Law School application not accepted on the day it was due. What next?

May 16, 2021 3:05 PM

I went to submit a law school application on the day it was due (the 15th) and received an error message that it was not accepted. I immediately sent an email with a digital copy of the application to the admissions office. Is there anything else I should do?

I made the mistake of thinking that a deadline of the 15th meant it could be submitted on the 15th, but apparently the system was only set up to accept it before the 15th. (No need to point out that it was dumb of me to wait until the 15th to submit it.)

The application requires a fee. I'm leaning towards dropping off a printed copy of the application at their admissions office on Monday, along with a check for the application fee, and mentioning again that I tried to submit it on the 15th, and asking them to please consider me. This is for CUNY law school.

CUNY is my first choice, and if anyone has any ideas about what I can do to get considered for this year, I would appreciate the advice.

posted by crocodiletsunami to Education (12 answers total)

Call the admissions office first thing on Monday. They may or may not even be physically staffed right now.
posted by praemunire at 3:10 PM on May 16, 2021 [6 favorites]

You won't be the only one who submitted on the due date and it will be a thing they're dealing with. Definitely call the admissions office on Monday as praemunire says above. But for good measure I personally would also call the Dean's office and speak to their administrator, explaining that you received an error message submitting your application before the deadline had passed, and ask their advice.
posted by nantucket at 3:15 PM on May 16, 2021

Please don't call the Dean's office, who may or may not know what you're talking about. Start with admissions, since this is an error with an application and applications is what admissions does.

Please don't show up with a physical copy of your application, which they may or may not be prepared to receive and may or may not be prepared to process, if someone is even there (as praemunire noted) [I know that's what the error message suggests, that's a generic error message], let along a check that they probably aren't set up to process; if the application fees usually go through an online portal, then admissions may not be set up to handle payments at all.
posted by joycehealy at 3:25 PM on May 16, 2021 [16 favorites]

Offering wildly contrary advice, I, a practicing lawyer, absolutely would go in person with a physical copy, a laptop to re-email it, a checkbook, a credit card, a debit card, and the 100% most sorry, contrite, non-entitled attitude you can bring. No, the front line person can’t help you. But if you’re nice and apologetic, maybe they know someone who can.
posted by kerf at 4:34 PM on May 16, 2021 [20 favorites]

^^This. Try every avenue. Be incredibly polite and apologetic. What’s the worst that can happen, your application isn’t accepted twice?
posted by Jubey at 6:11 PM on May 16, 2021 [1 favorite]

CUNY Law (and all of CUNY) is operating fully remotely and you likely can't enter the building without a staff or student ID, so there's little point in taking your application to them in person. See what the admissions office says, you'll likely be fine and won't be the only person who had this problem.
posted by cushie at 6:11 PM on May 16, 2021 [1 favorite]

Agreeing with others to just call tomorrow morning, as well as send an email with your date/ time stamp on that LCAS system. Include your name and application ID. write down the names of folks you interact with. And be patient; most likely 90% of folks also waited to the deadline to submit , so their admissions office will be hammered on Monday with similar questions.

Deadlines on may 15 usually mean a deadline at the end of that day (11:59pm), in that school’s time zone. However, sometimes it is mis configured to be in the application server’s time zone.
posted by WedgedPiano at 7:12 PM on May 16, 2021 [3 favorites]

Or the deadline is really tomorrow because the banker's date of the middle of the month the 15th falls on a saturday. Having an absolute deadline on a saturday/sunday is a hard thing due to many circumstances like staffing in case of problems or religious reasons. Hope for first business day and send the email things. You won't be the only one, especially if something did go wrong that day and you're not the only one calling.
posted by zengargoyle at 8:14 PM on May 16, 2021

as I understand it CUNY admissions folks just log in to see your common application. They don’t collect it from you directly.

But it will be CUNY that decides whether or not to permit a "late" application.
posted by praemunire at 9:07 PM on May 16, 2021 [1 favorite]

With years of experience in HE I would bet good money this is a systems error where someone has put the wrong date in. Be super polite, speak nicely to the person on the phone or on email, and fingers crossed. The more cynical side of me says if there's an application fee they are *surely* more likely to accept an application any which way, so it sounds hopeful.
posted by Augenblick at 2:30 AM on May 17, 2021 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Due to a technical issue that has now been resolved LSAC
has reopened our application until 11:59 pm tonight May
17, 2021. Please do not wait until the last minute to
submit your application because there will be no
exceptions after 11:59 pm on May 17, 2021.

I just submitted my application. Thanks for people reassuring me about this.
posted by crocodiletsunami at 7:54 AM on May 17, 2021 [20 favorites]

Glad it worked out! Fingers crossed that you get in. And FWIW, I (former atty) 100% agreed w/kerf's comment.
posted by Conrad Cornelius o'Donald o'Dell at 9:37 AM on May 17, 2021