Applied ED, shunted to regular decision pool, now what should I do?

Ruth_Maria

I applied ED to University of Texas, and I received notice today that my application is being held for consideration with the regular decision pool. Not sure what this means for my prospects overall. Is there anything I can do at this stage to increase my chance of admission? LOCI are recommended for those waitlisted; are they appropriate for this situation? If so, should I wait until February or March when they are whittling applicants down?

For background, I am in-state, non-traditional age, LSAT 163, and GPA 3.59 (not great but from a top liberal arts undergrad - now completely regretting the multiple semesters of Mandarin I insisted on taking in spite of the fact it was shredding my GPA!).

Thanks for any insights!

goingfor99th

Your application is in so I'd say there's probably not much you can do. The only thing I can think of would be to retake the LSAT and bring up your score.

Sorry, I know that's not what you want to hear.

akistotle

The University of Texas is one of the schools that seem to treat ED applications no differently. And I think what you can do at this point is to register for the Feb LSAT and retake. I think you will need 167+ for the school. It’s doable!

Good luck!

Jason Kander

They could have rejected you, but instead they decided to move you into the RD pile. It is not the best outcome, but not the worst.

Seeking Perfection

Sign up for a retake in February and study hard for a month and a half. Look into backup options or waiting a cycle.

There is some chance you get in. In state is supposed to help some and non-traditional status can distance you from your GPA. However, in the end it is mostly a numbers game and there is one number(your lsat score) which you still have room to improve.

I wouldn't wait on the LOCI. I would write now, keep it fairly brief and write them again when you get a higher LSAT score in February, and finally write them later in the cycle when they are trying to fill their last slots.

Ruth_Maria

Thanks everyone for your thoughts. You're quite right that the single best thing to do would be to retake the LSAT in Feb and submit a higher score. Unfortunately that option is off the table for me at the moment, so I was thinking in terms of things that may be marginally helpful. Above all, of course, I am submitting my application to other schools.