Waitlist - food for thought

Hey! So as I’m pushing through my second semester at NU I thought I’d come back and share a little bit about my experience with an extremely late acceptance of a waitlist and what it’s like being on like 12 waitlists with 0 acceptances. Hopefully some of this will help those who are on waitlists and feel as lost and confused as I did.

BACKGROUND FOLLOWS SKIP FOR MY EXPERIENCE:

My story: I was a splitter - last December I scored a 171 on the December LSAT, coupled with a 2.83 cumulative GPA, I was ready to apply to schools and get rejected like crazy. What I wasn’t anticipating was getting waitlisted at half of the T-14 and some other t-20 schools.

My apps were submitted by late January and in March the waitlist began rolling in. Duke, Pen, UCLA, NU, ND, Mich, Irvine...etc etc.

I was getting waitlisted more than rejected. However I ended up in a situation where I was waitlisted everywhere and accepted nowhere.

I played the game throughout spring and summer. I sent LOCI’s every month or two and generally kept on top of them.

Starting in June I started falling off waitlist. This went on until late July, at which point NU was the only outstanding waitlist - and I had just accepted defeat. I got a second job was ready to figure out my life, then NU called - offered me a spot - and like a child at Disneyland I tearfully and excitedly accepted. The only issue? Classes started in 4 days, I was in California and I had to get out to Chicago as fast as possible.

BEGIN HERE FOR MY EXPERIENCE:

When I got to Chicago I didn’t have a place to live. The school got me a hotel for a week but after that it was on me. So basically my first week of law school, when I wanted to be focused on classes, I was dealing with apartment hunting. This really got me off on the wrong foot - was behind in readings and never caught up.

I also missed orientation week - which meant I wasn’t on most of the email lists. For the first month I missed many important lunch meetings and seminars. I didn’t even know they were a thing, and since I hadn’t made any friends/Aquintances I was lost. This never went away, even today. I still feel like I’m not a working gear in the NU clock. This is something you want to address right away. I also had to get ID’s made, full out paperwork, deal with school medical stuff....it was a lot in a small timeframe

Moving without housing: huge issue. My first month was spent more on trying to get a place to live, a bed, and everything else you need to live than it was on class work. I flew out with one suitcase of stuff. Trying to deal with this and law school is not for the faint of heart.

People already know each other and you’ll feel left out. People have been taking since orientation - if you weren’t lucky enough to make it to that you’ll be that one guy/gal that is on the outside. It will eventually go away (not the social awkwardness -that stays - law school is weird man) and you’ll start to make friends.

So if you are on the waitlist and thinking of making a split second decision - be prepared to potentially be way behind the curve from the get go. Work diligently and prioritize; but definitely take these things into consideration when you are weighing your options with the waitlists.