What To Do If Your Law School Application Is On “Hold”?

Written by Alice Foley, Associate Law School Consultant

Let's set the scene. You’ve gotten the notification that your law school application is complete and has been passed on to the review committee for a decision. You’ve waited a few days (at least), and you check your status again…it says that your application is on hold. What does that mean?? Is it a bad sign? What can you do?!

First things first, don’t panic. Your application being placed on hold is not cause for alarm. 

What does “hold” mean?

Your application can be placed on hold for a variety of reasons. Often, it’s because the review committee either wants or needs more information before making a decision. It can also have something to do with the internal workflow of the committee. With that in mind, being on hold is pretty straightforward - your application review is paused for the moment, but will resume as soon as something happens. The committee or application reader is deferring making a decision until they have more information. You are not denied, admitted, or even placed on the waitlist, you are just simply on hold.

Why applications are put on hold:

As stated above, the reasons an application can be put on hold are super school specific – your best plan is to contact the law school admissions office (if they haven’t already reached out). Sometimes an application is placed on hold while the applicant is given time to send in additional information. Maybe the committee really liked a lot of the application but wanted some further information about a character and fitness disclosure. Maybe a transcript from a summer study program wasn’t in your initial CAS report. Maybe you’ve disclosed pending litigation that you are party to and the committee wants to wait on the outcome. Or maybe it’s as simple as you opting not to send in an application document that wasn’t required, but the committee wants you to send it in.

If an optional document applies to you, it’s always a good idea to send it in!

Your application can also be placed on hold for reasons entirely unrelated to the content of the application. If a review committee member is unexpectedly unable to participate in the review process, applications may be placed on hold while the workload is adjusted. Or, sometimes, a committee member may want to recuse themselves from review of a particular application(s) due to a conflict of interest (they may have written one of your LORs, be a relative, etc.). The committee may have also just not had a chance to adequately review your file for a particular discussion, and your application could be placed on hold to give the committee members more time.

Is being on hold the same thing as being waitlisted?

No. Being waitlisted is an official application decision. Most times, waitlist decisions come later near or after deposit deadlines once the school has a better sense of how the incoming class is shaping up. Most times, however, you will receive a hold decision (admit/deny/waitlist) before the deposit deadlines. And yes, unfortunately, you can go from hold to waitlist.

What can/should YOU do?

The very first thing, again, is not to panic. Being on hold is, I repeat, not cause for alarm.

Someone will very likely let you know if the review committee needs or wants more information from you. The admissions office will typically reach out and let you know exactly what information to provide, how to submit the information, and the deadline for submitting the information. If you’ve noticed that your application status is on hold and haven’t heard something in a few days, reach out to the admissions officer and politely ask for an update.

Unfortunately, if it’s a workflow related hold there isn’t much of anything for you, as the applicant, to do except exercise patience. You can absolutely reach out to the admissions office to see if there’s an expected time for the delay, but that’s about it. If you’ve applied to multiple schools and are coming up on deposit or decision deadlines, you can (and should) let the admissions office know – it may not change the timeline for your application review but it definitely won’t if you don’t share the information.

Most times though, a hold will resolve itself in a few weeks to a couple of months, but you will receive a decision. Remember, no news is not always bad news, especially in admissions.

The team at Barrier Breakers® Admissions Advising is here to support you through this law school application cycle! Whether it's through discounted advising for BIPOC, first-generation, and LSAC Fee Waiver applicants, our essay review services and courses, or just downloading our free Essential Guide to Applying to Law School, we're here to help make this process easier.

As always, feel free to reach out to us at hello@barrier-breakers.org with any of your questions! You can also submit a question to be answered on our weekly Break Into Law School® Podcast, streaming wherever your favorite podcast service is.