SMU Dedman School of Law Waitlist Dashboard

Name: LSD.Law Law School Admissions Dataset
Creator: LSD.Law applicants
License: https://lsd.law/data-access

#38

Historical admit pace, who's in the pool right now, and the LSAT/GPA of past waitlist admits at SMU Dedman School of Law. Data from LSD.Law.

2025-2026 · 57 on the waitlist right now

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Law schools admit more applicants than they have seats because not everyone who gets in will enroll. How many do — the school's yield — isn't known until deposit deadlines in April or May. When yield comes in low, the school pulls from the waitlist. When it comes in high, nobody comes off.

Most pulls happen between mid-May and late July, but timing varies by school. Some clear in May; others wait until August; some years a school doesn't pull anyone at all.

Vocabulary

Yield. Share of admitted applicants who enroll.

Melt. Admits who deposit, then later back out, usually because they got off another school's waitlist. Every melted admit is a seat that opens up at this school.

Pull. A waitlist-to-accepted decision; also the verb for what a school does when its waitlist moves.

Live pool. Waitlist applicants still in the running: no deposit down anywhere, no offer from a higher-ranked school.

Reading each panel

When This School Pulls From the Waitlist. The typical date range when SMU Dedman School of Law has worked its waitlist in the last three cycles. Today is marked on the bar. If it's before the range, you're early. If it's inside, you're in the typical window. If it's past the range, most historical movement has already happened.

Who's Currently on the Waitlist. The current waitlist pool, broken into live, holding a higher-ranked offer, deposited at a lower-ranked school, and deposited at a peer or higher-ranked school. Not everyone on a waitlist is gone just because they deposited — someone who deposited at a lower-ranked school may still flip if pulled. The live bucket is who the school is competing for, and the LSAT/GPA profile underneath describes that group.

Past Waitlist Pulls vs Your Stats. The LSAT and GPA range of applicants this school has pulled off its waitlist in recent cycles, alongside its most recent reported class medians. If the WL band sits below the class band, the school locked its medians from regular admits and used the waitlist to fill sub-median seats — the normal pattern. If it sits above, the school has been pulling mainly high-stat waitlistees.

Waitlist Pull Pace. This school's historical pull curve with the current cycle traced on top. A flat line means pulls haven't started this cycle. A climbing line means they're underway.

Seats Freeing Up. How many of this school's admits have flipped to attending at another school this cycle, compared to the same day of cycle in prior years. Each one is a seat opening up here. Higher than baseline means more reason for the school to work its waitlist.

Direct Admit Pace. Non-waitlist admits this cycle against the school's historical curve. Ahead = the class is filling from the first round, so waitlist pulls will probably be fewer. Behind = the class isn't filling on its own, so the waitlist has more work to do.

What this page can't tell you

Whether you come off this school's waitlist. Nothing here is a probability. The panels describe this school's patterns and the makeup of its current pool; what you make of them is your call.

Numbers come from LSD.Law applicants who self-reported their statuses. Not every admit logs their final decision, so absolute counts are undercounts. The bias is consistent across cycles, so year-over-year comparisons still hold.

When This School Pulls From the Waitlist

Who's Currently on the Waitlist

Past Waitlist Pulls vs Your Stats

Waitlist Pull Pace

Seats Freeing Up

Direct Admit Pace

All numbers from LSD.Law self-reported status updates. Historical percentiles pool the last 3 complete cycles.