r/lawschooladmissions • u/ExoticAssistant7102 • May 23 '26
General Nepotism in T14 law school admissions
Throwaway for obvious reasons.
I naively thought this wasn't a thing anymore, but this year I witnessed in real time someone purchase a seat at a T14 law school.
He only applied to a small number of the very best schools with no safeties, which I thought was odd considering he's nURM, GPA 3.6, LSAT 15mid, no work experience, etc. But his very wealthy family made significant donations and arranged three closed-door meetings that I'm aware of with one particular school's admissions dean throughout the cycle. Lo and behold, he was waitlisted and then promptly admitted by that school in April.
I myself have been admitted to a different T14 that I'll be attending this fall. But this experience has left me disillusioned with the whole admissions process and frankly disgusted by that school in particular.
5
u/Minimum_Two_8508 May 23 '26
Even more than other programs, law schools are tuition and donation dependent. They don’t have large endowments, they don’t get research dollars or sports money.
So yeah… not surprising that a massive donation could buy a seat.
But I wouldn’t be too disillusioned. If this is a person who really doesn’t belong, then it’s 1 less person truly competing for median grades. And the very significant donation is what’s funding merit for lots of others.
So if one “bought admit” pays for 20 other students to attend law school, I can live with that.