Top Law Schools

Some of these are in the school-specific threads, but not all of them, and I think it would be nice to have it all in one place, too. please add the schools you are applying too, even if they are out of the T14--everyone deserves to know what is going on with their status checker!

All the schools are now linked to their LST reports as well.

For all non-acceptances, assume they will be sent by email unless otherwise noted. For international applicants, assume email for all news.

Yale:
No status checker. It's Yale.
Acceptances: Call
Area Code: 203
Not-acceptances: Asha says it will be by mail (thanks, Koala!) at the beginning of the cycle, but by email towards the end. (it appears now to be only by email)

Harvard:
Incomplete
Complete (up to a month)
JS1 (can take anywhere from a week to several months, especially if you are held) (in mailings, also by email)
Decision Rendered
JS2
May have date changes.

Acceptances: Call (email if international)
Area Code: 617

Stanford:
Incomplete
Submitted for Review
Shouldn’t take more than a few days
No date changes

Acceptances: Phone
Area Code: 650
Last year, if your status changed to "decision letter sent" and you hadn't received a phone call or email, you had been waitlisted/dinged.

Columbia:
Incomplete
Complete (two weeks)
Interview Request (WAIT, WHAT??? start reading from here)
No date changes.

Acceptances: Mail. Columbia appears to be emailing some acceptances now. (thanks, residentemma!)
Holds: Email
Letter contains Butler or Hammy info; other merit aid comes later

Chicago
Incomplete
Complete (up to two weeks)
Under Review (up to six weeks)
Under Review II (most people)
(Invited to Interview)
(Interview Scheduled)
Under Review (basically, switches back after you have your interview)
Date Changes

Acceptances: email, status checker changes simultaneously (thanks and congrats, kershka!)
Waitlists: email, status checker changes simultaneously (thanks, alinor!)

midwest17 wrote:Since I've seen a lot of questions about this lately, here is my best understanding of the status checker journey for people who are admitted:

Application Received
Application Complete (you get an email for this)
Application Under Review (UR 1) <- indicates first committee review of your file
(OPTIONAL) Application Under Review (UR 1.5) <- I did not receive this step, but I believe some people did
Invited for Interview
Application Under Review (UR 2) <- generally immediately after your interview, indicates that the interview is done
Application Under Review (UR 3) <- indicates second committee review of your file
Application Under Review (UR 4) <- most (all?) people get this in the days leading up to decisions being released. Both waves of decisions this year have been on Tuesday; UR4s have started on Friday and continued on Sunday/Monday/Tuesday. As far as I know, getting UR 4 happens whether you're getting admitted, WL'd, or dinged in the wave.

NYU
Complete
Under Review (a few days)
UR 1 (date change)
UR 2 (date change)
Decision Letter Sent (DLS)
NYU goes from complete to UR quickly. You may not have the same number of UR dates. It appears there is a slight pattern to the UR changes (those who submitted on the 20th then have the 23rd, 29th, and 1st, before DLS on the 10th, etc) but not significant.

Acceptances: Call, but you can try to check the Admitted Students Website to see once you go DLS. This may take till around four or five EST to be up and running. The phone call can take a few days.
Area Code: 212 or 201 (thanks, Bom!) or 646 (thanks, Theopliske8711!)
Admitted Students Website

Penn
Complete
Under Review (UR 1)
Under Review Date Change (UR 2)

Acceptances: Call
Area Code: 215 (thanks, kershka!)
Non-acceptances: email
There appears to be a fast turnover from UR 2 to RD acceptance.

UVA
UVA has a status checker but no status updates. It notes when you are complete (I think you get an email as well). It changes after you are accepted as well.

Acceptances: Phone call OR email
Non-Acceptances: email (thanks, Philly ). After you get this, your status checker changes to "Please check your email inbox for an update on your application status. If you did not receive the update, please contact the Admissions Office at..." (thanks, livefromannarbor :'( )
Area Code: 434

Berkeley
Incomplete
Complete (a few days)
Under Review (a few weeks)
Berkeley has UR date changes but they do not appear to mean anything.
If you are pushed to faculty review...
Faculty Review 1
Faculty Review 2

Acceptances: Status Checker and simultaneous email OR phone call. People who get calls will also get an email later.
Area Code: 510
Not-acceptances: email

The Magical Michigan Status Checker
Incomplete
Complete (about a week)
It will take several weeks to receive Michigan’s status checker. Once you do, it will be updated every day because Michigan is awesome.

Acceptances: Status checker, mail
Scholarships: Admitted Students' Website

Duke
Incomplete
Complete (like, a day)
Under Review (if PT, quickly, if RD, not so quickly ) (RD seems to take about a week)
Decision Letter Sent; Watch for Email

Acceptances: Email, letter arrives later
Not acceptances: Email (some have received it at really weird hours)
Scholarships: Email about a week or two later to fill out the application. Scholarships should be arriving before April 1st.
A lot of RD people who submitted from September to November seem to be hearing now (thanks, NoDayButToday!)

Northwestern
Incomplete
Complete
Decision Letter Available within 24 Hours
You stay incomplete at Northwestern until you complete any requested interviews and the interviewer has submitted the assessment. If a lot of time has gone between the two, you might want to call because the status checker isn't always updated (thanks, alex.cm!).
Once you get "decision letter available," (through status checker or email) you can refresh the status checker page as much to your heart's content until the letter shows up. (thanks, objection_your_honor!)
Remember to update NU with your interview date!

Acceptances: Status checker, email

Cornell
Incomplete
Complete (a long time)
[Interview request]
[Interview has been scheduled]
[???]
Congrats! update
You stay incomplete at Cornell for a very long time. Don’t get worried!

Acceptances: Email

Georgetown
Incomplete
Complete (a week or so)
Complete 2
Interview Request
Complete 3
(Additional Completes)
Three completes, with the interview request coming after the second, appears to be the general trend, but not always.
You can also check the ASW website, like with NYU here. Click on "no password?" and then request one by putting in your email. If they don't have a password for you, then they don't. If they do have one--congrats!

Acceptances: Mail (envelope is small!)
Admitted Students Website

Texas
Status checker
Complete
Admission granted

Acceptances: Status checker and call from Dean
Area Code: 512 (thanks, cannibal ox!)

Vanderbilt
Incomplete
Complete
(Interview Request)
Decision Mailed
It shouldn’t take too long to go complete

Acceptances: Mail (it’s a large package—you can contact FedEx and see if one weighing more than 5 lbs from Vandy is on your way once your status changes. It should arrive two days later.)
Not Acceptances: In previous years, the acceptances have been sent by FedEx and the non-acceptances by USPS (I think), which makes sense when you think it isn't a package.

UCLA
UCLA doesn’t have a status checker. They email you when they receive your application and when you go complete, and call if you are accepted.

Acceptances: Call
Area Code: 310

USC
Incomplete
Complete
Committee 1st Read
Committee 2nd Read
Final Review
Decision Made
Explanation for the status checker
Acceptance: email (thank you, 2014entering2014!)

Acceptances:

Minnesota (thanks, cannibal ox!)
Received (?)
Complete
In Review
Admitted - Congratulations!

Acceptance: Phone Call
Area Code: 612
Scholarship: Snail Mail (~1 week later)

WUSTL (thanks, Fiero85!)
Application Documents Received (within a few days) very quickly, remained on this status longest.
Complete (after a few weeks)
Email appears to be the more accurate form of communication, and is used for acceptances, interview requests, and scholarships. Casual phone interviews have been prevalent this cycle and are the usual step between complete and acceptance shortly after (1-2 weeks tops).
Acceptance: Email

Boston College
Complete
Under Review (can take awhile)
Acceptance: email (thank you, kimkardashian!)

University of Washington:
Complete
Under Review
Acceptance: Email

Alabama
Submit--Confirmation Email (takes about a week)
Complete
UR
UR 2 (date change)
Acceptance: Call (205)
Scholarship: Call (205)
thanks, zippernicus!

Fordham
Complete
Date Changes (status stays complete)
Decision: email (thank you, kimkardashian!)

Wisconsin (thanks, Serett!)
Complete
Under Review
Decision Made
Decision: email

Georgia (thanks, musharraf!)
Incomplete
Complete
Decisions: email (letter arrives later for acceptances)
No date changes.

University of Connecticut
Complete
Message at top will say "under review" when app goes under
???

Penn State (thanks, Neteshy!)
???
Decision: email (may call a bit later)

Syracuse (thanks, Neteshy!)
???
Decisions: by mail, in a padded envelope because it comes with a t-shirt ( ). Letter contains scholarship offer.

CUNY (thanks, Neteshy!)
???
Decisions: email to check status checker, physical letter sent later

Creighton (thanks, Neteshy!)
???
Decisions: by mail

Quinnipiac
Under Review
???

Please add the other schools you have applied to in the comments and I'll add it to the OP!

Is there really an "under review" at Michigan?

ETA: Thanks for compiling this!

Michigan's goes from complete to under review??

Edit: scooped

haha oops, thanks for pointing that out.

Minnesota
Received (?)
Complete
In Review
Admitted - Congratulations!

Acceptance: Phone Call
Scholarship: Snail Mail (~1 week later)

I can't remember exactly what the status update before "complete" was, hopefully someone else can fill it in accurately.

Reserved: Will update later.

For Harvard, I think the JS1 shows up under "mailings," not in the "status" field.

neprep wrote:For Harvard, I think the JS1 shows up under "mailings," not in the "status" field.

I'll add that in

Northwestern goes complete after the interviewer has submitted the assessment. It may be worth adding a note that if significant time has gone between the interview and you are still incomplete, a call to the office is worthwhile as the status checker isn't always updated.

This is a useful thread - thanks!

deleted, you already had the info under vanderbilt.

updated

Texas:
Status checker
Complete
Admission granted on status checker
Call from Dean

Thanks ScoobyScoobz

btw Berkeleys acceptances are in status checker and they send an email at the same time.

updated.

adding in area codes for the schools that call, so please add that as well if you have the info!

This is amazing. Thank you!

UVA acceptances are emails to call or phone calls.
Cornell acceptances are a status checker update with a congrats message followed by an email that evening.

Some of the information might be contained in this post:

http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 7&t=199459

Babum wrote:Some of the information might be contained in this post:

http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 7&t=199459

thanks! I'm trying to start fresh here, though, because that thread is somewhat out of date already (Berkeley, for example, is sending emails this year).

From the NU thread:

snapdragon25 wrote:

worried0L wrote:does the status checker actually change beyond 'Completed'?

does it go to UR?

Nope, it eventually goes from complete to the ominous "Decision Letter Available within 24 Hours", then you check the decision letter delivery site (link is on the regular status check page) like a crazy person until a PDF of your letter shows up there. So get excited for that.

The Minnesota acceptance call comes from a 612 number (Minneapolis).

Also the new thread title is amazing.

The Texas acceptance call comes from a 512 number. They will leave a message notifying you of acceptance if you are unable to answer.

My NYU call was from a 201.

updated for NU and gtown admitted students website

bump