Early Decision and Financial Aid/ Scholarships

LAWYERED

Hi everyone,

I am planning on taking the September LSAT and possibly applying ED to UC Davis if I manage to get a 160 because 7sage's law school predictor suggests that with ED I would have a 66% chance of admission. However, I also plan on taking the LSAT in November and I believe I will at least get a 163. That said, if I get admitted ED will they have less incentive to offer me more financial aid/ scholarship money? Making sure that I get into a good school is important to me, but getting the funds to go to said good school is also extremely important to me.

In summary: I don't want to apply ED if it might reduce my chances of getting a good financial package. Will it reduce my chances?

Thank you all.

10000019

Unless the ED comes with a guaranteed scholarship, you are weakening your odds of merit scholarship.

If a merit scholarship is extremely important to you, do not apply ED unless it comes with a scholarship.

Also since you seem new to this, you might want to research the difference between conditional and non-conditional scholarships.

_oshun1_

What is your GPA? Are you URM? Does any money come with being accepted early decision?

Edit - I just looked at the ED for UC Davis

Gift Aid
Students admitted under the >Early Decision program will be >eligible for need-based (grants) >and merit-based (scholarships) >gift aid on the same timeline as >those admitted under the regular >decision process.

I would call the school to double check but it sounds like you don’t limit or improve how much merit aid you get when applying ED. The only problem is that you do not have a chance to negotiate scholarships from other schools. Depending on your GPA this may not be relevant. I only got 10k/year from Davis and I didn’t have a comparable school to negotiate, similarly ranked schools gave me the same amount.

JPJ July2021

When you apply ED you are essentially relinquishing your ability to get a substantial amount of merit aid because you've lost your leverage to be able to negotiate. The school knows you'll attend whether or not you receive the aid. If merit aid is important to you, don't apply ED. The general consensus is that you shouldn't apply ED unless you're prepared to pay sticker (provided you don't apply to a school like Northwestern or GW that offer substantial merit aid to those accepted ED).

LAWYERED

Thanks all,

I think I'll visit UC Davis soon and see if I even feel comfortable committing. I have a 3.26 and I am an URM. I want to keep my options open and sometimes I feel like I'd rather go to a low-ranking law school like Chapman/ Pepperdine/ etc. if it means getting more money and less debt.
Really just trying to decide if I'd rather do ED and probably get less money or go to a lower ranking school and get some money. Honestly, I just feel lost. lol. sorry for the stream of consciousness.

LAWYERED

@Emily2122 said:
When you apply ED you are essentially relinquishing your ability to get a substantial amount of merit aid because you've lost your leverage to be able to negotiate. The school knows you'll attend whether or not you receive the aid. If merit aid is important to you, don't apply ED. The general consensus is that you shouldn't apply ED unless you're prepared to pay sticker (provided you don't apply to a school like Northwestern or GW that offer substantial merit aid to those accepted ED).

Thank you. That makes complete sense. I might just have to hold off on ED then...I'd rather have some leverage, I suppose.

stepharizona

Unless you’re going to a top school T-6 mainly, there is very need based aid. I have nearly a 0 FAFSA and only BU gave a small amount of need based aid.

AudaciousRed

I always wondered about ED and fin aid. This thread answered a lot of those questions I had.

Leah M B

@stepharizona said:
Unless you’re going to a top school T-6 mainly, there is very need based aid. I have nearly a 0 FAFSA and only BU gave a small amount of need based aid.

It definitely gets more sparse as you go down, but I got really decent need based aid at UCLA and quite a good amount from Cornell (off the waitlist, no less!). Maybe it's more like T20ish schools that give decent need aid? Tough to guess. But I was very impressed with those two, for the record.