rejected at back up school! please provide reasons why... Forum

[rubies]

Hello, all.

I am new to this site/forum, so cut me some slack when I mention schools that aren't really considered top law schools.

I applied to Texas Tech prior to December 1st. I am a double science major in Biology and Chemistry. My overall GPA is a 3.63 and highest LSAT score is 158.


Texas Tech's stats are as follows:

75th%tile: 159 - 3.70
median: 156 - 3.44
25th%tile: 154 - 3.20


I have no heard from any others yet, but it is one of my two back up schools. As you can tell, this doesn't bode too well for my "maybes" and my "reach" schools.

I JUST ASK THAT YOU PROVIDE POSSIBLE FACTOR(S)/REASON(S) FOR MY DENIAL.

Thank you.

[kflyer]

Horrible personal statement? Bad letters of rec? Glaring typos on your application?

[bama philosophe]

Well, obviously something was not appealing about your personal statement, recommendations, or something else. Did you have any substantial misconduct that you had to disclose? If so, that might explain the rejection. Otherwise, no guesses here.

[iceberger]

are you from ole miss? texas tech was shamed by them in the cotton bowl FWIW

[crystalhawkeye]

are you from ole miss? texas tech was shamed by them in the cotton bowl FWIW

Really? I didn't get to watch that one. That is surprising.

Anyhow, to echo previous posters, your rejection is likely due to something on your application that stood out - in a bad way. Although numbers are usually the biggest factors in an app., some schools like the wholistic approach more. If TT does, there may have been something that just did not fit into their idea of an ideal candidate.

[scoobyman]

That does seem like an unlikely scenario. I would do two things: First, call up and ask if you can talk to the dean of admissions or someone in the admissions office about it. See if they can offer an explanation. Many schools will dismiss this request, but some will honor it, and it would be good to know why they dinged you. The second thing I'd do is toss your PS, write a completely different one, and apply to a couple other safety schools before the deadline hits. Can't hurt to nix this variable. Maybe pay one of those services that helps with your PS.

[Rocky Estoppel]

Prior LSAT score that is extremely low? - don't think this matters since they take the highest now but just throwing out guesses.

I go with the "something in your personal statement that they didn't like" option

[pany1985]

Maybe you were Hitler in a past life and karma's still taking it out on your Nazi ass

[twentythree]

Did your personal statement contain anything in bold and all caps? That tends to irritate people...

[wquick324]

A little insight on this...had something similar happen to me. I've heard back from two school so far. I got into a top 20 and was rejected from a school outside the top 100. I have not asked an admissions officer at the lower school but I did pose it to a Judge I happen to know who is on the their law school board. He said they are making a conscious effort to protect their yield spread. He then asked how I answered the question about where else I was applying. This particular school is the only school I applied to outside the top 40. The judge thought admissions probably guessed I was only submitting an app as a real safety and because of a fee waiver. So instead of having more applicants with less final matriculations they kindly reject some over qualified candidates...

[pany1985]

TT wasn't an obvious safety for them though... more of a target/fit

[twentythree]

A little insight on this...had something similar happen to me. I've heard back from two school so far. I got into a top 20 and was rejected from a school outside the top 100. I have not asked an admissions officer at the lower school but I did pose it to a Judge I happen to know who is on the their law school board. He said they are making a conscious effort to protect their yield spread. He then asked how I answered the question about where else I was applying. This particular school is the only school I applied to outside the top 40. The judge thought admissions probably guessed I was only submitting an app as a real safety and because of a fee waiver. So instead of having more applicants with less final matriculations they kindly reject some over qualified candidates...

But he's within their 75% numbers - a quarter of their class has better numbers than his. If they YP that heavily they're really giving up on raising their medians.

[wquick324]

hmm...good point. Thats what I get for posting after coming back from the bar.

I'm punting back to the "something in the personal statement"

[rebecko]

maybe you could post your PS here?

[lsb]

A little insight on this...had something similar happen to me. I've heard back from two school so far. I got into a top 20 and was rejected from a school outside the top 100. I have not asked an admissions officer at the lower school but I did pose it to a Judge I happen to know who is on the their law school board. He said they are making a conscious effort to protect their yield spread. He then asked how I answered the question about where else I was applying. This particular school is the only school I applied to outside the top 40. The judge thought admissions probably guessed I was only submitting an app as a real safety and because of a fee waiver. So instead of having more applicants with less final matriculations they kindly reject some over qualified candidates...

Three things..(i) What exactly is yield protection and why do schools use it? (ii) How would schools know if their school was your safety? Do they have access to what schools we apply to, or did you provide this info on your application? (iii) This is a question for everyone in this thread - Is it possible that OP got rejected because of how competitive this cycle is (damn economy)? I think it's possible that his PS (and application in general) had nothing to do with the rejection.

[flhealth]

maybe you could post your PS here?

+1

[joonix]

I have seen TT be weird like that. If they feel like you just tossed a safety app to them, they may not like that.

[iceberger]

maybe you could post your PS here?

+1

seems like the best course of action.

[pany1985]

I haven't really seen much evidence that this cycle is any more competitive as a result of the economy...

Definitely not enough of a difference to put an above-average applicant in the "reject" category (on average).

[Veritas]

prelawdelt anyone??

[joobacca]

I have seen TT be weird like that. If they feel like you just tossed a safety app to them, they may not like that.

i don't get why they wouldn't WL/hold the OP or throw a bunch of money at him/her

[ChrisNY]

I totally agree with the suggestion about calling the school and speaking with the Dean. Otherwise you will just be speculating. You could have been rejected for a range of reasons--by mistake, by problems with your application (a poorly written PS, a substantial number of typos in you app, etc), administrative/policy reasons (the school is only accepting x number of students from your state/college/major/etc), and on and on. I don't think this is a yield protect situation since you're right on target for the school with your numbers. But beyond that, it could be so many things--things that you may or may not have control over.

I'd call the school first thing tomorrow and get as much info as you can.

[rubies]

kak23: Previous was 153, so yes, kind of low.
In my PS, I did mention stuff about science blahbalh, but this was not unwarranted.

scoobyman: Thank you for your advice. I was debating whether or not to do so but I definitely will now. I will also apply to another one or two safety schools as well. As for the personal statement, it is too late to change it up since I've applied to everywhere that matters.


crystalhawkeye: Yeah, figures I wasn't a great "fit."


bama philospohe: My recommendations were from my science professors and a PhD I worked with this summer on genetic research. No substantial misconduct.


kflyer: It may not have been worthy of accolades, but it wasn't downright horrible (I hope.) Of course, those things are all a subjective..


twentythree: no bold or caps, just regular 12 point font. And I had it revised by several professors of different disciplines as well as my peers.


wquick324: Hmm, this is interesting. Other schools I claimed to apply to in the application (and did) were: UT-Austin, University of Washington, University of Houston, and South Texas (local in Houston.) Besides South Texas, Texas Tech was the only one outside the top 100 rankings.


rebecko: I could... and probably will when I get over my virtual sphere shyness.


lsb: This yield protection thing is new to me but schools do leave space for applicants to list schools they think about applying to. I do not know whether or not I could have lied there, so I told the truth.




Thank you for the replies. =]

[pany1985]

Maybe they googled your name and it came up with nothing but sex offenders and scientologists

[Lawguru]

are you from ole miss? texas tech was shamed by them in the cotton bowl FWIW

Really? I didn't get to watch that one. That is surprising.

Anyhow, to echo previous posters, your rejection is likely due to something on your application that stood out - in a bad way. Although numbers are usually the biggest factors in an app., some schools like the wholistic approach more. If TT does, there may have been something that just did not fit into their idea of an ideal candidate.

It is "Holistic." Just so you know. That was my pompous moment for the day.