Acceptance Phone Calls

[Byronic Hero]

I was wondering what the protocol is for an acceptance phone call.  What I mean is, I am unsure of what to say to a school that calls telling me that I am accepted when I remain relatively unsure whether or not I will go there.  I imagine it being something like the following:

"Hello is Lord Byron there?"

"Speaking."

"Hi, this is Dean Doe from John Doe University.  I want to congratulate you on your acceptance to our law school."

"Thank you"

"...."

(awkward silence)

"Uh, ok, then congratulations again and, uh, good luck"

"Bye."

Is this how it is really?

[TDPookie1]

i got a call from boalt's director/dean of admissions.  it wasn't awkward at all, and i didn't say anything about my likelihood of going there.  it instantly became my first choice, but obviously i had (and still have) other apps pending.  mine was something like:

"hi, this is edward tom from boalt hall."
"hi!"
"i'm calling to inform you that you've been accepted for our fall class."
"thank you so much!"
"we know you're probably still waiting for other offers, so we're not going to ask for an answer now, but we hope you consider us.  admit day is april 1, and we'll pay for your airfare to visit."
"that's very generous, thank you."

and then goodbyes, and that was about it.  phone call lasted 1 minute and 2 seconds.

[Casper]

What kind of rackets do these law school got going?  Paying for student airfares to visit their schools?   

[TDPookie1]

What kind of rackets do these law school got going?  Paying for student airfares to visit their schools?   

it apparently works wonders for their matriculation rate, though.  stanford supposedly does the same.

[jaxon]

this is how mine was with GMU... everything was going smoothly until she mentioned that she really hoped she could convince me to attend... there was an awkward silence for a few seconds... then she proceeded to tell me a packet would be sent, etc, etc...the rest went fine.. i just wasnt prepared to start talking about attending, and the call caught me a little off guard...

I was wondering what the protocol is for an acceptance phone call.  What I mean is, I am unsure of what to say to a school that calls telling me that I am accepted when I remain relatively unsure whether or not I will go there.  I imagine it being something like the following:

"Hello is Lord Byron there?"

"Speaking."

"Hi, this is Dean Doe from John Doe University.  I want to congratulate you on your acceptance to our law school."

"Thank you"

"...."

(awkward silence)

"Uh, ok, then congratulations again and, uh, good luck"

"Bye."

Is this how it is really?

[amelus]

"we know you're probably still waiting for other offers, so we're not going to ask for an answer now, but we hope you consider us.  admit day is april 1, and we'll pay for your airfare to visit."

geez, had i known that, i might've applied just for the free trip.  guess i'll have to go dig for those fee waivers

[kernelgt]

this is how mine was with GMU... everything was going smoothly until she mentioned that she really hoped she could convince me to attend... there was an awkward silence for a few seconds... then she proceeded to tell me a packet would be sent, etc, etc...the rest went fine.. i just wasnt prepared to start talking about attending, and the call caught me a little off guard...

Yeah, that's tough.  Look, no offense to GMU or to those applying there, but I was severely put off by a lot of things that they do and they have transformed themselves into a TTT in this applicant's opinion. 

First, they shamelessly court everyone with a fee waiver, including many who they wouldn't presume to admit, just so that they can reject them and become more selective for the sake of USNWR.  I mean c'mon...Yale and Stanford are the only two more selective out there(and yes, I use this relatively because obviously I mean this only in the sense of percent admitted, not average stats for those that apply in the first place).

Second, in their application, they ask you to list where else you are applying.  Ok, common or not, this turns me off.  It's none of their business, and I can only speculate that they are using this as some form of yield protection.  Oh, look at this guy, 3.8/172, but he's applying to GWU and GULC as well....REJECT (b/c he won't come here anyways even if we do accept him).  As soon as I got to that part of the application, I deleted it out of my LSACD bin and never looked back.

Third, things like your phone call LB.  That's total BS and inappropriate in this applicant's eyes, especially this early. 

Ok, I'm done ranting (stepping off HIGH horse).  And seriously, I mean no disrespect to others who have applied there or will go there.  I know it's a great school, those aspects just turned me off in relation to other schools.

K

[TDPookie1]

K, USNews actually doesn't take matriculation rate (or acceptance rate, i believe) into account in rankings anymore.  part of the reason, i'm sure, is that it was so easy to manipulate (by the excessive waivers you're talking about).  i'm not sure what some schools' reasoning is for wanting a low admit rate; maybe to appear to be more exclusive, for the sake of applicants?  eh, i don't know.

anyway, i agree that it's annoying when schools want to know where else you applied.

i was just playing around on the USNews premium site and saw that ASU has one of the lowest student-faculty ratios of all the law schools.  i think that's awesome.  so congrats on your acceptance (and the one to UC-B)! 

[Sportseditor23]

I thought they eliminiated admitted vs. enrolled out but selectivity is still in there.

[TDPookie1]

I thought they eliminiated admitted vs. enrolled out but selectivity is still in there.

seriously?  isn't that one even easier to manipulate?  that's odd.  so that really does explain the crazy waivers.