Berkeley Law (Boalt Hall) Class of 2015 Forum

[Redamon1]

Some people have reported noteworthy and sometimes significant merit scholarships, so hang tight.

I have little to support this but I would say that if someone is interested in money, need-based or merit-based, they would probably do well to fill out FAFSA and other forms. For one, not doing so may be read by admissions staff as not being particularly interested/dependent on financial aid in any way (why waste money on someone for whom money is not a concern?). I also know that some schools have distinct budgets for merit and need-based aid, so the merit-aid staff may be more inclined to chip in $$ if a portion of the bill can be picked up by the need-based budget separately.

[EvelynS]

I called the FinAid and they told me that they are still reviewing the need-based grants. They will release some decisions by the end of this week (at least I was told so).

[Nick89]

New to TLS. But here are my two cents.

I received a grant and have not yet responded whether or not I am tentatively committing. I filled out FAFSA and my EFC was 0.

My question is more about the Matching Scholarship. I submitted a $60,000 offer from UVA which has a deadline of April 6th. At first I was unsure if the grant award I received was their offer to match as the numbers were similar. After reading some of your posts I am starting to think that they will contact us differently to notify us of a decision with regards to the matching scholarship. I am wondering if the matching scholarship will still be considered even having received this grant.

Any input would be great and good luck to everyone still waiting to get offers!

[EvelynS]

New to TLS. But here are my two cents.

I received a grant and have not yet responded whether or not I am tentatively committing. I filled out FAFSA and my EFC was 0.

My question is more about the Matching Scholarship. I submitted a $60,000 offer from UVA which has a deadline of April 6th. At first I was unsure if the grant award I received was their offer to match as the numbers were similar. After reading some of your posts I am starting to think that they will contact us differently to notify us of a decision with regards to the matching scholarship. I am wondering if the matching scholarship will still be considered even having received this grant.

Any input would be great and good luck to everyone still waiting to get offers!

I think someone in another forum mentioned that matching/merit scholarships are handled by the Admission Office, not the FinAid. If you get merit/matching scholly, the FinAid will re-calculate your package. For more information, call or email the Admission Office.

[agalang]

Has anyone successfully filled out their SLR? It keeps taking me to the Online SLR FAQs but the form is nowhere to be found...

[EvelynS]

Has anyone successfully filled out their SLR? It keeps taking me to the Online SLR FAQs but the form is nowhere to be found...

+1
I thought that something was wrong with my SLR form. I guess I will find out next week during ASW.

[mushybrain]

My SLR didn't work for a long time but I finally did it a few weeks ago. Last I checked it still said it was processing.

[poe]

Anyone else just get an email confirming that you're not getting need-based grant?

[KaleidoscopeEyes]

Has anyone heard anything at all about matching scholarships? My deadline on the one I attempted to get matched actually already expired, but I managed to get an extension on it.

[Nick89]

Has anyone heard anything at all about matching scholarships? My deadline on the one I attempted to get matched actually already expired, but I managed to get an extension on it.

From what I have gathered from the admissions office staff, they have already begun to make matching scholarship offers and will continue through this week. They said they probably wont make as many offers in the week leading up to the ASW and then they have to see where they are at after the April 16th tentative acceptance date is up. They also said that these matching scholarships have a 2 week expiration date on them so the first round of people will have 2 weeks to decide then they can make offers to others. From my conversation I got the feeling that they may be still making offers as late as May. Also one important thing I found out is that they don't rule you out for matching if the other offer expires. They take into consideration that you may have other similar offers and that you may have gotten an extension.

Hope all of this helps. Good Luck.

[KaleidoscopeEyes]

Has anyone heard anything at all about matching scholarships? My deadline on the one I attempted to get matched actually already expired, but I managed to get an extension on it.

From what I have gathered from the admissions office staff, they have already begun to make matching scholarship offers and will continue through this week. They said they probably wont make as many offers in the week leading up to the ASW and then they have to see where they are at after the April 16th tentative acceptance date is up. They also said that these matching scholarships have a 2 week expiration date on them so the first round of people will have 2 weeks to decide then they can make offers to others. From my conversation I got the feeling that they may be still making offers as late as May. Also one important thing I found out is that they don't rule you out for matching if the other offer expires. They take into consideration that you may have other similar offers and that you may have gotten an extension.

Hope all of this helps. Good Luck.

Very helpful! Thanks for the info.

[FryBreadPower]

Throwing my name in here. Wasn't exactly sold on Berkeley, then they turned around today and blew my doors off with a Dean's Fellowship.

Looks like I will be joining you all in just a few months

[Neatrends]

MyFinAid is only showing a grant for the 2012-13 school year.

Is there a way to tell if Ill be receiving it for all three years?

[boaltbear]

Has anyone heard anything at all about matching scholarships? My deadline on the one I attempted to get matched actually already expired, but I managed to get an extension on it.

From what I have gathered from the admissions office staff, they have already begun to make matching scholarship offers and will continue through this week. They said they probably wont make as many offers in the week leading up to the ASW and then they have to see where they are at after the April 16th tentative acceptance date is up. They also said that these matching scholarships have a 2 week expiration date on them so the first round of people will have 2 weeks to decide then they can make offers to others. From my conversation I got the feeling that they may be still making offers as late as May. Also one important thing I found out is that they don't rule you out for matching if the other offer expires. They take into consideration that you may have other similar offers and that you may have gotten an extension.

Hope all of this helps. Good Luck.

Just to confirm this for you all, I wasn't offered a scholarship until May last year. It came after I had already committed to Berkeley. It was actually a really substantial amount which was a nice surprise but I had already decided I was going to Boalt no matter what.

[EvelynS]

MyFinAid is only showing a grant for the 2012-13 school year.

Is there a way to tell if Ill be receiving it for all three years?

If it is a need-based grant, it will be re-calculated each year depending on the income and tax returns.

[kolokena]

[/quote]
Just to confirm this for you all, I wasn't offered a scholarship until May last year. It came after I had already committed to Berkeley. It was actually a really substantial amount which was a nice surprise but I had already decided I was going to Boalt no matter what.[/quote]

Thanks for this info! Was the scholarship you were offered in may a need based grant, or merit? And just to clarify further, was it a matching scholarship?

[boaltbear]

Just to confirm this for you all, I wasn't offered a scholarship until May last year. It came after I had already committed to Berkeley. It was actually a really substantial amount which was a nice surprise but I had already decided I was going to Boalt no matter what.

Thanks for this info! Was the scholarship you were offered in may a need based grant, or merit? And just to clarify further, was it a matching scholarship?

I believe it was merit. I had submitted matching scholarship info but the amount did not exactly match any of those so I am not sure if it was matching or not. The emails and forms I signed accepting it did not indicate it was matching but it could have been.

Also, this has not been talked about much on TLS but it is definitely worth mentioning that Boalt has been drastically reducing its class size.

292 for c/o 2013
254 for c/o 2014 (my amazing classmates)
235 is the projected class size for 2015 (this is you guys )

The actual reason for the reduction has to do with faculty retirement and class coverage but it will significantly enhance your job prospects. Less Boalt grads during OCI is a great thing for those of you that want big law. Many firms are use to hiring at least a couple Boalt grads every year and this reduction in the supply of Boalt grads can only benefit your class.

[Real Madrid]

Anyone know what the likelihood of matching scholarships depends on? School? Amount? Submission date?

I submitted mine like February 20 and would really, really like to go to Boalt, but I'm beginning to think it just isn't feasible at sticker price.

[FryBreadPower]

Just to confirm this for you all, I wasn't offered a scholarship until May last year. It came after I had already committed to Berkeley. It was actually a really substantial amount which was a nice surprise but I had already decided I was going to Boalt no matter what.

Thanks for this info! Was the scholarship you were offered in may a need based grant, or merit? And just to clarify further, was it a matching scholarship?

I believe it was merit. I had submitted matching scholarship info but the amount did not exactly match any of those so I am not sure if it was matching or not. The emails and forms I signed accepting it did not indicate it was matching but it could have been.

Also, this has not been talked about much on TLS but it is definitely worth mentioning that Boalt has been drastically reducing its class size.

292 for c/o 2013
254 for c/o 2014 (my amazing classmates)
235 is the projected class size for 2015 (this is you guys )

The actual reason for the reduction has to do with faculty retirement and class coverage but it will significantly enhance your job prospects. Less Boalt grads during OCI is a great thing for those of you that want big law. Many firms are use to hiring at least a couple Boalt grads every year and this reduction in the supply of Boalt grads can only benefit your class.

This made my day. Have they commented on this push at all in the school? It seems like BerkeleyLaw has been busting their ass to make wide sweeping changes in their program. I had read somewhere that they were increasing faculty numbers like crazy.

[Geneva]

Haven't submitted need-based aid forms. Is it too late? I'm quite confused as to how Berkeley decides who demonstrates financial need. if i don't have a scholarship for berkeley to match and my numbers are around median, does that mean i'm probs out for merit aid? so far, $0 from berkeley

[Redamon1]

Haven't submitted need-based aid forms. Is it too late? I'm quite confused as to how Berkeley decides who demonstrates financial need. if i don't have a scholarship for berkeley to match and my numbers are around median, does that mean i'm probs out for merit aid? so far, $0 from berkeley

I got merit aid with not-so-stellar numbers. WE and public-interest credentials were probably an important factor in my case.

[curiouscat]

Do we need to submit needs-based forms to be considered for merit-based aid?

[DBishops]

Has anyone sent in their official transcript? I haven't. I really hope that isn't required to assess merit based aid!

[thelawschoolproject]

Tickets booked...soooo excited!

[DBishops]

Has anyone sent in their official transcript? I haven't. I really hope that isn't required to assess merit based aid!

Also. It seems that people posting about past years were able to submit multiple schools for matching scholarships? Did the rule that you can only submit one just come out this year?