What’s Going On in the Admissions Cycle Right Now?
As we referenced in last week’s admissions update, this is the time of year when most AdComms are letting dust settle from their deposit deadline and are evaluating what moves to make next. Additionally, April 30/May 1 is the last big initial deadline for deposits (this date is most popular among the T14). As such—after months of us all collectively advising students to patiently wait to contact schools where they’ve been waitlisted—we’ve now reached the moment to send in your letters of continued interest (LOCIs). It’s go time! So, let’s take a few minutes today to review some basic materials about how waitlists typically operate and then give you a few pointers about LOCIs.
The first question AdComms ask at the beginning of the waitlist process is the most basic—do we have available seats? If the answer is “no,” then everything else after this paragraph is a moot point.
(As a brief aside, most admissions offices build their admission models with the hope of having to admit students from their waitlist. This is because the Nuclear Scenario for schools isn’t having to admit students from their waitlist … it’s exceeding their deposit goals so significantly that they may not have enough chairs in enough classrooms to host the incoming class. That’s a subject worthy of discussion for another day—probably when we can sit around a campfire and tell scary stories that will send shivers down admissions officers’ spines.)
If there are available seats, the next question is—are there any specific needs to address from the waitlist? AdComms will assess how stable their medians are, the gender balance in their class, the percentage of in-state versus out-of-state students, diversity, and more. If there is an area that’s a little low, that will then become a priority for waitlist admission.
The last question is financial—do we have any scholarship budget to work with? And if the answer is “yes,” AdComms will have to determine what to do with it. They could use it to help enroll students from the waitlist. They could also use it to help keep the presently deposited students from leaving for other schools.
With these questions addressed, schools can then examine their roster of waitlisted students and start to home in on possible candidates for admission. For instance, let’s create a hypothetical school—the Random State University Law School, home of the Fightin’ Randos. Maybe their admissions team analyzes their situation and sees the following:
- They are about 10 students under their target enrollment number. Additionally, they usually lose 20 deposits over the summer due to waitlist activity at other schools. So they have 10 seats open now, but are likely to have around 30 open before orientation.
- They have hit their LSAT median and have a large buffer of students to protect against losing that stat.
- They’re a little below their GPA target, but can get there with 10 more high-GPA students.
- Their gender balance looks good and diversity looks about the same as usual.
- They’re a little low on in-state students but nothing drastic. Plus, they’re more apt to lose out-of-state students to waitlist activity elsewhere.
- They have a little bit of scholarship money left over. Given their numbers, they believe it’s better to focus on helping recruit admits from the waitlist rather than worrying about their present deposits.
In this situation, the admissions office would then look at their roster of waitlisted students with an eye towards those who have a high GPA. There could be a slight secondary preference for in-state students to help address that number. Given the scholarship budget, they can maybe give admitted students a little money but perhaps not as much as they would have granted before. So perhaps now is not the time to admit students who are high-need (because if you can’t give them the scholarship they would require in order to attend, does it make sense to admit them in the first place?). Out-of-state students who are LSAT splitters would—in this scenario—be out of luck and their dreams of being a Fightin’ Rando would be dashed … but perhaps the Theoretical University Law Center needs some high LSATs from the waitlist, so there’s a good chance that the LSAT splitters could be a Stormin’ ’Retical at orientation time.
What can make waitlist a bit of a ride is that various factors can shift over time. Let’s return to the Random State admissions office. They started admitting high-GPA students in early May, but they then lost a number of high-LSAT female students due to waitlist activity elsewhere in mid-June. This may help them in some ways and hurt them in others. For the former, perhaps some of the high-LSAT students were actually LSAT splitters. That means that losing them helps out the median GPA of the incoming class—yay! However, because all those students were women, the gender balance for the incoming class is all out of whack—boo! So now the admissions office may introduce an emphasis on admitting female students from the waitlist.
We can follow these ebbs and flows through the Law School Admissions sub-Reddit as well as lawschooldata.org. If you start seeing students update their information with admit offers from the waitlist, pay attention to their stats and profile. Look for patterns. Given that you’re a future lawyer and are pretty bright, you’ll figure things out quickly!
You’ll note that these above scenarios don’t mention LOCIs. A LOCI can’t change what a school does or does not need. It can’t affect whether or not a school has open seats, it doesn’t change what stats or demographics the school is lacking, and it can’t change you. A LOCI is not—unfortunately—a magic bullet. It is—ideally—a conversation starter and/or a deal sealer if your profile matches what a school needs at that moment. And on that note, let’s transition from “how most schools use the waitlist” to “what can you do with that LOCI” (a topic we also cover in our admissions course).
The goal of a LOCI should be to provide updates to a school and to inform the school of your interest in them. You want the AdComms to know that you would still be highly interested in attending if they decided to admit you. Why is this important? Because Random State may have many GPA splitters to choose from and—all things being equal—they would like to use their time efficiently to admit students who actually want to attend. That’s your audience and that’s the song they want to hear! So if that’s the track you’re going to play, let’s give you some nice guitar riffs to work on.
Regarding updates:
- If you’re a current senior or graduate student, you can update the admissions committee on your academic year. If you haven’t sent a transcript to LSAC since when you applied in September, now is a good time to send them a new document. LSAC will recalculate your GPA and issue updates to all the schools you’ve applied to.
- You can also update schools on your résumé. For current students approaching graduation, maybe that includes academic honors or awards. For non-students, this could be a new job or maybe something new that you’ve picked up at work.
Regarding your interest:
- If you didn’t submit a “Why School X” statement when you applied, now is the time to do it. What about this school makes it a good fit for you? The most mentioned items of note are academic offerings, experiential opportunities, and career outcomes. Do they have the classes you need, the experiential opportunities you want, and access to your preferred post-grad job markets? If yes, yes, and yes, then tell the school that!
- It’s also alright to mention any personal reasons you may have for being interested in the school. Family connections, a mentor who is an alum and who recommended that you applied, undergrad friends who are current 1Ls, etc. Don’t be shy—now is the time to say it!
- Have you done more research on the school since you applied? Attended an information session or spoke with current students or alums? If you have, weave that information into your LOCI.
- The most important thing you can convey to a school is that you will accept an offer of admission. If the Random State admissions team is trying to figure out the 10 high-GPA students most likely to attend, you want to raise your virtual hand and directly say, “That’s me!”
Finally—a quick note on timing. The best time to send a LOCI is just after a school’s deposit deadline. This is the prime time for most schools to begin reviewing waitlisted students. By sending your LOCI in now, you can ensure that your information is up-to-date if/when the AdComms get to your file. After sending in this letter, consider sending in brief check-in messages every three to four weeks just to reiterate your continued interest.
And at this point, we’d offer one last piece of advice—you’ve done about all you can do! If you can’t control if your dream school has seats available off the waitlist and if you can’t control what stats/demographics they may need if said seats become available, you’re really left with just two options. The first is to rage against the injustices of the world and this injustice most importantly of all! Forget about wars and famines and global warming because that’s nothing compared to this! Sob!
As emotionally cathartic as it may be to work through all of that, that’s not really going to be a productive use of your time. But you know what could be? Apartment hunting at the school where you’re presently deposited. Connecting with your potential incoming classmates. Networking with the alums so that you start getting your name out there for possible summer jobs after 1L year. And this brings us to your second option—worrying about the things that you can control. Right now, you can control your preparations for the school where you’re presently deposited. This can be one of the most exciting times of your life—New friends! New city! New opportunities!—if you allow yourself the chance to dive into that process. Be kind to yourself and enjoy this moment. And, if nothing else, remind yourself that you’re 90% of the way through the admissions cycle and you deserve a little break from the craziness!