It’s Not Too Late To Apply Early Decision!

Taylor Yocom: Hi, everyone, this is Taylor Yocom from WashU Law and producer of this season of our podcast, Applying Yourself. I’m excited to share an old episode from our third season that listeners applying this cycle might find useful: It’s Not Too Late To Apply To Washu Early Decision. Listen to our Director of Admissions, Naomi Blanton, and former Senior Director of Admissions, Claire O’Brien, break down the differences between RD and ED and explain how ED could be right for you.

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Naomi Blanton: So welcome back to Applying Yourself, a law school admissions podcast produced by the Admissions Office at Washington University School of Law. My name is Naomi Blanton. I serve as one of the directors in the admissions office. And joining us today is Claire O’Brien. Claire, would you like to introduce yourself?

Claire O’Brien: Hi, yes, absolutely. So my name is Claire. I work as the Senior Director of admissions for WashU Law School. Before I came to the admissions office, I practiced law in St. Louis for a while and then worked also in the career center at the law school. So I advised law students on career paths before joining the admissions office a couple of years ago.

Naomi Blanton: Wonderful. Well, we are so glad to have you on the podcast today, Claire. And our topic today is early decision. And so early decision basically is a sort of a different way of applying to law school. And the early decision program at WashU is even more distinct from other schools. Our program is a little bit different from other schools. Claire, do you want to talk about what our early decision program really is? Like give us an overview.

Claire O’Brien: Absolutely, absolutely. And I’m glad we’re doing an episode on this because I feel like early decision and undergrad admissions has become, and it’s always been a thing, but it’s like a definite thing and a thing to navigate. And law school admissions, certainly, I feel like is more, is more niche. It is just a different, different beast.

So, yeah, so our program is, essentially what happens is you check on the e-app or on our website application if you are applying early decision, but the application is the same as a regular decision app. So you would just only indicate on a check box, yes, I want to be considered under early decision.

You are then, the committee will review your application and then invite early decision applicants for an interview. We’ve done it different ways, but this cycle, we are interviewing every early decision applicant. So an interview is scheduled at some point. It may be, there’s no distinct timeline as to like, you submit your application, you schedule an interview within five days. It’s not like that, but at some point after you apply, you’ll be asked to interview with a member of our team.

And then after the interview is over, the interviewer will submit their notes to the decision committee who will review the written application and the interview and issue a decision within two weeks of the interview and or the date that everything has been submitted. So some, you may interview and this doesn’t happen all the time, but you may be waiting on some other piece of your application, but as soon as your application is complete and then your interview is complete, the committee will issue a decision within two weeks. Sometimes it goes a little bit beyond two weeks if they need additional time, but our additional information, follow up, but the aim is to get a decision back to the candidate within two weeks.

And then our program is unique in that some schools, like if you apply early decision, it’s automatically binding, right? If you are accepted, like, you are immediately committed. Ours is, so after you’re admitted, you will get a, an invitation to schedule a scholarship call. You’ll meet with a member of our team who will ask questions about need, background, specific interests, and then they’ll submit their notes to a separate committee, the scholarship committee, and then the scholarship committee will issue an award.

As soon as you get your scholarship award, you have two business days to decide whether you are going to accept WashU’s offer and the award. So we’re distinct in that instead of like automatically binding, in some schools you don’t even know your scholarship. We want people to feel really confident in a decision, so we want people to have all the information and then have time to think about it with important stakeholders, parents, grandparents, you know, take time to think through, so that’s why we give the two business days before you ultimately have to accept.

Naomi Blanton: And the scholarship that would come with an early decision award is, is really the strongest possible scholarship for, for that application cycle. And so, it’s, you know, great if you’re strongly considering a school. And if you do receive your scholarship and it’s, you know, not quite what you were looking for or expecting, and you decide to not accept your early decision seat and not accept the scholarship at WashU, you would be rolled into the regular decision pool.

So you, you have the option to not accept this offer and then go into the regular decision pool to see if, you know, maybe you get an admit again through that pool, and then what scholarship would be through regular decision pool. So yeah, it’s a, a unique program, and who should apply early decision at WashU, Claire?

Claire O’Brien: Yeah, I think people who are certain, virtually certain that they would accept an offer, you know, if the committee extends one. So to your point, you’ve got to be really careful because if you apply early decision and you don’t accept the offer, you’re, you don’t have a seat, right? Your file is then reconsidered, reconsidered with the regular application pool.

So you don’t want to apply early decision if you’re, if you’re not almost 100% certain that you would accept an offer if extended because again, and I want people to be clear. It’s not like you can apply early decision, get the offer and say I’m not going to accept the early decision, and I still have a seat. Your file will be reconsidered with the regular application pool.

So yeah, so I think ED is someone who feels that WashU would be a good fit for the next three years, the next chapter. A lot of people who apply ED visit before, just kind of do homework before they apply ED. Some people don’t because it’s a virtual world, so we have all sorts of information online. But yeah, you should be, again, virtually certain you would accept if offered admission.

Naomi Blanton: And that we get the question a lot, like, will applying ED give me better chances of admission? And really, with the nature of our program, it’s highly individually based to allow more people for the benefits of early decision. It’s not a cut and dry, like these, you know, these scores or these merit qualities equal exactly this scholarship. It really is based on the applicant. So it’s impossible to do, you know, apples to apples with ED will give me a better chance.

But it is a great way to signal, like Claire was saying, that if admitted, there is a really strong possibility that you would accept your scholarship and, you know, you have a really strong interest in coming. And that is one factor that admissions committees look at is, you know, the student’s interest in the school and, you know, are they excited about coming? Do they have plans that we’re really able to, you know, partner with them with for their law school education?

And so early decision is a great way to communicate those things, which are great things in an admissions process, but there’s no, you know, apples to apples with, yes, it would be like, of course, a better chance or anything like that. And then Claire, we do have a unique program at WashU. It’s called Redacted Review. We are going to do a podcast about Redacted Review. But we do get questions about, can I redact my scores if I’m applying early decision? And yes, you absolutely can redact either your LSAT and or your GPA if you are applying early decision, for sure.

And another question to that point I know we get a lot is, you know, are there quotas for the number of early decision candidates that are accepted each year? And Naomi, do you want to, do you want to answer that one?

Naomi Blanton: Sure, sure. And so, because, you know, like we were saying, because it is unique and really based on each individual student, it depends on the applicant pool and how many people are applying early decision each year. It’s not like terribly, terribly high numbers of students who, you know, come to WashU Law or maybe any other law school early decision. It’s not, you know, terribly, terribly high numbers, but it changes every year. Some years it can be a few, some years it can be a few dozen. It really just depends on, you know, how many people are applying early decision.

So, to long answer, you know, long story short, there is no quota. It’s not like we’re shooting for a certain number.

Claire O’Brien: Yeah, it’s really applicant-driven and dependent on the year and like what the pool looks like and yeah. So, and then we kind of talked about this, but, you know, when, when will you hear about the scholarship if you are admitted ED? And I always have to get it straight because I love how the committee does build in time, like for people to decide.

So again, it’s written applications complete, interview is complete, and then a decision will be issued within two weeks of the completion of the interview and the completion of the written application. And then once your scholarship call happens, that’s usually pretty close to when you get a decision.

Naomi Blanton: Yeah, pretty quickly and then the committee tries to go as quickly as possible on issuing the award.

Claire O’Brien: What is the timeline? I know they issue usually within a couple of, maybe?

Naomi Blanton: Usually within a couple of days.

Claire O’Brien: Days after the call?

Naomi Blanton: Yeah, sometimes it can be a little bit longer, but usually within a couple of days and then you’d have that two days to decide.

Claire O’Brien: Yep, and then you’d have the two days to decide. So it is an expedited process for sure.

Naomi Blanton: For sure. And then, yeah, so that’s relatively when you hear about the scholarship and then the rejection of the ED offer.

Yeah, so and then what happens if I, you know, reject my ED offer? As we talked about a little bit, you would be rolled into the regular decision pool to wait for a decision of either admit or possibly not admit. And then all regular decision applicants also have a scholarship call. For a regular decision applicant, they have their scholarship call and then typically within about six to eight weeks, sometimes longer, sometimes shorter, they would receive their scholarship award letter.

And then those regular decision applicants have until the first deposit date to place their first seat deposit. This year, this upcoming spring of 2024, WashU Law’s first deposit date is April 22nd. We encourage students to, as soon as they know that they’re committed to a school, to place their first seat deposit, not to wait until the deadline. But yeah, for upcoming year, it is April 22nd. And that’s, you know, the turnaround process for regular decision applicants.

But, you know, bringing it back to our early decision program, you know, the topic of this podcast, you know, our program is a little bit unique, and certainly if you have any questions about it or if you want to talk through, you know, might this be right for me or with like any clarification, you can always reach out to us. Our email is applylaw@wustl.edu or there’s lots of resources on our website as well. Claire, do you have any final words of wisdom around early decision?

Claire O’Brien: Yes, there’s one other thing that I know we said, you know, if you apply early decision, you don’t accept the offer. One thing is, if you do accept your offer, the committee asks, I mean, this is implied, but I just want to spell it out, that you would draw your applications from current schools that you fully commit. They ask for a full commitment. And so in order to fully commit, withdraw applications from other schools, and then we do ask for a deposit. Well, two deposits for early decision.

It is $1,000, but it is credited back to the student when they begin at the law school to their first tuition bill. So you get it back, but it’s just a way to hold the seat. If there is need, the committee will consider if you’re like, you know, I want to fully commit, but the $1,000 I can’t put down right now, the committee will work with applicants who need time and or have other circumstances at hand.

And then just like, I think the main point of how our program differs from other top schools or other schools generally is really that time to think through and be like, does this make sense for my next chapter? Like, is this for me?

Naomi Blanton: Absolutely.

Claire O’Brien: Yeah, we just want to give people the space to, which is why that two business days is built in.

Naomi Blanton: Yeah, absolutely. Yes, we want you to be empowered with as much information and time as possible, but also the benefits of early decision to get answers, you know, in a little bit of a condensed timeline that can really help you with your decision as well.

So, yeah, you know, as I said, if you have any questions about the program, please do reach out to us. We love to talk through any early or regular decision applicant questions. So thank you so much for joining us today and do keep an ear out for our podcast on redacted review and our podcast on what our admissions committees looking for in an applicant upcoming. Thanks so much. Bye-bye.