... but on the off-chance that SLS had admitted me in, say, February, they would have had a chance to make their case and maybe convinced me to hold off on a final decision until ASW. As it is, it's pretty much too late for me to reconsider because I was admitted to HLS exactly 4 months ago today and have been planning accordingly (and they did a good job at ASW convincing me that HLS was a better fit).

Sorry if this comes off as super entitled or obnoxious... have been holding this rant in for a long time. Maybe someone who gets admitted and matriculates might communicate with the admissions office and ask them to reconsider their strategy or at least do whatever needs to get done in the office to bump up their timeline by 2-4 weeks (hire students to temp for the admissions season?).

I hope all of your phones are ringing off the hook tomorrow.

These are good points. I'm surprised you havent gotten an acceptance yet also, esp given your H acceptance so long ago. I think most of the people who have been soft held here haven't heard, have been held, or have been rejected from H. So S probably doesn't feel pressure just like H doesn't. It's also possible given your background and application that they thought (correctly?) that H would be a better fit for you, so they didn't prioritize. I don't know though.
But along the lines of what you're saying, I don't understand why there's this whole vague drawn out process for law school admissions generally. Undergrad admissions for most if not all schools (who accept a similar percentage but have to go through maaaaany more applicants) give out all decisions over one week, and we have a particular day to respond to all of them. Why doesn't law school do it this way?

[splbagel]

I see what you’re saying, but Harvard is doing the same thing to me. It’s definitely not singular to Stanford.

For sure. Harvard has been really obnoxious to the "hold" group and I hope they get their act together and sort that out ASAP... but they at least gave decisions to a significant % of the class within a month or two of applying. Maybe I just lack a true appreciation for how the admissions cycle works from the perspective of the admissions staff.

[ned]

I think it's a reasonable explanation, that they want to see how many students in the "accepted" pile withdraw, now that they seem to be the last school standing for many applicants. Since they have til the 30th, their own arbitrary deadline, they can sit on notifications for a week or two and see who withdraws. But then there seem to be quite a few of us who very likely aren't in the admit pile, and if we are, they'd know SLS is beyond the best option we have. I'm in the 1/6 batch, yet many people with way better numbers and later UR dates have been rejected.

Also I think the batches have been sliced and diced into various categories, and they are deciding on those various piles according to differing schedules. and the piles overlap. The non-trad pile, the YP pile, the URM pile, the borderline pile, etc.... Or maybe there was a staffing issue or maybe the Dean had a family emergency that delayed the whole line by a couple weeks.... All we can do is make burnt offerings in our basements to the gods of SLS.

[Geneva]

You make several good points. Would it have been helpful to receive a hold status? I feel like Harvard is similarly slow but does provide the courtesy of a hold if the wait is going to be longer than 3 months.

Yes, a "hold" would have been very helpful. Then at least I would have more information about where I stand and when to expect a decision. As it is, I've been basically waiting with baited breath since late January.

I do see your point Kimberly. My plan was to immediately withdraw if I'm waitlisted. If I'm not rejected before ASW, I'll withdraw then.

At what point, if any, would you have been willing to ride a waitlist after you were accepted to Harvard? I have no doubt that my current preference for SLS over HLS is in part due to the fact that Harvard decided to hold my app. I can't even imagine how frustrating it must be to wait for so many months; I was annoyed that BC was silent for 2.5 months and didn't think it important to accept me in time for ASW.
Speaking of BC, can anyone explain why they needed 2.5 months to decide on my candidacy? I applied to BC earlier in the cycle than SLS, but I heard back from SLS earlier (less than a month after my app was submitted for review). This sounds bad, but the BC acceptance came a day after the Stanford acceptance and truly made me laugh. At that point, I was almost certain BC would be a WL bc it didn't seem in their interest to accept me at that point, but...w/e. The delay is def not singular to Stanford