Deferral Policies as of 2003-2004

At the Fall 2003 Law Forums, we asked admissions staff about their deferral policies in this time of increasing applications.  We were able to obtain answers from 142 law schools, out of the 170 or so we interviewed.  In most other cases, the person we interviewed didn't know the answer.  As recruiting events increase, more of them are attended by hired recruiters (translate: salespeople) or by staff from other departments.  

POLICY:  I've divided the policies into Conservative, Moderate, and Liberal.  

• "Conservative" is my term for words like "We very rarely grant them ."  
• "Liberal" is my translation of "they're pretty routinely given."  
• "Moderate" is anything in between.  
• Note that a surprising number of schools said "None at all."

BASED ON:  There are four common criteria for deciding whether to grant a deferral:  the quality of the app, the reason for asking, the time of year, and how overenrolled a school is.  

• "Quality" is usually a code word for numbers -- gpa and LSAT.  Applicants with numbers above median are much more likely to be given a deferral.
• "Reason" means what it says, although it varies with the overall policy.  At a school with a conservative policy, medical emergency might be the only good reason, while at a school with a liberal policy, a chance to see Europe might be sufficient.  
• "More likely Early" is subject to the same kind of interpretation.  At a school with a Feb. 1 deadline, "early" generally means April or May; at a school with a May 1 deadline, it might mean July.
• "Only if overenrolled" could refer either to the current year or the upcoming one; there's no way to know.  Schools tend to watch their faculty-student ratio as well as their classroom seating capacity.  

COMMENTS: in most cases, I've used this column for a second answer to the "based on" question.  But note that there are a few surprises.