Law School Tricks

[lawschoolgames]

I'm trying to write a story about getting admitted to law school and am looking for war stories concerning all the cruel ways that schools manipulate their admissions figures.  Has anyone had first-hand experience with any of the following?

1.  You were encouraged to apply to a law school that summarily rejected you?
2.  You were rejected or "wait-listed" at a school that you surely should have been admitted to?
3.  You were encouraged to leave your law school and transfer to a higher Tier-ed school?
4.  You noticed a huge influx of transfer or full-time students come second year?
5.  You were hired to work at the law school come graduation?

Any other peculiar practices?  I'm quite new to this.  Feel free to post your comments here or send me email.  Thanks.

[m123]

To answer your questions:

1. Law school game number one is to send everyone above a certain LSAT (e.g., 160) a fee waiver, but know from the outset that only people over a higher LSAT (e.g., 163) will actually be considered. Thus, acceptance rate is supressed because a lot of people that would not have applied do because it is free.

2. Every school has a formula that determines how many to accept in order to get so many to marticulate. With the recent influx of people returning to school and schools trying to move up in the rankings, more schools accept just above how many they actually want to attend and waitlist people that would have gotten accepted previously. I have heard that certain schools waitlist or call exceptional canidates to make sure that person will not turn down that school in order to go to Harvard, Stanford, or Yale.

3. A lot of 40 to 75 ranked schools (U.S. News) have told me that doing well at their school almost ensures being able to transfer to a top 10 school.

4. UVA is notorious for limiting first year size, but allowing transfers that don't count against their rank. (See their first year class size compared to their graduating class size.)

5. Northwestern did this a few years back to up their employed 9 months after graduation numbers.

[m123]

I would like to say that all the information that I provided is based on rumors and conjecture. The information may be out of date and/or erroneous. The original sources are responsible for the veracity of the claims.

[_____]

Spoken like a true lawyer! LOL

[lawschoolgames]

Interesting tactics, m123.  I appreciate them.   Sad to hear about the disclaimer, however.  Did any of these things happen to you or someone you know?  Anyone out there fall into any of these m123's categories?

[PSUDSL08]

1.  You were encouraged to apply to a law school that summarily rejected you?

Like many, I was encouraged to apply to Quinnipiac, Valparaiso, and Cleveland State where I was waitlisted at the first two, and have a decision pending on the last one.

2.  You were rejected or "wait-listed" at a school that you surely should have been admitted to?

A. Widener PA/DE: Have a 3.3 GPA/151 LSAT, which fits the range for both campuses. Applied November 2nd and just received waitlist letter on March 21st.
B. John Marshall: GPA 75th/LSAT 25th Waitlisted. Applied in early December, received waitlist letter on Mar 21st
C. Franklin Pierce (3.37-2.92 and 156-149): According to LSAC guide, I fit right within their criteria. Also figured it would help being that my dad graduated from their first class as their top student. Called the dean of admissions, and she said that their average was a 156 this year and that alumni "don't really matter" because there are thousands of alumni throughout the country. Don't feel that I should be accepted based solely on my father's merit, but come on...I was right in their range and I figure my dad's status would give me that extra boost. Told the dean that my father failed out of Ohio State before doing so well in law school...so grades and test scores dont mean everything. I guess I won't have to contemplate life in NH anymore.

[MichaelK]

I have experience with #2...why I was Wait Listed at Buffalo I still do not know

[m123]

Just thought eveyone would be interested. Baylor is pulling a big "trick." Baylor has three enterance times Fall, Spring, and Summer. They take 65, 65, and 30, respectively. They only report to the U.S. News the information on the fall 65. So, there LSAT 75/25 as reported is 164/159, if they included everyone that entered (i.e., all 160) it would be 159/156.

Check this out here:
http://law.baylor.edu/new_prosp_students/studentbody.htm and
http://law.baylor.edu/new_prosp_students/percentiles.htm

m123

[GO_PTO]

I'm trying to write a story about getting admitted to law school and am looking for war stories concerning all the cruel ways that schools manipulate their admissions figures.  Has anyone had first-hand experience with any of the following?

1.  You were encouraged to apply to a law school that summarily rejected you?
2.  You were rejected or "wait-listed" at a school that you surely should have been admitted to?
3.  You were encouraged to leave your law school and transfer to a higher Tier-ed school?
4.  You noticed a huge influx of transfer or full-time students come second year?
5.  You were hired to work at the law school come graduation?

Any other peculiar practices?  I'm quite new to this.  Feel free to post your comments here or send me email.  Thanks.

you may also want to consider schools that will not consider GPA relative to major. You would think an electrical engineer with a 3.49 from a highly ranked school would look better than communications with a 3.5 at a community college. Many schools openyl state that they will not take major into account, so in the above example, the latter would fare better.

I assume schools do this because their major concern is USNWR rankings. Because of USNWR, a school which takes the former candidate thinking that personal challenged themself as an undergrad over the latter, it will hurt the school in the rankings.

[lawschoolgames]

Just thought eveyone would be interested. Baylor is pulling a big "trick." Baylor has three enterance times Fall, Spring, and Summer. They take 65, 65, and 30, respectively. They only report to the U.S. News the information on the fall 65. So, there LSAT 75/25 as reported is 164/159, if they included everyone that entered (i.e., all 160) it would be 159/156.

Check this out here:
http://law.baylor.edu/new_prosp_students/studentbody.htm and
http://law.baylor.edu/new_prosp_students/percentiles.htm

m123

Brilliant, m123.  Just unbelievable.  Any chance of chatting more offline?