Lets talk scholarships

odovek97

How tough is it to get a full ride?

I graduated in 2019 with a 3.9 GPA and just got a 162 on my first timed practice test, have been studying for a couple weeks but haven't gotten to the reading comprehension or logic games section of the core curriculum yet. I got a -10 on the LG section and I know that is typically the easiest area to improve so I think I should be able to pick up some easy points there. My target is a 170+

I am currently working full time and I find it pretty tough to go from a solid income to having to take out loans to go to law school, but if I got a full ride I would definitely consider it.

Does anyone have any guesses as to what type of scholarships these numbers could land? The soonest I can take the LSAT would be January. I am assuming it would be pretty tough to get scholarships that late in the cycle? I am willing to wait until the Fall 2022 cycle if that means a higher likelihood of a full ride to a decent school.

Thank you in advance for the advice.

WouldRatherBeEating

I would probably wait until next cycle to greatly improve your chances. I'm in a similar situation of needing a full ride, except with a slightly lower GPA. It depends on where you're willing to go and how you ultimately do on the LSAT. How good of a school is good enough? For example, if you get in the mid to high 160s, you should be automatically eligible for the dean's scholarship at University of Illinois which which is #31. Dean's scholarship is full ride, plus I believe it covers all your 1L books and fees.

You'd also probably be able to get a full ride to Boston University (#20) if you went early decision / distinguished scholar route if you got a high 160+ LSAT. WUSTL (17 I think) gives generous scholarships and would likely give you one as well with those numbers.

For me, U of Illinois is going to be my "safety" school, and I'm debating on Boston ED (will need to see my Oct LSAT to see if I want to limit myself to commit to BU or gamble on my reaches). My other schools I consider reaches in terms of big enough scholarships and are based on ABA 509 data (where it explains how many full rides are given out and also the median LSATs and GPAs). I also look at scholarships I may specifically be eligible for, such as public interest.

legallytired

i came across this website the other day, and as 7sage says about their estimator, i would take it with a grain of salt bc its really only the schools who know how they calculate and decide on scholarships..hope it helps!!

https://www.lsatdemon.com/scholarships

Relentless

Hi there,

Related yet off-topic -- Could someone shed some light on how scholarships are decided for international applicants please? We don't have an LSAC GPA; our international GPA is evaluated and converted into a US equivalent grade. Mine is A grade. I am yet to take the LSAT but any advance insight on this would be very helpful.

Thank you!

VerdantZephyr

With those numbers you could certainly get a full ride somewhere. It really depends on where you want to do. Is that going to get you a full ride at Harvard? Probably not. Will it get you a full ride at Indiana, definitely. The point about waiting until next cycle for additional aid though is a good one. Bottom line, a 3.9 will raise almost any law school's median and 75th percentile GPA. If your LSAT also raises the median and the 75th percentile LSAT you are a good shot for a great scholarship. If your LSAT is a 171 that would be anywhere from # 9s Northwestern and Berkeley (both 3.9 and 170) and # 12 Duke (3.87 and 170) on down.

That said, some schools, such as Duke, much prefer to give as many students as possible substantial aid rather than just the very top of the class full aid. So while 87.5% of students admitted at Duke get scholarships and at least 75% get $22,500 or more, only 1.1% get full rides or better. Because only the quartile medians are released, we only know what the 25th, 50th, and 75th percentile receive. At Duke that is 25th: $22,500 50th: $27,000 75th $35,000. It is possible 10% of students receive 90% tuition at Duke, but we can't say. We only know that 23.9% receive 35,000 or more but less than full. There lower median of $22,500 is an extraordinary amount of aid for their average/below average applicants, but the very top get less than at many other schools.

Other schools have a very different philosophy. Penn for example only gives 52.7% of students any scholarships, but 6.2% do get full rides. UVA gives even few students scholarships, only 48%. 23.8% of admitted students get less than 50% tuition as grants, 10.6% get more than half but less than full, and 13.5% get full tuition or more.

So, you can see, even knowing your exact stats predicting how much you would get has a lot to do with the school's financial aid strategies and how generous they are. A school you would have a solid chance of a full ride at would be Wash U, which, while ranked outside the T14, is not far outside and they give 25% of students full rides as well as substantial aid to much of the rest of the student body.

Logician

I agree with @VerdantZephyr. If you’re an average applicant and you want a full ride at the top schools you’re looking at 174+.

VerdantZephyr

Apologies for the poor grammar and sentence construction. Still tired after the LSAT yesterday and spent the day working in a foreign language, which tends to mess with my English spelling and word order.

EagerestBeaver

Here at U of I now. With a 3.9 and 163 you would probably get a substantial scholarship from any school from 50 down. To increase your odds of a T-14, it shows you how brutal the competition is that you will need a 167+ to have a good chance of acceptance, let alone full scholarship. If you can get to 165, you will really be looking at scholarships at places like Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin. That would be pretty dope.

If you wait another cycle, that also gives you time to get every single point you can out of the LSAT which will open up your full range of possibilities. I also agree that if your goal is financial aid, if you don't have an official score now, next cycle would be better.

https://www.lawschooldata.org
Register at this site for some user reported data. It could help give a clearer picture of the question you are asking.