When to start negotiating scholarships Forum

[Workingtitle]

Hey everyone,

I want to get general advice on when a good time to start negotiating scholarships is. My dilemma is that I have a couple good offers, but through the next month and a half I expect to get a lot more, and I think I even have an outside shot of being accepted to Harvard, which seems like it would be a wonderful bargaining chip. I'm worried though that if I wait until say, the middle of March, to start negotiating, all the money the schools have to offer will be gone. Can anyone shed any light on this?

Also, if anyone wants to know about me specifically, here is my information:

I'm a non-URM, K-JD with a 170/3.92. I'm a Texas resident, and tentatively plan to practice in Texas (although I'm very open to moving somewhere else if better opportunities arise elsewhere).

Here is how my cycle has gone:

Harvard: Had JS1 early December, I suspect to make the waitlist
Stanford, Yale, and Columbia: Haven't hear back yet, expecting dings.
Chicago: Interviewed a few weeks ago, went well, waiting to hear back.
Penn: Held a couple weeks ago, made it through both bloodbaths.
Virginia, Berkeley, Duke, Northwestern: Accepted quite early, and expect pretty good offers.
Michigan: Accepted with 30K a year.
Cornell: Have the YP interview scheduled for March.
UTexas: Full tuition scholarship.

What would be most ideal is if I could negotiate living stipends from UTexas, and then use that to work my way up the food chain, and hopefully get something even more significant from Berkeley and Michigan than what Michigan has already offered (I think these are my top 2 realistic choices). Then, even if I couldn't leverage more out of those schools, I could accept UTexas with living expenses and be extremely happy.

If I left any relevant information out, please let me know. Any advice would be appreciated.

[BigZuck]

UT bro here, had success negotiating with them and lower T14s (Duke, Cornell, and Northwestern).

I wouldn't expect a UT offer to motivate any T14s. I think that, by and large, schools are typically only motivated by offers from their peers and schools ranked above them. I had 54K at Michgan and they couldn't have cared less that I had 90K at Duke and Cornell. UVA didn't want to budge off of 60K. However, Duke was more than happy to match what Cornell offered me. Maybe other people can chime in if I'm off base.

I think if you want to work in TX long term then your hierarchy should be something like HYS>DVCCN>MPB>CGN(U)>UT. Some might quibble with that and I'm not going to argue with them on subtle nuances of which schools might be better but basically I think HYS is at the top, and then the more Southern T14s might be a bit better than, say, some of the midwestern T14s, if only because more TX firms go to their OCI. Check the NALP directory to see what I mean by that.

[Workingtitle]

Haha what's up UT bro.

And wow that's surprising. I wouldn't expect schools like Michigan or Duke to match UT... but it surprises me they would ignore it completely.

Anyway, what do you think my timeline should be? Would waiting to get offers from Duke, Cornell, UVA, est. be the best thing to do? Like I said, I don't think I will get all these offers until mid- to late March, and I'm worried by this time they will have maxed out their scholarship budget.

[BigZuck]

Haha what's up UT bro.

And wow that's surprising. I wouldn't expect schools like Michigan or Duke to match UT... but it surprises me they would ignore it completely.

Anyway, what do you think my timeline should be? Would waiting to get offers from Duke, Cornell, UVA, est. be the best thing to do? Like I said, I don't think I will get all these offers until mid- to late March, and I'm worried by this time they will have maxed out their scholarship budget.

That's definitely not too late. I didn't start negotiating heavily until early April.

[akg144]

Bump can a TLS veteran please chime in I'm very curious about this process as well

[BigZuck]

Bump can a TLS veteran please chime in I'm very curious about this process as well

4671 posts aren't enough for you dawg?

[Nelson]

Honestly if you really want big CCN scholarships, you should retake for a 172+ from your 170 and reapply. It'll make a bigger difference.

Does any school pay living stipends? I've never heard of this outside of named scholarships like the Ruby and you can't negotiate your way into one of them.

[TheodoreKGB]

.

[BigZuck]

Honestly if you really want big CCN scholarships, you should retake for a 172+ from your 170 and reapply. It'll make a bigger difference.

Does any school pay living stipends? I've never heard of this outside of named scholarships like the Ruby and you can't negotiate your way into one of them.

A fellow UT bro went from full ride at UT to full ride+living expenses after negotiating. He had HYS numbers though (and had a Harvard acceptance as leverage). He's also a TLS bro, but I'm not going to out him.

[Attax]

I've started a little bit. As far as Texas people go Baylor and Texas have both been decently responsive thus far.

Also, hello. UT Bro here as well!

[Workingtitle]

Cool, thanks for the responses guys.

As far as big CCN scholarships, that's not really what I was saying. Sure, it would great to get them, but not at the expense of withdrawing from this cycle. I was more seeking advice for how to maximize scholarship negotiations from what I have so far.

And waiting until near the deposit deadlines is good advice. I think what I'm going to do is wait until late March to start negotiating, and then negotiate with my top two choices right up against their deposit deadline. Haha as much at it kills me to be patient

Big Zuck-would you mind PMing him and asking if he will tell me what he did? My 170/3.92 may not be HYS good, but it solidly shatters both of UTs 75ths, which is why I feel like I have a good chance to negotiate into at least some living expenses grants. And, I haven't given hope on a Harvard acceptance, which I think would be a pretty good bargaining chip.

Attax: The reason I created this thread was that I saw you all posting in the UT c/o 2017 thread how responsive they have been, and it made me start thinking maybe I should contact them now.... After the responses here though and thinking it through more I think it still would be better to come at them with as many good offers as I have.... even if that means it is later in the cycle and they have given out most of their scholarship budget.

[BigZuck]

Cool, thanks for the responses guys.

As far as big CCN scholarships, that's not really what I was saying. Sure, it would great to get them, but not at the expense of withdrawing from this cycle. I was more seeking advice for how to maximize scholarship negotiations from what I have so far.

And waiting until near the deposit deadlines is good advice. I think what I'm going to do is wait until late March to start negotiating, and then negotiate with my top two choices right up against their deposit deadline. Haha as much at it kills me to be patient

Big Zuck-would you mind PMing him and asking if he will tell me what he did? My 170/3.92 may not be HYS good, but it solidly shatters both of UTs 75ths, which is why I feel like I have a good chance to negotiate into at least some living expenses grants. And, I haven't given hope on a Harvard acceptance, which I think would be a pretty good bargaining chip.

Attax: The reason I created this thread was that I saw you all posting in the UT c/o 2017 thread how responsive they have been, and it made me start thinking maybe I should contact them now.... After the responses here though and thinking it through more I think it still would be better to come at them with as many good offers as I have.... even if that means it is later in the cycle and they have given out most of their scholarship budget.

Guessing he was sincere about his desire to attend UT but Harvard was really hard to turn down. He ended up at UT so obviously he was very sincere about his desire to attend. He had some good reasons for attending UT over Harvard but I wouldn't recommend that for most people. If you want TX big law and you get into Harvard, go to Harvard unless the money difference is colossal and you're totally cool with the potential of striking out at UT.

[Optimist Prime]

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[cannibal ox]

I talked to a director of admissions at a local school I'm not applying to, but have connections to, and they said negotiating now is a bit early, March would be better. Just one school and one anecdote, but thought I'd throw it in.

[tampadave]

Mike Spivey (Former WUSTL and Vandy Adcomm) just tweeted to wait until deposit deadlines near. Money will open up for you when this happens.

Be patient (I know it's hard; you've got a lot of good admission offers!)
The patience will pay off!

This sounds like great advice.

I understand that Miami awards scholarships a few weeks after the acceptance letter is issued. My daughter just found out she was admitted via UM status checker and has yet to receive her official acceptance letter. If she receives an offer in the next few weeks, my question may be moot or premature at the very least.

Question: The seat deposit at Miami is due April 15th. If she doesn't receive an award, should she e-mail the admissions office in mid-March? First week of April? Or perhaps the week of April 15th? FIU offered her $47,000 in her acceptance letter, so I'm hoping UM offers her something up front.

[JJ123]

Mike Spivey (Former WUSTL and Vandy Adcomm) just tweeted to wait until deposit deadlines near. Money will open up for you when this happens.

Be patient (I know it's hard; you've got a lot of good admission offers!)
The patience will pay off!

This sounds like great advice.

I understand that Miami awards scholarships a few weeks after the acceptance letter is issued. My daughter just found out she was admitted via UM status checker and has yet to receive her official acceptance letter. If she receives an offer in the next few weeks, my question may be moot or premature at the very least.

Question: The seat deposit at Miami is due April 15th. If she doesn't receive an award, should she e-mail the admissions office in mid-March? First week of April? Or perhaps the week of April 15th? FIU offered her $47,000 in her acceptance letter, so I'm hoping UM offers her something up front.

I don't think anyone should go to any of those schools without a full ride.

[Pneumonia]

You can find the guy Zuck is talking about if you search for him. He had some extenuating circumstances if I recall, but his thread is worth a read, especially for someone in your position.