Getting more admissions letters by emphasizing the ONE I have

[LearningFromtheLs]

Hi,

Your help would be appreciated in this endeavor of gathering information for someone who has recently received an acceptance letter into a TTT. I have seven pending applications in higher tiered law schools and would like to know what you think about sending supplements to the schools with my pending applications, informing them that I’ve been accepted into law school “abracadabra.”--for the sake of privacy, I prefer to use this pseudonym. Do you think this is a smart move to make? Do you think higher tiered law schools will give my application more weight or respect or time after being informed that a lower tier law program accepted me?  


thank you very much,

[nate]

i'm a 1L, and i just wanted to say that i considered doing the same thing you're considering during the application process. the problem is, which i've really started to realize, is that law school admissions is arguably more number-based than any other type of grad school admissions. you might write the VERY best PS statement they've ever read, or have the VERY best recs ever, or have absolutely AMAZING work experience, all of which might just get you in to your law school of choice. but chances are, if you're like 99.9% of applicants, you're going to be all numbers based- it's really all about your LSAT and GPA.

that being said, all law schools basically realize that you could get in to a lower ranked school, whether or not you could get in to theirs. you might get rejected from most tier 1's (as was the case with me), and get almost full rides at tier 2's (as was also the case with me). the point is, law school "abracadabra" knows that if you basically have the numbers to get in to their school, and the school isn't tier 3 or 4, you could very easily get in to a lower-ranked school. they care about one thing, which is their own status. so they won't really be playing the jealousy game with their applicants, especially considering how many people apply to each law school.

[qaz123]

i think its a bad idea.  what makes you think that would help at all?  what did you think the adcomms would think of such a letter, "wow, if some rancid ttt accepted ____, then we better do the same!"  if anything i think that letting them know you already have another option would just give them more reason to reject or waitlist you if you are a borderline candidate.

i was waitlisted at a few schools and i worked for admission by doing the exact opposite of what you are thinking of.  i tried to make the point that they were my one and only option, and it worked out for me.

[Mimimimi]

Wouldn't help.  You can play schools off each other for scholarship money, but that only works if they're similarly ranked or if the one you have money at is ranked higher.

[slacker]

Do you think higher tiered law schools will give my application more weight or respect or time after being informed that a lower tier law program accepted me?

Honestly? No. They may feel you've found a good spot for yourself, and just reject. Seems like a bad way to try to bargain, since you have no power in the situation nor does the acceptance grant you any.

[LearningFromtheLs]

Thank you guys for the replies. They were helpful. i didn’t think i’d be able to bargain my way into getting more acceptance letters. Rather i thought informing them would simply work as an impetus to get them to look closer at my application package, the so called soft factors, or maybe have take a second look at my application, if after one consideration of it it landed on the denial stack, giving my application a second chance, by emphasizing “hey, some adcomm was willing to take a closer look and found attributes worth considering and found real potential” can you PLEASE reconsider. i guess this turns out to be more like begging with a decent reason at hand than a game theoretic strategy.   

[Trancer]

I was gonna go to a fourth tier, already sent in my deposit when over the summer one of my top choices called me and told me to come in for a late acceptance student reception.  Needless to say they matched the scholarship offer from the fourth tier (which i had already accepted).  So good things do happen, though they are few and far between.

[LearningFromtheLs]

I was gonna go to a fourth tier, already sent in my deposit when over the summer one of my top choices called me and told me to come in for a late acceptance student reception.  Needless to say they matched the scholarship offer from the fourth tier (which i had already accepted).  So good things do happen, though they are few and far between.

I’m low on funds at the moment, and would rather spend the money on other things. Fortunately, reserving my seat at law school “abracadabra” isn’t going to cost the full reservation amount, only a fraction. I suppose it’s better to be safe and take the offered deal, work through the financial aid labyrinth, than to be sorry and empty handed.