Hi everyone. Just sharing my positive experience so far in case any of you find it helpful.
I received an unsolicited fee waiver from UCLA on 8/20, but with the new cycle approaching and considering that I am planning to apply to a whopping 21 schools, I decided to send out requests to each of the schools this morning.
Michigan and WUSTL promptly granted me fee waivers.
I'm interpreting Yale's response as "Yes you can have one but we have to wait until our applications open in October."
The remainder of the schools have either not responded yet, responded that they don't grant merit based, that they don't grant solicited waivers, or directed me to a formal application process. Almost all schools that did not grant me a fee waiver suggested I apply for need-based.
184 comments
@mewydman445 said:
By the way, Michigan's fee waiver email was super informal lol. A nice change of pace.
That's part of what drew me to Michigan last year. Their communications are all top notch. A nice, friendly, casual tone. And when I got waitlisted, they made me actually feel better about it. It was the kindest waitlist email you can hope to get haha.
Just now got NYU waiver via email
@katewillis91551
Great; thanks for all the info. Just trying to save some money given all the other fees we're going to be paying.
Yeesh... tell me about it. I'm just about ready to send my first 10 apps and only have fee waivers to 4 of them which means they will cost me about $1k. I'd love to see the rationale for these fees beyond "we know they'll pay for it".
@leahbeuk911
@leahbeuk911 Yeah LSAC seemed to have rejected people with incomes below $30k for fee waivers.
You're looking at one of those people.
I think this is a dumb question but the fee waivers don't cover the CAS report fees right? $45 for report is outrageous.
@sx23822 @kimberlygflores159
Well, lol, based on their response, I'm quite certain a human will not be reading my gratitude.
"This is an auto-response to your recent inquiry, which was delivered to a mailbox that is not monitored."
@sx23822 My personal rule has been to say "thank you" if I think there is a chance that a human sent me the email. In this case, the email itself definitely seems automated but if it's in response to my need-based app (not clear) then appearances lie. I'll send one because, why not?
@leahbeuk911
Check your NYU apps, saw hidden waiver come through today
YES!! WOOH! That's huge for me and my first easter egg!
@sx23822 said:
@leahbeuk911 you mean waivers that don’t show up until you check out?
When you start the application for that school, the application homepage lists step one, two, and three in the middle column. Under step three 'Pay fees and submit' the application fee will say 'waived' instead of the actual amount.
@leahbeuk911 Yes! First waiver from T6 haha @mewydman445 I got waiver from Chicago/Cornell/Michigan but didn’t get one for UVA so I guess it’s kinda random
Cornell just sent out waivers FYI
@akikookmt881 lol sorry http://www.top-law-schools.com/guide-to-fee-waivers.html
@katewillis91551 said:
Thanks @mewydman445 @kimberlygflores159 @leahbeuk911!
It's weird because Northwestern's app (for the class entering in 2019) is now available on LSAC. It opened today. I guess we'll have to wait until Monday or just pay $75 now.... :sweat:
I’m guessing they’ll still do the waivers, maybe will just take a bit. Didn’t realize they opened already. Also just saw the devastating news that NU ED is now $120k scholarship. Live look at me and my application strategy:
https://media1.giphy.com/media/vysUmffUa9o4g/giphy.gif
@sx23822 no but I feel dumb for sending them an email. They clearly say on their website that they waive the fee for any application received between 9/1 and 12/1 http://www.law.northwestern.edu/admissions/faq/faqjd.html
@leahbeuk911 Yup!
@leahbeuk911 haha man I envy your LSAT. We all want things we don't have : )
@katewillis91551 Columbia, Berkeley, and Harvard.
*edit
Update: UVA, ND, and BC all granted today too. If these schools are on your list, it's not too early to ask.
Bumping this thread back up for posterity. I'm re-applying this year and though I updated my application year in CRS, a good number of schools that gave me unsolicited waivers last year didn't this year. I just reached out to Michigan and Cornell to solicit them. Michigan happily gave me a code and Cornell replied with a link to their policy saying basically, if we wanted to give you one, we would have done it.
Not gonna lie, I'm a little salty about that. I was waitlisted last year and had a really lovely conversation with the admissions dean that made me even more interested. I'm at both 75ths... kind of a head scratcher. I'm debating whether to reply and mention that I received one last year and have heard that CRS may not always be reliable when applying a 2nd time, so thought I would double check. I dunno... good idea, bad idea? I'd of course be polite and non-assuming, but thinking maybe they just see "fee waiver" and then copy and paste their response without even really looking.
FYI people Columbia just sent out some fee waivers
Dang! Jealous!
Just received some waivers with only a sept 2018 score! UCLA, UVA, Vanderbilt, and Duke.
@kimberlygflores159 Yeah, I'm assuming that's the case. I made sure to update my enrollment year for CRS, but there are at least 4-5 schools that I got waivers from last year that aren't sending them for this one. Super frustrating. Let me know if you hear back! I should get started on requesting these too...
Lol I’ve gotten so many emails from “Penn State” recently that I instinctively deleted that U Penn fee waiver lol
@sx23822 lol beat me to the post.
This means that the previous waiver I received was need-based. If anyone wants some help in that process, feel free to PM me.
@leahbeuk911 said:
@leahbeuk911 Yeah LSAC seemed to have rejected people with incomes below $30k for fee waivers.
Bonkers