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Contacting Admissions 101

You’ve submitted your application to law school. It’s done, you think. You never have to contact law school admissions again. You might want to think twice about that.
Julie Ketover, a contributor at U.S. News, recently discussed a few reasons why applicants may need to contact law school admissions after submitting their application.
Campus Visits
Visiting a school can offer some benefits to your application, Ketover says. For one, you get a better understanding of what a school can provide. Secondly, it looks good to admission officers.
“The mere fact that you are visiting will likely be included in your file, which could have a positive impact on how your application is read,” Ketover writes. “Your outreach to a school about your plans to visit signifies that your interest is real and worthy of this type of investment of time and money.”
In addition, according to Ketover, scheduling a school visit offers the opportunity to meet with an admissions officer, which could mean an acceptance for your application.
Update to your Application
If your application has changed since you’ve submitted it, there’s valid reason for you to reach out to the admissions office.
“Say, for example, you have improved your GPA, have a new part-time job, secured a new internship in which you’ve developed relevant skills, published a research paper or received an award or honor,” Ketover writes. “These types of updates would justify informing the schools to which you’ve applied.”
However, applicants should be cautious about contacting a school over small updates.
“Telling them you designed your first webpage, for example, is neither a relevant nor a meaningful enough update to justify a post-submission call or email,” Ketover writes.
Negotiating Scholarships and Aid
This is where it gets tricky. Negotiating scholarships is a valid reason to contact admissions officers, however, you’ll have to know what to say. And, often times, first-time applicants don’t.
“The biggest challenge admitted students face is the simple fact that most prospective students have no experience at all in this area, while the admissions professionals often have a considerable background doing just that,” according to Spivey Consulting – a law school admissions consulting firm.
Michelle Kim Hall, a U.S. News contributor and consultant, says applicants should consider additional costs to a law education.
“You can’t simply assess monetary award amounts,” Kim Hall writes. “Consider how relative cost of tuition and living expenses will impact your finances. Calculate these costs and determine what percentage each award covers.”
In terms of negotiations, applicants should know their importance. In addition to lower demand in the law education in recent years, an acceptance to a law school means they value you as a prospective student.
“If they do not yield you and others like you, they will have to go to the wait-list for candidates with scores or backgrounds that are not as strong as yours,” according to Spivey Consulting.
Sources: U.S. News, Spivey Consulting