Merit Scholarship Question Forum

[achewood]

Quick question re: merit scholarships:

When they are offered, is the amount reflected by your GPA/LSAT only? Does anything you mention on your application (softs, work history, Why X-School?, Personal Statement) have any effect?

[rinkrat19]

Scholarships are how schools lure in qualified and over-qualified students to boost their medians. It is (almost) entirely based on numbers. There are exceptions for people with extremely impressive or compelling soft factors, but the vast majority of people will not get awards unexpected for someone with their numbers.

[AntipodeanPhil]

I think they take into account other factors to a slightly greater extent than they do in the admissions process, but it varies from school to school. Some offer automatic scholarships to people over certain numbers, other seriously weigh softs.

Just look at whatever schools you are interested in on LSN - you can quickly get a good impression by comparing candidates with similar numbers.

[bernaldiaz]

Also URM status