Tips to get off a waitlist?

[Enrique]

Hi everyone,

First off, I'm a big fan of PowerScore and have been following you guys for the past few months. I love the RC Bible, and I always look forward to news from Dave and Jon - the podcast is amazing!

I'm in a bit of a bind at the moment. I scored a 143 on the February LSAT and a 147 on the May-Flex exam. I had applied to a handful of schools earlier this year, and I'm still waiting to hear back from about 4-5 of them. My dream school - BYU Law School in Provo, Utah - placed me on the waitlist back in April. I was really hopeful that I would be able to break into the 150s with the Flex, and disappointed that I did not get the results I wanted.

Today I received an email from the BYU dean of admissions telling me that I've been placed on a second waitlist of sorts. Their seat deposit deadline was on Monday and they found that there was little attrition among the students who were admitted in the first round. So, because BYU won't be drawing a lot of applicants from the waitlist, they decided to cut the waitlist in half, and I've been selected to remain in consideration among this smaller group of applicants.

When I was first offered a spot on the waitlist, I highlighted all of my soft factors - I'm a Columbia graduate, a first-gen student, a convert to the LDS faith, and a New Yorker - all factors that have been historically underrepresented at a school like BYU. I've also visited the campus twice, and have remained in touch with the admissions office since submitting my application in January.

My question is: Is there anything I can do now to increase my chances of admission? I realize I have an extremely slim chance because of my poor LSAT performance...or maybe not? BYU let me know that they'll look at the waitlist again in mid-July...but what should I do? I'm neither registered for the June or July LSATs, but I'm currently enrolled in a non-degree, summer-only film program at Columbia (my goal is to be an entertainment lawyer).

Just when I thought my application would be immediately rejected because of my LSAT scores, and just when I started thinking about re-applying next year and figuring out a new LSAT study plan...I'm now back to the drawing board, trying to figure out my next steps. I want to let BYU know how interested I am in their school, keep bringing up my soft factors, etc. but I also don't want to overdo it and bombard them with updates and new info. I'm thinking of reaching out to my boss and asking him to submit a letter of recommendation on my behalf...but he has no idea I applied to law school (and to potentially quit my job) this year!

Any tips? Let me know what you think! Thanks in advance!

Best,
Enrique

[Christen Hammock]

Hi Enrique!

Thanks for reaching out. This is such a difficult position to be in mid-June! I think the silver lining for your position is that you're willing to re-take and re-apply next cycle. If you think you haven't yet reached your potential for the LSAT, start thinking about a new strategy to get your score up.

Because they've sent you additional information about being selected for the smaller waitlist, it would be appropriate to send another letter of continued interest. If any of what you mentioned in your post is new (the film program in particular), that would be good to include! You should reiterate that you plan to commit to BYU if accepted off the waitlist.

An additional letter of recommendation is unlikely to be helpful, especially since you haven't yet told your employer that you're applying to law school. If you plan to wait out another cycle, it probably isn't worth the risk of letting your employer know that you're planning to leave (although of course this varies by employer--you know your situation better than I do!).

Hope this is helpful!
- Christen