About Commitment Overlap Reporting
The Commitment Overlap Reports provide summary statistics regarding the number of active commitments that overlap between law schools. The reports list the names of the law schools with overlapping commitments. Schools must opt in each year to participate in this data tracking; once your school participates, you have access to three reports: the Commitment Overlap Report, the Commitment Comparison report, and a report showing all the schools that are participating in overlap reporting. While participation is optional each year, once you agree to participate, you cannot withdraw from participation for the year. Note that Commitment Overlap reports are only available for JD programs.
This resource contains four parts. Part 1 reviews what Commitment Overlap reporting is. Part 2 describes how to opt in to participate in overlap reporting. Part 3 reviews how applicants are included in the reporting. Part 4 describes where to find the reports in Unite.
Part 1: Commitment Overlap Reports
In the spring of each year, as schools begin to make application decisions, accepted applicants indicate an intention to enroll, which may take the form of a verbal or written commitment, or the payment of a deposit. If your school participates in Commitment Overlap reporting, beginning in April you will have access to reports to see how many of your applicants are committed solely to your school or if they are committed to other schools for this year, a report comparing this year’s commitment overlap data to previous years’, including matriculation data, and a report showing all the schools participating for the year. The Commitment Overlap reports are available daily beginning on April 16th and the Commitment Overlap Comparison reports are available on the 26th of each month beginning in April and are updated after the monthly capture of commitment data. These subsequent reports are available on May 26th, June 26th, and July 26th, with a final comparison report available on August 26th It is best to keep your commitment data up to date on an ongoing basis but it is especially important that your commitment data is accurate by the end of the day on the 25th each month during the Commitment cycle.
The Commitment Overlap Report
This report shows the breakdown of the total number of students currently committed to your school for the upcoming fall semester. The report breaks out counts of those applicants who are also committed to another school currently and the schools for which they are committed.
The Commitment Overlap Comparison Report
This report shows the historical comparison of the commitments to your school for set date snapshots, as compared to the same date in the previous year and how those students eventually matriculated. The comparison breakdown is only for those schools who were participating in the commitment comparison for both years on that date snapshot.
The Participation Report
This report shows which LSAC member schools participate in the Commitment Overlap reporting for the current year, as well as previous years.
Part 2: Participating in Commitment Overlap Reporting
Commitment Overlap reports are only available to schools who opt in to participate. Schools can opt in each year beginning on April 1st. To participate, follow these steps:
-
In Unite, select the UTILITIES area.
-
Select the Data Submission tab.
-
Select the Commitment Release option.
-
The Commitment Release page has two sections: the previous years’ commitment counts and the counts for the current year.
-
Review the list of applicants in the Current Commitment section.
a. The Pending Commitment column shows that the Commitment Date is set in the person’s record.
b. The Current Commitment column shows the commitment data that has been sent to LSAC.
-
Read the participation disclosure and select Participate. This authorizes the automatic transfer of your commitment data to LSAC. IMPORTANT: While participation is optional each year, once you agree to participate, you cannot withdraw from participation for the year.
Part 3: How Applicants Are Included in the Commitment List
Applicants are included in your school’s Commitment list (and so represented in the summary numbers of the Commitment Overlap reports) if they have a Commitment Date recorded in their application record. You can find the commitment date in the Application Status section of the person’s application record. Note that Unite excludes from Commitment Overlap reporting applicants with Transfer, Visitor, or Advanced Standing application types.
You control what causes the commitment date to be set in the Status sections of Global Settings. For each Status/SubStatus combination, you choose whether the combination sets the commitment date, removes the date, or leaves the date as is.
Part 4: Finding and Running Commitment Overlap Reports
Find the Commitment Overlap reports in the REPORTS area of Unite. Select the “National” tab and the list of national reports is provided. Commitment Reports are listed here.
Select the Run arrow and Unite will display the Commitment Report page, where you can choose which report to review.
