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Grunt2Grad

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Re: Veterans Thread

Post by Grunt2Grad » Thu Apr 30, 2015 11:12 am

Wipfelder wrote:
Grunt2Grad wrote:Dinged at the semi final stage of the Tillman Scholarship last night. Good luck to everyone still in the race!
Bummer man! I was rooting for ya.
Thanks brother. I am telling myself the fact that I have Voc Rehab and am fully funded is the reason, it helps me sleep better haha

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storpappa

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Re: Veterans Thread

Post by storpappa » Thu Apr 30, 2015 11:21 am

Grunt2Grad wrote:Dinged at the semi final stage of the Tillman Scholarship last night. Good luck to everyone still in the race!
Grats on making it that far in the process. Hey it might not be the result you wanted, but kudos for the conviction and putting yourself out there. That says a lot about you.

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FairchildFLT

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Re: Veterans Thread

Post by FairchildFLT » Fri May 01, 2015 4:02 pm

God I hate the VA. "Yeah we see you have over three years of service...but we rated you at 90% GI Bill eligible and no one knows why or how to fix it."

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navykev

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Re: Veterans Thread

Post by navykev » Fri May 01, 2015 6:21 pm

FairchildFLT wrote:God I hate the VA. "Yeah we see you have over three years of service...but we rated you at 90% GI Bill eligible and no one knows why or how to fix it."
That is frustrating and a big freaking deal. As I am sure you know -- 100% gets you the YRP. Id give them a few mins to fix it and then I'd be on the horn with my congressman.

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storpappa

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Re: Veterans Thread

Post by storpappa » Fri May 01, 2015 8:00 pm

YRP?

And what chapter are you using?

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navykev

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Re: Veterans Thread

Post by navykev » Fri May 01, 2015 8:04 pm

storpappa wrote:YRP?
Yellow Ribbon Program

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storpappa

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Re: Veterans Thread

Post by storpappa » Fri May 01, 2015 8:41 pm

Does your time served influence the JD payment amount like a bank account you draw against? I thought GI Bill 2.0 move to per month payments based on course load

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navykev

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Re: Veterans Thread

Post by navykev » Sat May 02, 2015 9:25 am

storpappa wrote:Does your time served influence the JD payment amount like a bank account you draw against? I thought GI Bill 2.0 move to per month payments based on course load
Not 100% sure what you mean by "JD payment" but the VA will pay your tuition & fee payments directly to the school if you are using Post 9/11. The only thing you get monthly is the housing stipend. Each month you use the GI Bill you'll lose a month of benefit. I believe, but not 100% positive, that everyone gets 36 months of benefit at whatever percentage level they are eligible for.

As far as your number of months served - that impacts how much GI Bill your eligible for per year (i.e. 100%, 90%, ect). Here's that chart: https://gibill.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/947

Once you know your percentage then you can figure out what your prorated max amount is. Here is what the GI Bill website says: "The Post-9/11 GI Bill program is comprised of multiple payments. All payments and maximum amounts listed on this page are applicable to individuals eligible for the full benefit (100% eligibility tier). If you are not eligible for the full benefit, the payment and maximum amounts listed will be prorated based on your eligibility percentage." Reference: http://benefits.va.gov/GIBILL/resources ... 080114.asp

For example, if you have 24 months active duty after September 10, 2001 your GI Bill benefit tier percentage is 80%. If you are attending a public school with tuition of $10,000 per semester, 80% of your tuition and fees or $8,000 would be paid by the Post-9/11 GI Bill.

Your housing stipend also gets prorated. For example, if you have 24 months active duty after September 10, 2001 your GI Bill benefit tier percentage is 80%. If you are attending a school which has a Monthly Housing Allowance of $1000/month you would receive 80% of your housing allowance or $800/month.

The thing that really sucks about not being 100% is that you don't get the YRP - which is huge at most law schools. If I was a vet with 90% or less - I'd probably use that as one of my negotiating tools for scholarship money.

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storpappa

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Re: Veterans Thread

Post by storpappa » Sat May 02, 2015 10:44 am

Well sit back down and let me tell you a tale of the thing we call VEAP... Veterans crappy educational benefits program. Not to age myself, but compared to when I was in you have a much better set of educational benefits.

JD Payment - you answered it - the amount of tuition benefits you get. Attend a school that is $57,000 a year, you are still only getting $8,000 a semester paid in your scenario.

Veterans dependent benefits for my family provided them a helping benefit. $1,018.00 per month for full time at current rates, prorated each month based on course load. If you combine that with an in-state tuition and living at home, it could mean a free undergraduate degree. A scholarship and at home means cash in the bank going into grad school. It sounds though that you have to know and work your programs just as much as I do for the most effective use of that once shot chance.

I have a spreadsheet of every school I applied to, and its BAH. With just google searches for apartment rates, x12 months, and the 100% BAH E-5 dependent rate for only x8 months, it doesn't go very far. Let alone cover everything if you had a family living with and a stay at home spouse.

Columbia at $3,759 sounds great, unless you want to be close to the school. If you are willing to train it in every day, yes, you could easily get a very nice place for a family for 3 years. Well worth the sacrifice for a vet to study on the train each way for an hour while the family has an easier time during the three years.

I have been trying to use my BAH to be at my school. walking or shuttle distance. And sadly that makes me the weird old guy in some student housing type situations. But hey, that is their problem. A shared apartment with an old sailor and a well stocked fridge and a guy who doesn't keep accurate count of the liquor sounds like a dream roommate :)

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navykev

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Re: Veterans Thread

Post by navykev » Sat May 02, 2015 11:43 am

storpappa wrote:Well sit back down and let me tell you a tale of the thing we call VEAP... Veterans crappy educational benefits program. Not to age myself, but compared to when I was in you have a much better set of educational benefits. :)
You just aged yourself! I did 20 years and Veap was gone when I came in! Come to GULC - bunch of weird old guys/gals living in walking distance to the school!

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Re: Veterans Thread

Post by storpappa » Sat May 02, 2015 1:55 pm

Just to make sure I could see the difference in numbers, I went looking for an example.


Schools can enter into a voluntary agreement with the VA to waive a portion of, or all of their tuition costs that exceed the national maximum Post-9/11 GI Bill reimbursement. The VA will match the amount of the waiver and also contribute that to your tuition. For example, if you are attending a private university with a tuition of $50,000/year but the school has agreed to waive $10, 000 tuition for Yellow Ribbon Participants. The VA will match that $10,000 making the total tuition waived $20,000. Your Post-9/11 GI Bill will pay $20,235.02 and the Yellow Ribbon Program will waive $20,000. You will be responsible for $9,764.98 tuition that you must pay with financial aid or out-of-pocket.

1 - I guess you know up front which schools participate, do you know for how much?
2 - Is there an assumption that any merit awards you get are before or after?

That is where the unrestricted vs restrict impacted my decision on my VA benefits. In that example, a $10,000 merit award would leave you with all tuition covered plus $235.02 to buy a new lunch box and matching laptop case each sememster when they gave you a surplus refund.

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storpappa

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Re: Veterans Thread

Post by storpappa » Sun May 03, 2015 12:44 pm

Happen to see this on the ND Veterans page today ---

The Yellow Ribbon Program, enacted by Congress and run by the Veterans Administration (VA), is a matching program that authorizes significant educational benefits to eligible US military veterans. For the 2014-2015 academic year, Notre Dame Law School will cover $15,150 of tuition and mandatory fees for Yellow Ribbon Program eligible veterans (for up to 20 students).

How do you attend on the Yellow Ribbon Program YRP, and know you will get one of those 20 spots each year? Or is that part of your gamble on the total COA?

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MT Cicero

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Re: Veterans Thread

Post by MT Cicero » Sun May 03, 2015 1:22 pm

storpappa wrote:Happen to see this on the ND Veterans page today ---

The Yellow Ribbon Program, enacted by Congress and run by the Veterans Administration (VA), is a matching program that authorizes significant educational benefits to eligible US military veterans. For the 2014-2015 academic year, Notre Dame Law School will cover $15,150 of tuition and mandatory fees for Yellow Ribbon Program eligible veterans (for up to 20 students).

How do you attend on the Yellow Ribbon Program YRP, and know you will get one of those 20 spots each year? Or is that part of your gamble on the total COA?
I've got <4 hours remaining in a take-home final (just taking a quick break). But, I'll give you a full breakdown on YRP when I'm finished if nobody else has. I create a spreadsheet on the YRP and update it annually.

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storpappa

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Re: Veterans Thread

Post by storpappa » Sun May 03, 2015 1:40 pm

Oh no that's alright I'm just asking to know. I'm using a different chapter of VA benefits. Don't go to any big trouble

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Re: Veterans Thread

Post by Pacman » Sun May 03, 2015 2:27 pm

In a nutshell you just have to be using the Post 9/11 GI Bill AND be 100% eligible (meaning you met the 36 month TIS requirement) and then you'll get the YRP when you enroll in school as long as there are unlimited slots. If you get it then law school is either free or heavily discounted in most cases. For those that don't offer unlimited money then the school gives you whatever amount the school states on their website and then the VA matches that amount. So when you look at the charts you can effectively double whatever dollar amount is there. If there aren't an unlimited number of slots then you just need to know ahead of time how many slots are open and make your decision based on that information. I'm a 0L and MT Cicero is the resident expert so I'm sure he can fill you in on additional details if you're curious.

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Re: Veterans Thread

Post by Mav5 » Thu May 07, 2015 9:58 pm

Just poppin in to say Hi as suggested to me in another thread. Eight year Navy sailor here, P3 Sailor... Yup, Eight years and no Ships (Before we go any further I requested the Regan 5 times to my detailer and they said NOPE!). Anyways I have a 3.65 GPA with a BA in Business and a crummy LSAT of 157. I am retaking in June and this is the LAST LSAT I can take for entrance to law school for fall of 16. This is thanks to the fact that I will be deployed to somewhere nice and sandy for every cycle after (including February). Studying night and day with the 7sage method to increase my score, so far so good, love the way 7sage works.

Anyways look forward to talking with you all, I'm sure I'll have some questions soon enough for ya!

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storpappa

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Re: Veterans Thread

Post by storpappa » Thu May 07, 2015 10:00 pm

Best of luck on bringing your score up. Are you getting 0 incorrect on LG and finishing in time?

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Re: Veterans Thread

Post by Mav5 » Thu May 07, 2015 10:04 pm

storpappa wrote:Best of luck on bringing your score up. Are you getting 0 incorrect on LG and finishing in time?
LG was my biggest problem area. I'm doing a lot better then I was. I'm finishing in time but I find myself misreading or making some stupidly obvious error due to rushing. I'm finding myself missing 1 or 2 a game... I'm at the point now though where I'm doing timed LG sections daily to hopefully help me get over this.

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Re: Veterans Thread

Post by Mav5 » Thu May 07, 2015 10:15 pm

Quick question... Lets say I bomb this June LSAT And need to retake while deployed. Anyone know if LSAC will set up an unpublished center at an overseas military base? Where I'm going there is no testing sites within the country.

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Re: Veterans Thread

Post by aicccia » Mon May 11, 2015 4:22 pm

Hi,

Navy vet with five years in logistics. I got out in 2012 and I'm now finishing up my junior year in undergrad at Columbia with a 3.6 GPA. Haven't taken the LSAT yet.

The problem is that before I joined the navy, I failed a few classes at a local community college. So my LDAS GPA is just around 3.2.

I asked around on Reddit how this would effect my chances and I was overwhelming told(by non-vets) that the school would basically ignore my LDAS GPA because I had shown good performance at a tough school, thus diminishing the relevance of the low grades from over 8 years ago, and basically recalculate a new GPA from which to base my admission package on.

I'm guessing there are many other vets in the same situation, with a LDAS GPA being dragged down by shitty grades they got years ago.

So I wanted to ask some actual vets and see if anyone had experience with admissions just looking at their recent grades and getting into a school that normally doesn't take such a low LDAS GPA.

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Cobretti

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Re: Veterans Thread

Post by Cobretti » Mon May 11, 2015 4:38 pm

aicccia wrote:Hi,

Navy vet with five years in logistics. I got out in 2012 and I'm now finishing up my junior year in undergrad at Columbia with a 3.6 GPA. Haven't taken the LSAT yet.

The problem is that before I joined the navy, I failed a few classes at a local community college. So my LDAS GPA is just around 3.2.

I asked around on Reddit how this would effect my chances and I was overwhelming told(by non-vets) that the school would basically ignore my LDAS GPA because I had shown good performance at a tough school, thus diminishing the relevance of the low grades from over 8 years ago, and basically recalculate a new GPA from which to base my admission package on.

I'm guessing there are many other vets in the same situation, with a LDAS GPA being dragged down by shitty grades they got years ago.

So I wanted to ask some actual vets and see if anyone had experience with admissions just looking at their recent grades and getting into a school that normally doesn't take such a low LDAS GPA.
Sorry but you got bad advice on reddit. I was in a similar situation, had pretty terrible grades from before I served, then had a solid GPA after. My LDAS for just after the military was 3.86 but overall was 3.0 and I performed exactly how the 3.0 would have predicted. Kill the LSAT and you still have great options though.

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Re: Veterans Thread

Post by bjsesq » Mon May 11, 2015 4:38 pm

aicccia wrote:Hi,

Navy vet with five years in logistics. I got out in 2012 and I'm now finishing up my junior year in undergrad at Columbia with a 3.6 GPA. Haven't taken the LSAT yet.

The problem is that before I joined the navy, I failed a few classes at a local community college. So my LDAS GPA is just around 3.2.

I asked around on Reddit how this would effect my chances and I was overwhelming told(by non-vets) that the school would basically ignore my LDAS GPA because I had shown good performance at a tough school, thus diminishing the relevance of the low grades from over 8 years ago, and basically recalculate a new GPA from which to base my admission package on.

I'm guessing there are many other vets in the same situation, with a LDAS GPA being dragged down by shitty grades they got years ago.

So I wanted to ask some actual vets and see if anyone had experience with admissions just looking at their recent grades and getting into a school that normally doesn't take such a low LDAS GPA.
Those people are lying to you or they are idiots. Schools will not ignore a shitty GPA. Will they put a little less weight on it because of the time separation? Probably. Is it still a big deal. Damn right it is. You need to crush the LSAT.

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Re: Veterans Thread

Post by TripTrip » Mon May 11, 2015 4:39 pm

aicccia wrote:Hi,

Navy vet with five years in logistics. I got out in 2012 and I'm now finishing up my junior year in undergrad at Columbia with a 3.6 GPA. Haven't taken the LSAT yet.

The problem is that before I joined the navy, I failed a few classes at a local community college. So my LDAS GPA is just around 3.2.

I asked around on Reddit how this would effect my chances and I was overwhelming told(by non-vets) that the school would basically ignore my LDAS GPA because I had shown good performance at a tough school, thus diminishing the relevance of the low grades from over 8 years ago, and basically recalculate a new GPA from which to base my admission package on.

I'm guessing there are many other vets in the same situation, with a LDAS GPA being dragged down by shitty grades they got years ago.

So I wanted to ask some actual vets and see if anyone had experience with admissions just looking at their recent grades and getting into a school that normally doesn't take such a low LDAS GPA.
Get a killer LSAT (173+). I'm sure you already know that, but you're going to (want to) be a splitter.

The fact that the 3.6 at C is more recent will help you on the soft side, but at the end of the day they are taking a hit in USNWR if they take that LSDAS GPA.

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Re: Veterans Thread

Post by Pacman » Tue May 12, 2015 1:38 pm

aicccia wrote:Hi,

Navy vet with five years in logistics. I got out in 2012 and I'm now finishing up my junior year in undergrad at Columbia with a 3.6 GPA. Haven't taken the LSAT yet.

The problem is that before I joined the navy, I failed a few classes at a local community college. So my LDAS GPA is just around 3.2.

I asked around on Reddit how this would effect my chances and I was overwhelming told(by non-vets) that the school would basically ignore my LDAS GPA because I had shown good performance at a tough school, thus diminishing the relevance of the low grades from over 8 years ago, and basically recalculate a new GPA from which to base my admission package on.

I'm guessing there are many other vets in the same situation, with a LDAS GPA being dragged down by shitty grades they got years ago.

So I wanted to ask some actual vets and see if anyone had experience with admissions just looking at their recent grades and getting into a school that normally doesn't take such a low LDAS GPA.
I don't know how this is looked on by different schools but if you're really concerned with your GPA you could always flip this situation around and take advantage of the fact that every grade before you graduate will count so you could take summer classes to boost your GPA, or even delay graduating until a fifth year in order to have more opportunities to raise your grades. Of course this assumes you could afford to do that, and have the time to do so as well, but if that's your chief concern or you end up struggling with the LSAT it might be a good avenue to investigate. And you could always try to declare a minor or second major if you don't have one so that you had an excuse to do an extra year rather than hanging yourself out to dry with no other reason to tell schools why you did this than you simply wanted to raise your LSAC GPA. As others have said, a 170+ will keep a lot of doors open so I'd make sure that was locked down if you don't go the GPA bolstering route. Good luck!

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Re: Veterans Thread

Post by usn26 » Tue May 12, 2015 2:18 pm

Pacman wrote:
aicccia wrote:Hi,

Navy vet with five years in logistics. I got out in 2012 and I'm now finishing up my junior year in undergrad at Columbia with a 3.6 GPA. Haven't taken the LSAT yet.

The problem is that before I joined the navy, I failed a few classes at a local community college. So my LDAS GPA is just around 3.2.
I don't know how this is looked on by different schools but if you're really concerned with your GPA you could always flip this situation around and take advantage of the fact that every grade before you graduate will count so you could take summer classes to boost your GPA, or even delay graduating until a fifth year in order to have more opportunities to raise your grades. Of course this assumes you could afford to do that, and have the time to do so as well, but if that's your chief concern or you end up struggling with the LSAT it might be a good avenue to investigate. And you could always try to declare a minor or second major if you don't have one so that you had an excuse to do an extra year rather than hanging yourself out to dry with no other reason to tell schools why you did this than you simply wanted to raise your LSAC GPA. As others have said, a 170+ will keep a lot of doors open so I'd make sure that was locked down if you don't go the GPA bolstering route. Good luck!
Raising a 3.2 above T14 medians at this point seems like a TALLLL order though. That's a lot of GPA stuffing. I think it's time to embrace the splitter life, and while the numbers are mostly predictive, I bet the nature of the GPA and the vet status will be beneficial in the splitter pool.

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