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I just got my first acceptance email this week. Temple tells me I've been awarded their Beasley scholarship which they claim is their most prestigious scholarship. The amount is for $30,000 a year. Considering I'm out of state, this covers almost my whole tuition. I am utterly shocked because LawSchoolPredictor had me at 48% chance of acceptance at Temple. I called them asking questions, because I just couldn't believe my eyes. I pretty much told them (not in so many words) that I'm just not the type of person who get's scholarships. But they tell me that I did, that I got their most prestigious scholarship.

So here's my question: Is it a scam?

I read somewhere else about Golden Gate University, offers something like half of their entering class lavish scholarships under the stipulation that they must be in the top third of their class. Being that it's impossible for half the class to be in the top third... a large chunk of the students lose their scholarships and are stuck with a huge price tag. It's a trap. I'm wondering if this Beasley scholarship is the same deal? They tell me I have to be in the top 2/3 of the class. Which seems doable I think...

COA out of state (with accumulating interest) is right around 200k, so you'll most likely still have--or be near-- 6 figures of debt when you graduate. If you browse the Temple website, information about scholarship stipulations should be listed (I believe it's required by the ABA).

http://www.lstscorereports.com/?school=temple

Agentsoapbox wrote:I just got my first acceptance email this week. Temple tells me I've been awarded their Beasley scholarship which they claim is their most prestigious scholarship. The amount is for $30,000 a year. Considering I'm out of state, this covers almost my whole tuition. I am utterly shocked because LawSchoolPredictor had me at 48% chance of acceptance at Temple. I called them asking questions, because I just couldn't believe my eyes. I pretty much told them (not in so many words) that I'm just not the type of person who get's scholarships. But they tell me that I did, that I got their most prestigious scholarship.

So here's my question: Is it a scam?

I read somewhere else about Golden Gate University, offers something like half of their entering class lavish scholarships under the stipulation that they must be in the top third of their class. Being that it's impossible for half the class to be in the top third... a large chunk of the students lose their scholarships and are stuck with a huge price tag. It's a trap. I'm wondering if this Beasley scholarship is the same deal? They tell me I have to be in the top 2/3 of the class. Which seems doable I think...

I received the same scholarship today, but I'm in state so the amount was significantly less ($17,500 per yr). Agreed that top 2/3 seems doable, but I guess it would be worthwhile to investigate the retention rate...

The letter should indicate stips (got same offer and im pretty sure mine did ), but no I dont believe its a scam. Temple is known to be usually stingy, but has been dishing out the money this year and rightfully so.
As the topic indicates, Temple requires top 2/3 stip or top 66.6% which is a pretty fair stip IMO.

http://top-law-schools.com/forums/viewt ... n#p7414152

Temple never gives that last couple thousand, so a 30K Beasley scholly is definately their highest honor. I have heard stories on TLS though of applicants negotiating that 30k up to 33k or whatever the final OOS tuition is near the end of the cycle.

Well, according to the financial aid package they sent me, the cost of attendance at Temple is $58,000. The Beasley scholarship covers 51% of the cost of attendance. So, I would have $28,000 in loans a year. That's only $84,000 over the course of 3 years. That is a very doable loan burden.

Hopefully (for the sake of my career) I will have some summer externships that'll pay me a few thousand. and then in 2L and 3L I'll have a little side job with some firm.

In any case... I think almost full tuition sounds reasonable. Am I crazy?

The way I see it... I stand a chance of getting a nearly-full tuition scholarship from my local university or state university. Either way I'll have to take out loans for living expenses. I don't know any school worth attending that would give me fulltuition plus stipend.

All things being equal (assuming I get similar offers are FSU and FIU) I think I'd rather go to Temple. I know FSU is ranked slightly higher than Temple but I like the location of Temple better.

Am I taking crazy pills?

Agentsoapbox wrote:Well, according to the financial aid package they sent me, the cost of attendance at Temple is $58,000. The Beasley scholarship covers 51% of the cost of attendance. So, I would have $28,000 in loans a year. That's only $84,000 over the course of 3 years. That is a very doable loan burden.

Hopefully (for the sake of my career) I will have some summer externships that'll pay me a few thousand. and then in 2L and 3L I'll have a little side job with some firm.

In any case... I think almost full tuition sounds reasonable. Am I crazy?

The way I see it... I stand a chance of getting a nearly-full tuition scholarship from my local university or state university. Either way I'll have to take out loans for living expenses. I don't know any school worth attending that would give me fulltuition plus stipend.

All things being equal (assuming I get similar offers are FSU and FIU) I think I'd rather go to Temple. I know FSU is ranked slightly higher than Temple but I like the location of Temple better.

Am I taking crazy pills?

You're looking at 100k total COA once you factor in accumulated interest while in law school. You probably won't be getting paid 1L or 2L either--also consider the fact that you may need to take out loans over summer to cover cost of living if you're doing an externship.

Good luck.

I understand.

What I'm saying is, I've applied to St. Johns, Pepperdine, American, GW, Catholic, Maryland, Miami, FIU and FSU.

I don't expect that UMiami will give me a scholarship to cover 85% of their tuition. I don't expect that from Pepperdine, American, GW, Catholic or Maryland either (If I even get in)

St. Johns, I might get a similar offer. We'll see. I'm not crazy about living in NY. I'll cross tat bridge when I get to it.

With Florida State, I may get a similar scholarship because I'm a florida resident and 85% of tuition there is about 17k. Maybe they give me grants and scholarships in that amount. Maybe they dont.

FIU is ranked 104. Rumor has it they may break into Tier 2 this year. They've risen 40 spots on the ranks in the last 4 years. My numbers are above their medians. And it's pretty cheap. I am fairly confident I'll get a similar offer from FIU.

So that leaves me with the options of Temple, FIU, FSU and St. Johns.

If all give me similar scholarships, then either way, I still have to take out loans for cost of attendance. Whether it's Miami, Tallahassee, Philadelphia or NY.

One of my buddies went to FIU with a full scholarship and living stipend. We'll see. If I get that offer from FIU, it may be hard to turn it down. But then again, he scored 7 points higher than me on the LSAT and most likely had a higher GPA.

What I'm saying is... I think Temple is going to be the best package I get. 100K in debt is a lot, but I may be looking at a lot more debt from other schools. even "cheap" schools like FIU or FSU would be expensive just because I'd still have to pay for some tuition and full living expenses. 30k from Temple really levels is out against the other schools.

I got that scholarship as well. I also have several friends who attend Temple Law, and they've all kept their scholarships. Temple is great with financial aid.

My scholarship was dependent upon a 3.0 GPA though, not top 2/3