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Harvard Law Rids Application Fee To Its Junior Deferral Program

Harvard Law is making applications for its junior deferral program free in hopes of attracting more low-income applicants, Inside Higher Ed reports.

“Harvard Law School is looking to attract and admit talented applicants, regardless of their financial means,” Kristi Jobson, Assistant Dean for Admissions and Chief Admissions Officer, says in a press release. “We hope and expect that eliminating the application fee and other costs for this group of applicants to our J.D. program will encourage more college juniors, particularly those for whom these costs are more burdensome, to apply to Harvard Law School.”

THE JUNIOR DEFERRAL PROGRAM

The Junior Deferral program, which generally has an application fee of $300, is aimed at college students who are looking to get a jump start on their law career. Students can apply to HLS during the spring of their junior year and receive an offer of admission prior to the start of senior fall on the condition that they defer admission for at least two years after college graduation, according to Harvard Law.

The program was originally created to encourage college students to gain practical work experience prior to starting law school. According to Harvard Law, Junior Deferral students job search their senior year having already completed the law school admissions process, giving them the opportunity to explore a full range of opportunities.

“It was great to have law school as something that was set so that I could do something that I really wanted to do,” Dennis Ojogho, who worked as a youth organizer for Community Coalition in South Los Angeles while on deferral in the Junior Deferral Program, tells Harvard Law Today. “And it was great to be able to go back home—to where I’m from—and to be able to work with the community and try to make an impact.”

For more information about Harvard Law’s Junior Deferral Program, click here.

Sources: Harvard Law Today, Inside Higher Ed, Harvard Law

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