August 9, 2015

Handling Rejection from a Law School Waitlist


As I was on day two of driving to my new school, I got an email from my dream school saying


Thank you for your application to Dream School School of Law. Every year we receive far more applications from qualified candidates than we are able to admit. We placed you on our waitlist because we thought there was a possibility of a positive outcome. Unfortunately, orientation begins Monday and we have determined that no additional applicants will be offered admission from the waitlist.

That morning, I had actually been talking to my mom about what would I do if I was admitted. Sadly, even with breaking my lease and with the expenses of moving back, I wouldn't be losing money because my dream school is $12,000 cheaper a year. I'm all about dollars and cents these days :/ But if I had been pulled up from the waitlist I would have had two days to find a place to live and move in before orientation. That's crap that they wait this long for other people to accept or deny going to a school before they pull from the waitlist. There's no good living places by then and that's a very big deal. 

Even after being through this process, I still don't exactly understand the waitlist process. Originally I was told that there was no order from the waitlist. If that's the case then how do they decide who is the first person off of the list?! And they wouldn't even disclose how many people were on it which I think is unfair because at least let me know my chances so I can make some important life decisions. Honestly, if I knew my chances weren't that great of being accepted, I would have called my backup school wayyyy sooner. Luckily, they still admitted me; but, if they hadn't I would be one pissed person at the school that strung me along. 

My only solace is how much nicer the rest of the email was. This was not near as cold as they'd been. The original letter was pretty much like you show a little potential, but we're not sure. Then when I called a week ago asking if anything had changed since I hadn't heard from them all summer, they were just like there's been no change bye. And now they're all like we wanted you all along, let us help you get in.

My plan for now is to work my butt off this first semester, and then evaluate my options and possibly apply to transfer or maybe after attempt to transfer after the first year. This is a much more complicated process than anyone made it out to be. Yes Elle Woods, it kinda is hard :/

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