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Hi all, if anyone has gotten a merit-based fee waiver from either and feels comfortable sharing your stats (GPA and LSAT), I'd be very grateful. Thanks!
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Hi all, if anyone has gotten a merit-based fee waiver from either and feels comfortable sharing your stats (GPA and LSAT), I'd be very grateful. Thanks!
25 comments
Berkeley sent me one (shocking tbh) with 164/3.65
I've gotten fee waivers from both NYU and Berkeley. 167/3.9
When you say a fee waiver do you mean for the application fee or for the law report fee or both?
@57803 said:
I'm still really confused about criteria for waivers. I truly believe that higher ed and standardized testing (and the legal profession) exist to perpetuate the oppressive power dynamics of the status quo, so I'm really no fan of any of them but: I have a 3.9 GPA from an Ivy League school (gross to even say) and an LSAT of 175 and haven't received a Berkeley waiver - I am very low income but won't qualify for an LSAC waiver. It is obviously so gross that schools even charge any money at all for people to apply and I'm a fan of anyone and everyone getting everything waived.
But do you have any more intel on why they give particular people waivers and not others? It doesn't seem to be based on GPA and LSAT alone...
@vichinskyelien59 said:
got one from Berkeley most likely due to GPA (3.8+) with a crappy LSAT score
Did you list California as a state of interest or whatever on the CRS profile?
The Berkeley email for me came latest of all my fee waivers (all top 14 except for Northwestern, Yale, and Harvard). It was also the only one which seemed to come in response to my second LSAT. It came Friday the 13th a few days after we got our September scores.
Well, the cost is supposed to dissuade people from applying everywhere (because why not at that point). Real life people still have to go through and read the statements, resumes, etc. They need to be paid in order to do that. So the application fee makes sense to a certain point (though we can argue about why it costs as much as it does). They typically are receptive to requests based on need. And the two schools I asked for waivers from didn't even blink twice at granting them.
LSAC fees however make very little to no sense, especially because you have to pay for CAS on top of it anyway. That's just pure capitalism/monopoly power at work.
Also given that we both have very high gpas I'm starting to be more accepting of the idea that they might have a max gpa/lsat cutoff because of statistics based on past matriculants.
Did you try to e-mail them? Perhaps sharing with Berkeley some other schools that have given you a waiver might be beneficial.
I'm still really confused about criteria for waivers. I truly believe that higher ed and standardized testing (and the legal profession) exist to perpetuate the oppressive power dynamics of the status quo, so I'm really no fan of any of them but: I have a 3.9 GPA from an Ivy League school (gross to even say) and an LSAT of 175 and haven't received a Berkeley waiver - I am very low income but won't qualify for an LSAC waiver. It is obviously so gross that schools even charge any money at all for people to apply and I'm a fan of anyone and everyone getting everything waived.
But do you have any more intel on why they give particular people waivers and not others? It doesn't seem to be based on GPA and LSAT alone...
@vichinskyelien59 said:
got one from Berkeley most likely due to GPA (3.8+) with a crappy LSAT score
All I know is I seem to get the cold shoulder from the west coast in regards to everything (job offers, phd programs, and now fee waivers). I don't know what I did to make them so upset :-p
@uhinberg359 said:
Though I'm not sure what they'd lose by offering the waiver. If they were really scared that such candidates would reject them (and affect their stats negatively), they could just reject them or wait list them after they applied.
Yeah, I think they offer it to some people who probably wouldn't have applied before just to reject them so they can feel good about the difference in their 'applications and offers' numbers
Though I'm not sure what they'd lose by offering the waiver. If they were really scared that such candidates would reject them (and affect their stats negatively), they could just reject them or wait list them after they applied.
@merdjunk372 said:
@vichinskyelien59 said:
got one from Berkeley most likely due to GPA with a crappy LSAT score
I Or maybe they have a max gpa where they think students are less likely to apply because they are above it?
More likely a max lsat/gpa combo. But I think you are probably on the right track.
@merdjunk372 said:
@vichinskyelien59 said:
got one from Berkeley most likely due to GPA with a crappy LSAT score
I'd be curious about Berkeley. My understanding with west coast schools is they really like people on the west coast (I think part of this is also required by state law in California). I wonder if they do location based filtering? Or maybe they have a max gpa where they think students are less likely to apply because they are above it?
I have no idea. I'm on the East Coast so idk about the potential of there being like a location based filter, idunno. I'm almost certain they sent me bc of my GPA though, which isn't surprising since Berk have always been known for being GPA whores, haha.
@vichinskyelien59 said:
got one from Berkeley most likely due to GPA with a crappy LSAT score
I'd be curious about Berkeley. My understanding with west coast schools is they really like people on the west coast (I think part of this is also required by state law in California). I wonder if they do location based filtering? Or maybe they have a max gpa where they think students are less likely to apply because they are above it?
got one from Berkeley most likely due to GPA (3.8+) with a crappy LSAT score
@luniho699 said:
@uhinberg359 said:
I recieved one emailed from both, but not from Berkeley until after my second LSAT.
NYU- 3.78 172
Berkeley- 3.78 180
What was your undergraduate major? Graduating institution? If you don't mind, of course.
I sent you a private message with my majors and graduating institution since I want to protect my idendity publicly. But, I'll try to describe it in general terms here.
I went to a state school on a full tuition scholarship where I recieved a dual degree. One of the degrees was a bachelor of science in economics. My GPA is a little low as a result of taking a course load for the BS which stretched my mathmatical abilities, some experimentation with interesting classes, and participation in a residential college which awards fewer 4.0's than the larger university for my other major, a BA. And then of course, I could have done better too.
I did feel like the combination of my two majors provided an advantage on the LSAT except for on the logic games where only 7sage helped me enough.
My school is not near NYU or Berkeley, but I listed both California and New York as states I was interested in on the CRS survey.
@merdjunk372
With my 172 I recieved fee waivers last spring before my transcripts were in. I had filled out the Candidate Referral Service information which asks something about GPA though.
I do think higher quality schools sent fee waivers once my actual transcripts were in and processed.
Does your LSAC GPA need to be calculated in order for them to send fee waivers? One of my transcripts haven't been sent yet and I'm wondering that's why I haven't been getting them
Just email them and ask for it. can't hurt
@uhinberg359 said:
I recieved one emailed from both, but not from Berkeley until after my second LSAT.
NYU- 3.78 172
Berkeley- 3.78 180
What was your undergraduate major? Graduating institution? If you don't mind, of course.
I recieved one emailed from both, but not from Berkeley until after my second LSAT.
NYU- 3.78 172
Berkeley- 3.78 180
I received one from both. 169 LSAT, 3.84 GPA.
I got Berkeley but not NYU.
Same as Mitchell, got one from NYU but not Berkeley.
177/~3.8
No, they sent it via CRS.
Did you just email them for one ?
I have one from NYU but not Berkeley.