Leveraging your acceptance letters/scholarships

rakinalikhanrakinalikhan Alum Member
edited April 2016 in Law School Admissions 329 karma
i was wondering what peoples thoughts were. Basically taking an acceptance from one school and show it to competitor schools in hopes of the competitor school to offer a better package to accept their offer instead. For example, im trying to get a 170 on the LSAT so i can get an acceptance letter from Vanderbilt. i would like to take that to another school thats maybe lower in ranking or in the same geographical area and see if they would offer me more scholarship/grant/stipens to accept their school instead. if its possible i would like to try it against schools such as Bama or Ole Miss (theyre all in the SEC) or maybe a school like Southern Methodist University. With the cost of law school as is and being from Canada, anything i can do to get as much of it paid by the school i go to i will. if anyone has tried doing this, how has that worked out for you?
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  • Cant Get RightCant Get Right Yearly + Live Member Sage ⭐ 🍌 7Sage Tutor
    27829 karma
    Ultimately the underlying factor here is the 170 LSAT score. Focus on that. Ole Miss for example has a median LSAT score of 155. They offer grants of full tuition or more to about 20% of their class. If you want to get your tuition covered, it’s the 170 LSAT that is going to do it.
  • runiggyrunruniggyrun Alum Inactive Sage Inactive ⭐
    2481 karma
    I don't think the acceptance letter from another school will factor in all that much. With or without an acceptance letter from Vanderbilt, if you apply to a school with numbers well above their 75 percentile and you are able to convince them that you actually want to attend, they should offer you a scholarship.
    I know that BU offers a full ride for students that get accepted through their binding early decision process (most of the applicants get rolled into the regular admissions pool, though). 170 coupled with a good GPA should put you in play for that. I'm not sure whether there are other schools that do it, but they might be worth looking into.
    But yes, focus on first getting that 170.
  • rakinalikhanrakinalikhan Alum Member
    329 karma
    the reason im worried is because im a splitter. i did really bad my first three years of college so im really trying to go as high as possible on my lsat to make up for my gpa. thats why the importance of stuff like scholarships are that much more important to me because i dont want to go to just any school and have massive amount of debt
  • Cant Get RightCant Get Right Yearly + Live Member Sage ⭐ 🍌 7Sage Tutor
    27829 karma
    Yeah, that’s a reasonable concern. Still though, best way to show them your GPA is no longer a good representation of your abilities is your LSAT. If you score in the 170s, you won’t have to show them you’ve got other offers, even with your GPA. They’ll be well aware. When are you anticipating you’ll be ready to take the LSAT?
  • runiggyrunruniggyrun Alum Inactive Sage Inactive ⭐
    2481 karma
    Even for a splitter, I still think the advice above holds. Try your best to kill the LSAT and put together the best possible application. Schools know what other schools you're likely to get into with your numbers - you don't need to show them acceptance letters. And they will offer you money if they really want you, but I don't think your other acceptances would matter all that much. You have to be desirable enough to them on your own numbers/softs.
    Now, if you get a bigger scholarship from a similarly/higher ranked school, you can definitely use that to negotiate a better offer at a school you'd prefer but who's offered you less. An acceptance letter with no scholarship not so much.
  • Nicole HopkinsNicole Hopkins Alum Inactive Sage Inactive ⭐
    4344 karma
    Agree—also consider that some schools weigh certain softs more than others (NU with WE for instance) so you might have a better shot targeting the schools that like your particular kind of applicant. I'm skeptical that NU's peer schools would have accepted me due to their apathy towards WE and focus on UGPA.
  • rakinalikhanrakinalikhan Alum Member
    329 karma
    @"Cant Get Right" im writing the lsat on September so after my last exam im dedicating my summer to studying :)

    @"runiggyrun" thats what im hoping to do! i would hope to get at least some money from Vandy or Alabama so i can take it to other schools. i dont mind going to a lower ranked school if it means no debt as long as the education is good.

    @"Nicole Hopkins" most of my schools are SEC schools (football is like my second religion, dont judge me lmao) so i tried to keep it all in the in the same range in terms or rankings and geography. im focusing as hard as i can to raise my ugpa and my lsat so i can position myself in the best place to be at :)
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