Remember my last post where I deemed this cycle Year of the Waitlists? I’m guessing you’re here because you’re one of the many MANY lucky ones who are on multiple waitlists.
Wouldn’t it be nice if they just pulled the band-aid off already?
But maybe, just maybe, you may be the lucky one who gets admitted off the waitlist. Given how long waitlists are this cycle it may be unlikely, but it still has to happen to someone. And that someone could be you.
So don’t give up hope entirely. Plan as if you’re going to the school where you will put your deposit down, but if you follow the steps laid out in the last post, you will at least know you did everything you could to get off the waitlist.
One of the main strategies for getting off the waitlist: making it as easy as possible for an admissions officer by being at the right place at the right time. I.e., submitting your persuasive letter of continued interest (“LOCI”) at the time when the school is looking to take people off the waitlist.
So when will law schools start taking applicants off the waitlists?
Typically, a week or two after the law school’s deposit deadlines, giving stragglers some time to smooth out any wrinkles, law schools will start examining their commitment numbers and whether they need to go to the waitlist.
So sending a LOCI around deposit deadlines is a good idea.
You could additionally send a LOCI a week or so after the first Seat Deposit Overlap Report on May 15th—the day when schools get a report on whether anyone who sent in a deposit at their school sent in a deposit somewhere else as well. Law schools often use this report to determine commitment levels, and what their waitlist needs might be. So this is another good date to mark for sending a LOCI.
The list of dates below are approximate deposit deadline dates for the top 50 schools this year. A good number of schools this cycle gave different seat deposit deadlines to different applicants, depending on the date of acceptance. Additionally, some of the dates below only reflect a first deposit deadline, so there may be a second deposit deadline that is not noted.
This list is still a useful guide for waitlist purposes and knowing when to strategically send your LOCI. But please, if you were accepted to a school, look at your own acceptance letter to determine when you have to deposit by, don’t rely on this list!
2024 Law School Seat Deposit Deadlines
Yale: May 1
Stanford: May 1
Harvard: May 1
Columbia: May 1
University of Chicago: April/May (varies by year)
New York University: May 1
University of Pennsylvania: April 29
University of Virginia: April 25
University of California-Berkeley: April 15 “letter of intent” (no deposit due), May 15
Duke University: April 26
University of Michigan: April 30, June 15
Northwestern University: May 1
Cornell University: April 15, May 15
University of California-Los Angeles: April 15, June 1
Georgetown University: May 1, June 3
University of Texas-Austin: April 15
Vanderbilt University: Varies by acceptance date
Washington University in St. Louis: April 22, June 3
University of Southern California: May 1, June 15
Boston University: April 15, June 1
University of Florida: April 15
University of Minnesota: April 15
University of Notre Dame: April 15, June 1
University of North Carolina: First deposit varies by student, second deposit due early June
Arizona State University: April 1
University of Alabama: Unknown (April 1 last year)
George Washington University: April 15, June 1, July 1
University of Georgia: April 15, June 1
Boston College: April 16, May 16
Brigham Young University: March 31, June 2
Emory University: April 15, May 15
University of Illinois: April 17, May 22
University of Iowa: April 1, June 1
University of Wisconsin: May 1, June 1
Fordham University: April 15, Jue 1
University of California—Davis: April 15, June 1
University of California—Irvine: April 15, June 1
Washington and Lee University: April 15, May 15
William & Mary Law School: May 1
Ohio State University: May 1
George Mason University: April 1
Wake Forest University: April 1, May 1
Indiana University—Bloomington: April 15 (enrollment form, no deposit)
University of Utah: April 29, June 7
University of Washington: May 1
Pepperdine University: April 15, June 15
University of Arizona: Unknown (April 15)
Florida State University: April 15
University of Colorado: April 15, May 10
University of California—San Francisco (formerly UC Hastings): April 15, June 21
University of Maryland: April 16, June 4
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