I do not know about the worst admission process. What I do know, however, is that the Admissions Office's work at Vanderbilt is outstanding. I have been treated with professionalism, care, and kindness. They promptly replied to all my emails, but also called me to provide me with additional information. It is a smaller school, but the quality of the faculty is excellent and it is ranked 17 in the US News & World Report. International students should definitely consider applying to their LL.M. program.

harvard is the worst.. a scandal...

Columbia... for sure !

Columbia: the most expensive law school in the world and they can't hire a competent admissions department.

There is an admissions department at Columbia ?

Are you kidding ?

Time to resurrect this thread!

Guys, which school do you think has been the worst this year?? I only applied to HLS, and must say...from last year's fiasco, they have definately improved!

On the other hand, it would appear from this year's postings that NYU have been quickest and most efficient, while Columbia still treats most applicants with high disdain!!

What is Harvard's test Email ?
I never got anything like that....

Well as far as I am concerned I'll cast my vote for HLS -- I've e-mailed them thrice and no response. Atleast they can mail back saying I have not been selected or something - I got offers from all other schools I applied to and all of them were responsive (at least to some degree) during the admissions process. But this place is too high n mighty for all that.. and I aint gonna call becuase their own completion notif e-mail says: "If you should have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us via return e-mail." Now can there be a more pertinent Q than: "Am I in or out?" at the present date in late March?

I am taking my money to NY.

Columbia is the worst.
They delay.., they do not have regard to your time of application.., you apply in November, they do not back to you todate; some one applies immediately after the deadline, gets a response in Jan. Just weird.

They are simply disorganised, to say the least!!!!

I applied to all top11 plus Georgetown and I have to say that no school disappointed me. Six accepted me, one rejected my application and five are still pending, but no one failed to answer to my e-mails, and always kindly.
The usual suspects (HLS and CLS) were indeed very prompt in addressing my doubts.
Of course, the one thing you cannot impose on a law school is to decide on your application when you are freaking out craving for a decision (which is exactly the situation I'm experiencing now).
Good luck to those still waiting

I have to say I found NYU to be pretty weak.

They don't respond to emails, not the easiest people to deal with on the phone. And then reading all of this stuff about the scholarships that has just been posted just solidifies in my mind that they are not the easiest school to deal with.

By far the best admissions process in my opinion has been Boston University. They are really friendly, always keen to answer any questions, and do a phone interview. They were also very prompt with getting through the process which is great for people who have to plan a move. My only complaint is the short deadlines to accept if an offer is made. The need to go about getting extensions is quite irritating. There has to be another way of doing that.

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Columbia, is simply awful!

Columbia, of course. First, an Early Review program with high chances of being deferred to the main applicant pool (so what's the point of Early Review?). Then absolutely no response, be it rejection, waitlist, or acceptance. They really don't make one want to go there.

Hi everyone,

I must admit I had no similar problems with any of the above universities. I made a policy, however, of applying on paper with all of my attachments in one package where possible.

I have also observed that most of these schools tend to send clear admission applicants their offers and refrain from sending people who are borderline or possible rejects. I received most of my offers within weeks of applying and funding offers shortly thereafter, but my best friend (who didn't do as well as me during law school) still hasn't received anything from many of the schools. I assume most wait to hear back from an initial pool and then when they gage the rejection/deposit level, they then send another round of offers.

I would personally refrain from 'trashing' a certain school's admissions processes, as I observe from your comments that you have never been involved in one personally. I think many of you simply don't realise the level of effort and forethought that goes into dealing with several hundred or even thousands of applications. Yes you are eager for a response, but they are also eager to maximise the opportunities for the greatest posssible pool of applicants. By 'rolling' the admissions process, they have the capacity to fill places that aren't taken and also to make their heavy workloads more spread out, thus allowing the relevant boards to pay your application more attention.

I feel I must also note that Columbia, UCLA, Cornell, Yale etc have all been more than helpful when I have been respectful and realistic about their commitments.

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I also made a bad experience with UCLA: after they confirmed the completeness of my application via E-Mail to me in October (!) and afterwards my online status showed "complete" they wrote an E-Mail to me two week ago, that my application is still incomplete and can therefore not be considered. How annoying! However, I do not care anymore as I am sure to attend UChicago this fall.