Negotiating from the bottom up?

[lonelylenore]

I've gotten into 4 schools so far this cycle. 2 are 30-40 range (we'll call them A & B), the other 2 are 60-70 range (C & D).

Schools C & D have both offered me decent scholarships, (translating to about 2/3 of tuition) and I'm thrilled.
I want to use them as leverage in bargaining with A & B, but I'm thinking
(after reading viewtopic.php?f=22&t=79373) that I should try to get the offers I already have as high as I can before I start emailing the better ranked schools about rethinking my $$...

So

How do I say to C & D that while i've been offered generous scholarships, I've gotten into better ranked schools and more $$ would really sway me away from A & B without plainly talking about rankings or mentioning "better" schools??
Is an acceptance to a better school without money enough leverage to raise a scholly offer?

Please advise.
Feel free to add your own experiences negotiating!

[lonelylenore]

anybody??

[MCRemix]

How do I say to C & D that while i've been offered generous scholarships, I've gotten into better ranked schools and more $$ would really sway me away from A & B without plainly talking about rankings or mentioning "better" schools??
Is an acceptance to a better school without money enough leverage to raise a scholly offer?

Alright, you have two in the lower grouping, why do you need to play A or B against C or D? My suggestion is to play C and D back and forth until you top out on offers there, then take the higher one (or the one with the least diff between scholarship and tuition) and parlay that against A and B. If one of them bites then you have money at that tier to play back and forth between A and B until you're satisfied there.

Of course, this assumes that A, B, C and D all are willing to negotiate. It's not a bad thing to name drop acceptances to higher ranked schools (schools are VERY aware of their own position in the rankings), but money from a peer school is a better motivator to them IMO.

Just my thoughts, best of luck!

[Neidermeyer519]

One thing that you can do is mention how schools A & B will place you in markets that you want to work in the most. While keeping your cost of attendance down is critical, employment prospects are more important, IMO.

You could even use your scholarship from C to leverage with D, and vice versa, then use those leveraged numbers to go after A & B.

[girlonfire]

How do I say to C & D that while i've been offered generous scholarships, I've gotten into better ranked schools and more $$ would really sway me away from A & B without plainly talking about rankings or mentioning "better" schools??
Is an acceptance to a better school without money enough leverage to raise a scholly offer?

Alright, you have two in the lower grouping, why do you need to play A or B against C or D? My suggestion is to play C and D back and forth until you top out on offers there, then take the higher one (or the one with the least diff between scholarship and tuition) and parlay that against A and B. If one of them bites then you have money at that tier to play back and forth between A and B until you're satisfied there.

Of course, this assumes that A, B, C and D all are willing to negotiate. It's not a bad thing to name drop acceptances to higher ranked schools (schools are VERY aware of their own position in the rankings), but money from a peer school is a better motivator to them IMO.

Just my thoughts, best of luck!

+1