Application Process: Wait List

Each year the Moritz College of Law receives applications from qualified students in numbers far exceeding the number of available seats. In the past two years, our applicant pool has increased by over 50%. Although the number of students in the applicant pool has increased dramatically, we are not increasing the size of our entering class, nor the number of students to whom we extend an offer of admission.

In a typical year, approximately 575-625 students are extended offers of admission. Approximately 50% of those students pay the required seat deposit. For the past few years, this pool of deposit paid students has yielded an entering class ranging from 215 - 225 students.

Once a determination is made that sufficient offers of admission have been extended to yield a class of approximately 220 students, the Moritz College of Law Admissions Committee will make recommendations as to those students who should be placed on the wait list.

Once you have been placed on the wait list, you truly have to wait and see. The Admissions Committee has already reviewed and voted upon your file. Although additional information may be submitted (i.e. an updated transcript), it will not be reviewed unless, and until, a decision is made to extend offers of admission to students on the wait list. A decision to extend an offer of admission to a student on the wait list will not take place as long as the number of deposit paid students exceeds the number of available seats.

It is important to realize that the Admissions Office makes a great deal of effort to determine those students who "really are" planning to enroll so that we can determine, as soon as practicable, whether we will extend offers to wait-listed students. For the past two years, we have only pulled two students from the wait list.

Although we fully understand that each student on the wait list needs to know, as soon as possible, whether they will have an opportunity to attend Ohio State in the fall, we cannot extend offers from the wait list based upon individual student deadlines. If we are able to determine in late June that the likelihood of an individual student being pulled from the wait list is very small, we will notify that student in order to assist them in finalizing other options.

If a decision is made to go to the wait list, the Admissions Office will review the files and select a group of students for further consideration. Factors taken into account may include, but are not limited to, the recommendations of the Admissions Committee, comparability of quantifiable credentials to that of the seated class, compatibility with Moritz College of Law programming, and contribution to the range of diversity within the class (educational/experiential background, residency/non-residency, ethnic/cultural, area of substantive interest, etc.).

If there is any change on your wait list status, we will contact you as soon as possible. To this end, we would appreciate it if you would keep us informed of changes in your contact information via email at lawadmit@osu.edu