Reading into offered Fee Waivers Forum

[DonDrapersAttorney]

So I got my first electronic fee waiver via e-mail today. Surprisingly it wasn't a TTT or TTTT school. Nonetheless I was curious, how common are these? I fully expected to get some from the bottom barrel schools, but I was wondering if you receive a fee waiver if it's safe to say you're pretty much a shoe-in to the school, or are they simply so common there's no telling?

[bdubs]

So I got my first electronic fee waiver via e-mail today. Surprisingly it wasn't a TTT or TTTT school. Nonetheless I was curious, how common are these? I fully expected to get some from the bottom barrel schools, but I was wondering if you receive a fee waiver if it's safe to say you're pretty much a shoe-in to the school, or are they simply so common there's no telling?

Doesn't mean much, especially because some schools use loose filters to send their waivers (i.e. LSAT alone regardless of GPA)

[Icculus]

There is a search function, you know.

Now that that's out of the way, a fee waiver means nothing about chances for admission. It just means you don't have to pay to apply. I got rejected from several schools that gave me a fee waiver and into a couple that didn't give me a fee waiver. This is common.

[Dany]

Schools will do anything to get their applications numbers up and keep their selectivity numbers low. A fee waiver has nothing to do with whether or not you're a strong candidate. They are awesome and will save you money, but do not read into them.

[rinkrat19]

They're very common. Low-ranked schools are desperate for qualified applicants who might lose their minds and matriculate, and high-ranked schools want lots of applicants so they can reject a higher percentage, which is a measure of exclusivity that they get to report.

[justhockey31]

You will get a lot of these (depending on ur numbers) so the best thing you can do is when you get them, look in to the school and send out an application because its only $12 and who knows...maybe you will get in and matriculate to a school you might not have thought about before!

[descartesb4thehorse]

Should you read into it? Absolutely. Here's a nice key.

Open email. What is the school ranked?

Range of your reach or above= apply. If you have a 50/50 shot of getting into your reach, it can't hurt to spread your seeds to somewhere else where you have a 50/50. You can decide if you want to go there later, once you've been rejected from your reach.

Range of your target= apply. If you somehow don't get your reaches or your target (i.e. thought yourself more qualified than you are), you may get in here and not be that far behind where you thought you might be. If you didn't think too highly of yourself and get in to both, it might be helpful as scholarship leverage.

Range of your safety or below= don't apply unless you have $12 burning a hole in your pocket.

Should you read into it as though you now have a greater chance of admission?

[071816]

Means nothing mang. However, if you like the school go ahead and apply. Just don't go into the process thinking that fee waivers mean automatic or (even likely) acceptances.

[WarioLaw]

I got waitlisted at lower ranked fee waiver schools and admitted to higher ranked schools that did not offer waivers. They don't mean much.