Applying ED with Some Conditions

devinstelter

Hello everyone!

There are two schools I am seriously considering going to next fall, first choice being the University of Utah and second being the University of Montana. My GPA is 3.92, so above the 75th percentile for both schools, but my LSAT is 159, which is above the 75th percentile for Montana but at the median for Utah.

In order for me to financially justify going to Utah (would have to pay all 3 years of out of state tuition, their new policy) I would need a substantial scholarship. With the LSAT score I have, I don't think I will be offered enough in scholarships to justify going there. However, I just recently found out the Utah just implemented an ED program. In general, I think applying ED is a bad idea in most instances, but for out of state students that are accepted ED at Utah receive a $75,000 scholarship (roughly 65% of base tuition for 3 years). The only conditions to keep the scholarship are to 1). maintain a 2.5 GPA and 2). don't violate any student conduct rules.

While it would be great to receive a scholarship of that size to a school I want to go to, I am uncertain of how difficult it is to attain a 2.5 GPA in 1L. While I take pride in my academic performance and don't think I would have an issue keeping that GPA, I have no clue what types of grades are generally given out in 1L and how the grading curve would factor into that? I am just trying to be as cautious as possible since it would be very unfortunate to lose out on that amount of money and end up paying sticker price after the first year.

Montana is far more affordable, and I can be reclassified as an in-state student after the first year. I suppose my question is how do you guys feel about receiving scholarships with GPA conditions? And from your perspective, would it be worth the risk to apply ED to Utah? Thanks in advance for the help!

_oshun1_

Don’t! Your stats are 75th gpa and median lsat you’re fine applying RD and you’ll prob get more money. ED is done out of desperation for t6 gunners (willing to pay sticker for the sake of prestige and big law potential) or for the money ie someone with median stats to northwestern wants to try for the $120k ED scholarship.

Leah M B

Yeah, agreed with @oshun1. With your stats, I don't think you need to ED. Scholarships are negotiable too. I have heard of people negotiating to have conditions taken off of a scholarship. So, if you don't apply ED, you could try for that.

The LST reports give information on how many students have their conditional scholarships reduced. Utah's looks like most typically aren't reduced, but we don't have a way of knowing what the conditions were (maybe they are different for non-ED scholarships). https://www.lstreports.com/schools/utah/costs/

devinstelter

Thanks for the responses! So in your opinion, with my numbers I could potentially receive in excess of $75,000 from negotiating through the Regular admission process?

_oshun1_

@devinstelter said:
Thanks for the responses! So in your opinion, with my numbers I could potentially receive in excess of $75,000 from negotiating through the Regular admission process?

Yes, it’s not an opinion it’s just how merit scholarships work. Put your stats in myLSN and LSN and look into it. People get full rides with median gpa and 75th lsat, but I don’t know anything about reverse splitters (re Utah). You definitely won’t be paying sticker with median/75th stats. And you’ll get a full ride to Montana if the rest of your app is good.