Just curious...my daughter just got a fee waiver from a T14 even though it's after their deadline...is this common practice?
I just replied to your email regarding this, but I will post my answer here in case it can help others:
It is not
uncommon to receive fee waivers from schools this late in the game. Schools often have automated fee waivers set up to go out to students that fall within certain GPA or LSAT ranges. However, please take the waiver with a grain of salt: It is not meant as a "if you apply, you will be considered above other candidates." Rather, it is an invitation to consider their school and apply for free, even if it is after the deadline. There is no harm in doing so, although you must remember that she will be applying very late in the cycle for them if she chooses to submit an application, which will count against her given the number of people in the applicant pool.
If she feels concerned about applying after the deadline, I would encourage her to call the admissions office of the school and check if the fee waiver was sent on purpose. I am sure they will tell her to apply, and that it was not sent in error.
As a side note, here is what UPenn has to say about their deadline: "Although our posted deadline is February 15, this is not a hard deadline – candidates may still apply up until April 1." You can confirm that here:
http://www.law.upenn.edu/prospective/jd/faq.html#appdeadlines