7 Ways to Save Money on Law School Applications

Thanks to my friend Brett McKay at Frugal Law Student for allowing me to guest host his great blog today. You can check out my article "Applying to Law School? 7 Ways to Save Money" there.
I urge law school applicants to read Frugal Law Student regularly, and to be honest the advice is so good that I often share his postings on tantric shopping with my friends who tend to go crazy with designer clothes. If you don't already read Brett's blog, you should.

Did a Law School Offer you an Application Fee Waiver?

I always learn something while reading Brian Leiter's Law School Reports blog and rankings site and here's a fact he posted about U.S. News Rankings that got my blood boiling (but for once I'm angry at the law schools and not at the ranking-fallacy issue):

"2.5% of the overall score [US News Ranking] is the acceptance rate for students. Highly Manipulable. . . . many schools inflate their "selectivity" by giving fee waivers to applicants who have no chance of getting in. NYU is reported to have pioneered in this arena, but many others have followed suit."

So many of my clients get excited and e-mail me when a school offers them a fee waiver. I don't like that law schools are preying on the hope and vulnerabilities of law school applicants (especially my applicants) and this makes it very easy to fight back -

If your numbers aren't in the realm of realistic possibility for a school and they offer you a fee waiver without knowing anything about you, don't get sucked in. It's a silent protest, but a worthwhile one.