Scholarship negotiations that worked - lets hear em!

Comments

• LSAT_Wrecker Member ⭐

  January 2019 4850 karma

  Thanks for providing this. I will offer up results of my own negotiations after I have actually done some. I would offer that this might be considered early to begin negotiations. One former admissions officer I have spoken with said mid-February felt about right as the time try. Or even closer to school deposit deadlines. That way, schools are past the bulk of their admissions decisions and know more about how their class looks. YMMV.

  FWIW, looking at Denver's 2018 509, your offer appears to be one of their better ones. Assuming their scholarship median data is transposed, you received greater than their 75% scholarship offer and only 54% of their students receive any assistance at all.
• 2 Likes

  NotMyName Alum Member Sage ⭐

  January 2019 5320 karma

  Interestingly, Michigan claimed in their scholarship offer to me that they do not negotiate. Their offer was more than I expected and I am thrilled by it so no skin off my back. However, FYI to other applicants. Here is their actual wording:

  "Please be aware that once we have awarded a merit scholarship, it is not our practice to “compete” with awards from other schools. But while we do not increase merit awards once they are made, we would be very happy to discuss any concerns you may have about financing your education. If you would find this kind of counseling helpful, please don’t hesitate to contact either the Financial Aid Office or the Admissions Office."
• 1 Like

  notsplitts Free Trial Member

  January 2019 edited January 2019 267 karma

  I didn't look too much into it. I would only consider moving out of state for full tuition. I am using most of the out of state applications I sent out as negotiation testing grounds. Once I Know what works, I will try my hand with negotiations at schools I am actually interested in.

  You are right in that it might be early to begin negotiations. South Carolina also offered me around 35k a year. They offered me the in-state tuition rate plus 8k a year or something like that. I sent them a similar email to the one above and received this response in the first couple weeks of December:

  ---

  John-

  Congratulations! We are happy to take a look and get back with you. Please realize, however, that we are very early in the process here and must consider other very capable applicants who have no award at all so far.

  I promise to consider your request and share information with you as soon as possible

  Thanks for this feedback.
  Best regards,

  ---

  That being said, from my so far limited experience, I believe each school has very different systems and processes for admitting students and allocating scholarships.

  Maybe you are right. I would not encourage anyone to push the negotiations now if they do not feel comfortable. But please do share if you have pushed the negotiations already and have had a positive response.
• 4 Likes

  Leah M B Alum Member ⭐

  January 2019 8392 karma

  Yes, I think it's also a bit early to really dive into negotiations. Probably February and into March is the hot season as the classes begin to really shape up.

  Last year (I'm a re-applicant this year), I was able to negotiate UCLA's offer up just a bit using a full tuition offer from WUSTL. They declined matching it (no surprise there), but did raise my merit award by $10k. Also a helpful tip: Dean Schwartz took one-on-one meetings with any admit who requested it at their ASW, which I thought was very nice. He also agreed to raise scholarships for a handful of people on the spot there. Obviously, attending the ASW shows that you are very interested in their school and not just gaming the system. It probably wouldn't hurt to attempt something similar if you attend any ASW's.

  Best of luck, everyone!
• 3 Likes

  Sara_3080 Alum Member

  January 2019 edited January 2019 432 karma

  This might be a totally amateur question, but what does ASW stand for? @"Leah M B"
• 2 Likes

  Rule No 8 Alum Member

  January 2019 141 karma

  It stand for Admitted Students Weekend.
• 2 Likes

  LSAT_Wrecker Member ⭐

  January 2019 4850 karma

  @"Leah M B" said:

  Last year (I'm a re-applicant this year), I was able to negotiate UCLA's offer up just a bit using a full tuition offer from WUSTL. They declined matching it (no surprise there), but did raise my merit award by $10k. Also a helpful tip: Dean Schwartz took one-on-one meetings with any admit who requested it at their ASW, which I thought was very nice. He also agreed to raise scholarships for a handful of people on the spot there. Obviously, attending the ASW shows that you are very interested in their school and not just gaming the system. It probably wouldn't hurt to attempt something similar if you attend any ASW's.

  @"Leah M B" off the top rope with the great advice for applicants!

  https://media1.tenor.com/images/36d4fa0e9235db0def7b0eafa211d8ae/tenor.gif?itemid=5143507
• notsplitts Free Trial Member

  January 2019 267 karma

  @"Leah M B" can you tell us how you were able to get UCLA to raise their offer?

  Did you send them an email saying you had a full tuition offer from another school? Did they mention the other schools offer in their response to you? I wonder if they would have given you more money even if you didn’t mention the other offer.
• 9 Likes

  Leah M B Alum Member ⭐

  January 2019 8392 karma

  I wrote a very polite email saying how excited I am to possibly attend, but finances are a significant consideration for me. I have this other offer (attached copy of WUSTL offer) and am wondering if there was any possibility of increasing my scholarship amount to make it more feasible for me to attend. And yes, he mentioned the other school and said while they couldn't match that, they could offer me an additional $10k.

  It's possible they would have raised it, but it's often helpful to provide a reason, whether that's a new higher LSAT score, a competing offer, etc. Just saying, "please sir, may I have some more" may work, but it is good to provide a reason they should change their offer. I have also heard of others using just an offer of admission. Say, I could have approached it with something like, "I'd love to go here but Northwestern just admitted me. They are a great school that I have to consider, but a larger scholarship at your school could ultimately be my deciding factor."
• notsplitts Free Trial Member

  January 2019 edited January 2019 267 karma

  That was super helpful! Thanks! I did not think about attaching another school’s offer, but I will most likely be doing that going forward.

  I agree, it’s best to have some type of leverage, but I would still ask even if I did not have any leverage at all. The worst they can do is say no, unless you ask in such a terrible way that they decide to revoke their original offer, which I think would be unlikely.

  I’m going to try to leverage full ride offers off of each other to get stipends. Waiting for the right time. We will see what happens!
• notsplitts Free Trial Member

  January 2019 267 karma

  Bumping this up (I think?) to see if anyone has any new input. Apparently, some schools are encouraging scholarship recipients to reach back out if they are not satisfied with their current award. See below an email from UMass Law:

  ---

  Dear XXXX,

  UMass Law is committed to making your legal education as affordable as possible. If our scholarship offer is not as competitive as one you’ve received from another school, our scholarship committee will reconsider your offer.

  Our generous scholarships combined with our low tuition rate, which is nearly half that of private schools, provide the opportunity to graduate with an outstanding legal education and less debt.

  Call me at 508.985.1110 or email lawadmissions@umassd.edu to discuss your scholarship.

  ---
• PearsonSpecterLittUp Alum Member

  January 2019 588 karma

  This is so helpful, thank you!!
• 2 Likes

  notsplitts Free Trial Member

  January 2019 267 karma

  Two updates:

  University of South Carolina:

  I applied back in November. I received a 35k~ per year scholarship. I asked them to increase this amount back in mid December. I was told they would get back to me later in the cycle. Towards the end of January I received an email asking me to reconfirm my interest in attending. I again asked for an increase in scholarship award and was again told it was too early. I respectfully withdrew my application. This may indicate that it is indeed to early to start negotiations with South Carolina (all schools are different, however) See email from South Carolina below:

  Thank you for your inquiry about scholarships. At this point in time we have offered as much scholarship money as we can, until we start hearing from candidates and see how our scholarship budget stands. We have many admitted candidates who have received no offer at all from USC yet. Quite honestly, if additional funds do become available, we will have to decide to use it to make larger offers, or to help as many candidates as possible.>

  University of Massacshusetts School of Law

  I applied to this school back in November. My LSAT and GPA are well above their 75th percentile. I was accepted and received a full-tuition scholarship within weeks of applying. In mid- January I received an email from them saying to reach out if I felt their offer was not as competitive as one I've received from another school. See below for my reply to that email and the response I received.

  Me:

  Thank you for this email. I appreciate the generous scholarship already awarded to me. I am very interested in attending UMass Law, but I am not looking forward to the debt I will likely incur from three years of living expenses while at Umass Law. Paying tuition is no longer my concern as most schools in Massachusetts and others in New England have already offered me full-tuition scholarships. Are you able to offer me anything more than full-tuition? Something that would help defray some of the costs of my living expenses during my time in school?

  Thank you for your consideration,>

  UMass Law

  I am so happy for you that your undergraduate efforts have led to several offers of "free" law school. Hard work paid-off.

  Unfortunately there is nothing further we can do from an academic merit point-of-view in regards to additional scholarship. All I can say is that there are outside scholarships that may help. Some of the ones available are on our website. I'm sure a google search would find more.

  I can say that our location is the best in Massachusetts. We are an hour from Boston and a half-hour from Providence RI and Cape Cod. Our cost of living is half-that of living in Boston. We are a small school with a great "brand-name" and our graduates have done well in passing the bar and getting jobs. If you are looking for a larger school, we are NOT what you are looking for.

  With all this said, I think you would have an excellent experience and adventure coming to UMass Law.

  Good luck with your decision, I know it is tough.
• 1 Like

  Peaceofmind Alum Member

  January 2019 446 karma

  This is a great thread. I will def contribute when I start applying!
  @"Leah M B" thank you for your helpful input. Just out of curiosity, looks like you got great offers from top schools last year. Why are you reapplying this year? Please ignore me if you don’t feel comfortable responding:-)
• Bamboosprout Alum Member

  January 2019 1694 karma

  @john1roger said:
  Two updates:

  University of South Carolina:

  University of Massacshusetts School of Law

  Awesome information. Thank you for sharing. Why did you withdraw your application for USC, though? Couldn't you have waited longer?
• 1 Like

  notsplitts Free Trial Member

  January 2019 267 karma

  @Bamboosprout I have already pretty much decided where I want to go and it is not USC. Better to let them know so they can reallocate funds.
• Bamboosprout Alum Member

  January 2019 1694 karma

  @john1roger said:
  @Bamboosprout I have already pretty much decided where I want to go and it is not USC. Better to let them know so they can reallocate funds.

  Would you still have withdrawn if they were able to extend extra scholarship money to you?
• 1 Like

  notsplitts Free Trial Member

  January 2019 267 karma

  @Bamboosprout said:

  @john1roger said:
  @Bamboosprout I have already pretty much decided where I want to go and it is not USC. Better to let them know so they can reallocate funds.

  Would you still have withdrawn if they were able to extend extra scholarship money to you?

  Yes.
• 2 Likes

  Leah M B Alum Member ⭐

  January 2019 8392 karma

  @KarateMaster said:
  This is a great thread. I will def contribute when I start applying!
  @"Leah M B" thank you for your helpful input. Just out of curiosity, looks like you got great offers from top schools last year. Why are you reapplying this year? Please ignore me if you don’t feel comfortable responding:-)

  I'm totally open to sharing. I had a couple of very good and tempting offers at WashU and UCLA. However, I got WL'd at all of the higher ranked schools I applied to, as well as a couple of safety/target schools. I applied pretty late - a couple in late January, most of the rest in Feb and wasn't complete at Northwestern until early March. I felt that the lateness of those apps was a big part of the reason for at least a few of my WL's. Also because I applied that late, I wasn't able to apply for a few scholarships that required separate apps and were due in December/early March. I had also been debating applying ED to Northwestern, but obv missed that deadline too. And then on top of that, because of applying so late I had only a very small window of time to make a decision and was a bit overwhelmed. Ultimately, I felt like I had left a lot of cards on the table by applying so late and thought it would be in my best interest to re-take the LSAT to try for a few extra points and then submit early apps.

  Of course though, then life happened, haha. I managed to mildly bomb the June LSAT last year and score 4 points lower than my first take. I then got really unsure about my whole decision on if I wanted to or should go to law school (I'm non-trad, in my mid 30s). By the time I re-dedicated myself to things and re-wrote my PS, I squeaked out apps to the schools with the additional scholarships I wanted to apply to just under the deadline. And Northwestern lowered their ED scholarship this year, so I decided not to do that. The rest of my apps ended up being earlier than last year, although not by a lot. So... we'll see what happens lol. 🤷🏼‍♀️
• Bamboosprout Alum Member

  February 2019 1694 karma

  @"Leah M B" said:

  Of course though, then life happened, haha. I managed to mildly bomb the June LSAT last year and score 4 points lower than my first take. I then got really unsure about my whole decision on if I wanted to or should go to law school (I'm non-trad, in my mid 30s). By the time I re-dedicated myself to things and re-wrote my PS, I squeaked out apps to the schools with the additional scholarships I wanted to apply to just under the deadline. And Northwestern lowered their ED scholarship this year, so I decided not to do that. The rest of my apps ended up being earlier than last year, although not by a lot. So... we'll see what happens lol. 🤷🏼‍♀️

  I felt compelled to share this piece of corn: Life is like a stream, and we're just leaves floating along. Just sit back and enjoy the ride and see where it takes us? Hahahaha.
• Peaceofmind Alum Member

  February 2019 446 karma

  @"Leah M B"
  Wow I’m sure you will end up at a great place with a great offer! Best of luck :-)