I applied everywhere :)
HLS, NYU, CLS, Duke, Cornell, Chicago and the post lost my package to Georgetown, so well, i really applied to the 6 above.
my dream school would be chicago (cuz i'm pretty sure to have zero chances at HLS). if you're accepted everywhere, where will you go?

25 cannot be correct.
Another great way of killing time: Speculative calculations!!

Let's assume 250 are entering the class of 2010. Let's then assume that roughly 2.500 are applying in total. Although the time until the early review deadline streches from Sept. 1st until Nov. 3rd (2 months) while the remaining time for "regular applicants" is only 1.5 months (until Dec. 15th), the fact that most people need longer to get all the supplementary materials and wanna work on their applications as long as necessary, weighs the shorter period out. In fact, I'd say 40% of total applicants are using the "early review". That's be 1.000 applicants.

Next we can say that Columbia will grant at best 40% of the 250 spots to applicants through Early Review, but realistically about 30%, as they would like to see how potentially good but not outstanding candidates will fare in comparison with the 1.500 remaining applications. That's be 75 places. About 40 to 50 would be deferred to the regular cycle. 75 out of 1.000 = chance of 7.5 % for admission through early review.

Merry Christmas!

I prioritize my wishlist as HLS, then NYU and CLS but rightly said 'beggars are not the choosers'......i'll be obliged if i get through one of them with good scholarship award.....well for you i wish ur dream comes true....i'll have one less competitor...lolz.....just joking.....but dnt loose heart....i have seen ppl rejected from NYU and CLS and chicago and accepted by Harvard.....its all abt destiny clicking at the right time.......all d best............

@twelfthmonkey.......really good way to kill time....but i hope your estimation and calculations are correct......i hope your calculation wins and they tk 75 or so in early review.....sometimes loosing is not dat bad......well i mst say u have given very good logics.......

I heard it from one friend who's not a lawyer. He told me than one European girl that he knows was accepted... I don't know if that's true, mainly bcause the girl doesn't have impressive credentials at all... Maybe my friend was wrong. However, I think that they will send most notices from Dec 15 to Dec. 24, so we just have to wait.

It would be fantastic to have at least one acceptance before the end of the year, since most of the universities will send their acceptance on Feb- March

Twelfth, that's indeed a great way to kill time! :) and i hope your estimations will be correct
i finally received the official letter of acceptance from Duke. and i have to answer by January 9, in order to tell them whether i choose to attend duke or not..
problem: my dream school, once again, is Chicago, but they only send out acceptance notices by february at the best, I think..
do you believe it's possible to contact Chicago now and ask them about my chances to get in, explaning the January deadline i'm facing? it would kill me to accept duke and after realise that i'm admitted to Chicago...
cheers!

Twelfth, that's indeed a great way to kill time! :) and i hope your estimations will be correct
i finally received the official letter of acceptance from Duke. and i have to answer by January 9, in order to tell them whether i choose to attend duke or not..
problem: my dream school, once again, is Chicago, but they only send out acceptance notices by february at the best, I think..
do you believe it's possible to contact Chicago now and ask them about my chances to get in, explaning the January deadline i'm facing? it would kill me to accept duke and after realise that i'm admitted to Chicago...
cheers!

that's really no good news...what do you plan to do? you're unlikely to hear from many other universities till then, so I think you're now considering whether to pay the deposit or trustfully waiting for another admission notice...how much is it? $500?

Well, so that you know, the fact that many of us brazilians reported admission may be due to the fact that we are very talkative, heheh

And, just in case you are wondering,I have not been admitted anywhere so far....

ahaha...you made a good point, even though I'm not Brazilian unfortunately. I just studied there for 5 months. Hope to have learnt how to convince admissions offices anyway...at this point, I hope to hear something next week...have a good weekend!

yes, deposit is 500 USD...
I know, the deadline is a bit insane, I mean, apart from CLS early review, I think no school gives decision before February or later...
I really don't know what to do... because Duke didn't grant me any scholarship, and i'd rather of course go somewhere with a scholarship...
I wonder, let's say I pay the deposit, then am I obligated to attend Duke and pay the fees? or if I reject it later, i'll ""just"" lose the 500 USD?

it's all about those $500...it's a kind of reservation fee, quite expensive though. If I'm not mistaken, I've read somewhere else is $1000+...no scholarship is the central point...may I ask you where else did you apply to? according to usnews rankings, duke students body is almost 1/3 of both the NYU's and CLS's...If you expect to be admitted also there, perhaps you can gamble not to pay this deposit...anyway, I wouldn't give them any reply before 2009...

you can also say you've already been admitted somewhere else, hoping they'll grant your some scholarship in order not to loose you...I'm planning to play this little trick if and when I'll get into...perhaps, if Duke ain't your 1st pick, you can try. they won't withdraw the admissions offer anyway

I also applied to NYU, CLS, HLS, Cornell, Chicago. Duke would be a great school, i'm sure of that, and they seem to be very nice and helpful to international students, but of course the scholarship (or in this case, the lack of scholarship) is my big issue....
i think i'm gonna wait until the last day to answer them... the thing is, i am totally unable to evaluate my chances to get admitted to the other schools, i don't know how selective those schools are compared to Duke, and if my background can interest them or not, so i'm quite afraid to risk not to pay the deposit

at least Cornell is very likely to admit you...don't want to seem rude to you, but I don't know your background...I think you should try the trick I told you above...NYU and CLS are ranked higher and receive far more applications, but still they each admit 3 times Duke...

don't worry, it's not rude at all! :)
my background is quite normal i guess, not outstanding at all..

Laodeshu: Why just not ask them -without giving any reason- for some more days? If they ask you for a reason, well, then you play your cards.

I think that the admissions community is too small (at least the top law schools one) to trick them... Maybe they could call to the other law school... I don't know, maybe I am fearfull. Good luck in any case!!!!

thanks Jenny!
yep you're probably right too... i'm getting totally confused with all these applications :)
the only solution would be to be accepted during the coming week to CLS ;)))
aaaah the waiting is terrible! where did you apply?

they know perfectly this trick, but this is also part of the game. I've already spoken with a lot of people, and each of them told me that here is perfectly normal to do what I told you. you're asking for some% off, nothing more...and if they want you to pay the tuitions to them and not anybody else, we will get back to you with a partial scholarship...as soon as I'll hear something, I'm definitively going to try this. of course here it's up to you and only you

Laodeshu: Maybe stagista is right, and that kind of yricks are just part of the game... personally I prefear not to use them because I'm a nervous person...
But well, I hope that you will get accepted at CLS, so, maybe you're worried about nothing:)
Have you think about tell them that, since is dificcult for you to pay the LLM, you are waiting to receive an scholarship but you don't want to loose the posibility of accepting Duke? Maybe you could tell them to give you more time to pay and to re.think the posibility of give you financial aid.
Btw, Iam applying to Chicago, CLS (with no hope), NYU and UPenn, and since I do not have faith that I will be accepted at CLS, Iam waiting UPenn acceptance!