In at Harvard Forum

[Lovely Ludwig Van]

The weirdest thing, they sent the email activation email to my secondary account, which would be the first time they've sent anything to that account. I was admitted last Thursday and haven't gotten anything in the mail since, so those of you who want to get started on setting up HLS email may want to check any secondary accounts you listed on your application.

[iThwl]

Just got my fin package. Cannot wait to visit the school!

[Bahzing!]

Got a JS2 today, so I thought I'd make my first official post on tls after lurking for a very long time. I'm definitely looking forward to visiting. (Trying to choose between Harvard and Stanford. It's a tough decision, but I'm not complaining about having to make it!)

[splbagel]

Welcome to the newcomers! It's fun to see the thread expanding. Check out the first page for info on the Facebook group where more of the action is.

Anybody else not yet get financial aid info who received the email on February 29 saying our documents were complete? It's now well over 2 weeks for me, so I'm getting anxious that they forgot me but don't want to call and bug them if there are a lot of us still waiting and they're just behind.

[soj]

I got an email saying my parents' tax returns weren't complete. I'm pretty sure they were complete.

[splbagel]

Anybody else not yet get financial aid info who received the email on February 29 saying our documents were complete? It's now well over 2 weeks for me, so I'm getting anxious that they forgot me but don't want to call and bug them if there are a lot of us still waiting and they're just behind.

Called them to ask what was up. They said they're a little delayed from the 10 day estimate for some folks, but that I should expect to hear this week. Got the email 10 minutes later.

[seattleite23]

Has anyone done a travel subsidy form for the ASW? Do you fill it out and email, or snail mail it in? Thanks for any help!

[Barca10]

Has anyone that will not be able to attend ASW, taken a tour yet? If so, how informative and helpful was it. I do not think I will be able to make it to ASW but still want to get the complete Harvard experience before making my decision.

[splbagel]

Has anyone done a travel subsidy form for the ASW? Do you fill it out and email, or snail mail it in? Thanks for any help!

Instructions and the address are on the first page of the form - you have to mail it.

[seattleite23]

Has anyone done a travel subsidy form for the ASW? Do you fill it out and email, or snail mail it in? Thanks for any help!

Instructions and the address are on the first page of the form - you have to mail it.

Now I see it, thank you!

[curiousgeorges]

Hey all,

I'm an HLS alum who graduated a few years ago (in the 4-7 years ago range), and I wandered back to TLS because I've been advising a 0L friend whose dream school is HLS; I wanted to get up to speed on what Admissions was doing differently from what I remembered. I just read through this thread, and it brought back so many fond memories of getting into HLS and making the choice to attend. There's so much that's different: we didn't have KB/JS 1/2 (no phone interviews at all!), and we found out we got in when a large Priority Mail box arrived at our homes with a binder inside. We didn't get signed books in the mail from HLS profs tailored to our personal statements and interests. We had letter grades (A+ through B-, in practical terms). But there's so much that this thread brings back ... the exhilaration of that first day when you get the admissions notification. Emailing from an @law.harvard.edu email address. Connecting with other admitted students online and creating a private group for admitted students (I'm dating myself, here, but we congregated on the Princeton Review's now-defunct board and formed a private Yahoo Group for the HLS admits.) Freaking out at the six-figure pricetag and worrying if HLS was really worth it. Waiting for YS to decide to know what your choices are. Wondering whether Gropius is worth the savings, North is worth the money, or how the heck you're going to afford a non-Harvard apartment.

This thread brought it all back - all the excitement and pride and nervousness about the unknown - and I just wanted to thank you all for that, congratulate you on your good news, and wish you best of luck in making your law school decision and with the three years ahead. If there's anything I can do to help or questions I can answer, let me know - after law school, I clerked and worked in biglaw to get the student loans under control, before transitioning into public interest litigation, so I have a bit of experience with various things that you might be considering. I think the right etiquette is for me to start a new "HLS alum" thread in the Questions forum, right? Good luck and take care.

[bogm2012]

Hey all,

I'm an HLS alum who graduated a few years ago (in the 4-7 years ago range), and I wandered back to TLS because I've been advising a 0L friend whose dream school is HLS; I wanted to get up to speed on what Admissions was doing differently from what I remembered. I just read through this thread, and it brought back so many fond memories of getting into HLS and making the choice to attend. There's so much that's different: we didn't have KB/JS 1/2 (no phone interviews at all!), and we found out we got in when a large Priority Mail box arrived at our homes with a binder inside. We didn't get signed books in the mail from HLS profs tailored to our personal statements and interests. We had letter grades (A+ through B-, in practical terms). But there's so much that this thread brings back ... the exhilaration of that first day when you get the admissions notification. Emailing from an @law.harvard.edu email address. Connecting with other admitted students online and creating a private group for admitted students (I'm dating myself, here, but we congregated on the Princeton Review's now-defunct board and formed a private Yahoo Group for the HLS admits.) Freaking out at the six-figure pricetag and worrying if HLS was really worth it. Waiting for YS to decide to know what your choices are. Wondering whether Gropius is worth the savings, North is worth the money, or how the heck you're going to afford a non-Harvard apartment.

This thread brought it all back - all the excitement and pride and nervousness about the unknown - and I just wanted to thank you all for that, congratulate you on your good news, and wish you best of luck in making your law school decision and with the three years ahead. If there's anything I can do to help or questions I can answer, let me know - after law school, I clerked and worked in biglaw to get the student loans under control, before transitioning into public interest litigation, so I have a bit of experience with various things that you might be considering. I think the right etiquette is for me to start a new "HLS alum" thread in the Questions forum, right? Good luck and take care.

Please do! I would be very interested in hearing what you have to say.

[splbagel]

Hey all,

I'm an HLS alum who graduated a few years ago (in the 4-7 years ago range), and I wandered back to TLS because I've been advising a 0L friend whose dream school is HLS; I wanted to get up to speed on what Admissions was doing differently from what I remembered. I just read through this thread, and it brought back so many fond memories of getting into HLS and making the choice to attend. There's so much that's different: we didn't have KB/JS 1/2 (no phone interviews at all!), and we found out we got in when a large Priority Mail box arrived at our homes with a binder inside. We didn't get signed books in the mail from HLS profs tailored to our personal statements and interests. We had letter grades (A+ through B-, in practical terms). But there's so much that this thread brings back ... the exhilaration of that first day when you get the admissions notification. Emailing from an @law.harvard.edu email address. Connecting with other admitted students online and creating a private group for admitted students (I'm dating myself, here, but we congregated on the Princeton Review's now-defunct board and formed a private Yahoo Group for the HLS admits.) Freaking out at the six-figure pricetag and worrying if HLS was really worth it. Waiting for YS to decide to know what your choices are. Wondering whether Gropius is worth the savings, North is worth the money, or how the heck you're going to afford a non-Harvard apartment.

This thread brought it all back - all the excitement and pride and nervousness about the unknown - and I just wanted to thank you all for that, congratulate you on your good news, and wish you best of luck in making your law school decision and with the three years ahead. If there's anything I can do to help or questions I can answer, let me know - after law school, I clerked and worked in biglaw to get the student loans under control, before transitioning into public interest litigation, so I have a bit of experience with various things that you might be considering. I think the right etiquette is for me to start a new "HLS alum" thread in the Questions forum, right? Good luck and take care.

Please do! I would be very interested in hearing what you have to say.

Yes please! Or jump on this one: http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 4&t=141188

[beevs]

I'm so excited! I just found out I can go to Sun+Mon of ASW after all.

Dumb question...in the registration, they ask for our LSDAS registration number. Is that just our LSAC number?

Also...

For those requesting placement with a student host, please note that space is limited. We encourage you to secure alternate accomodations in the event that we are unable to place you with a student host. We will contact you directly with more information.*

Where/how do you request this?

Thanks!

[curiousgeorges]

splbagel/bogm2012: Done! I started a new questions thread, which is here: http://top-law-schools.com/forums/viewt ... 4&t=181416 I'll check in once or twice tomorrow to see if anyone has thrown out anything that I can answer. Cheers!

[sailboat]

Got my financial aid offer today, only about four days after I completed the application. Really wasn't expecting such a fast turnaround!

The package was mostly what I expected, though we disagree by about $5,000. Still, it all seems to be LIPP-eligible, so it's not going to be a big deal. Oddly, it seems like it's also possible to use LIPP-eligible borrowing to cover the automatic student contribution from pre-1L summer ($2,500) - anyone know anything about that?

I wish this interface had a more detailed breakdown/explanation...

[splbagel]

Oddly, it seems like it's also possible to use LIPP-eligible borrowing to cover the automatic student contribution from pre-1L summer ($2,500) - anyone know anything about that?

Go on....?

[sailboat]

Oddly, it seems like it's also possible to use LIPP-eligible borrowing to cover the automatic student contribution from pre-1L summer ($2,500) - anyone know anything about that?

Go on....?

Well, in the "message" section, point 6 says that I can borrow up to $X amount that would be eligible for LIPP. When I add up the base loan and parent contribution, it's $2,500 short of my LIPP-eligible amount. But this is why I want more details - I figure that $2,500 gap isn't a coincidence, and I can't imagine anything else that it would be for, but I can't find anything that explicitly says the expected summer contribution would be LIPP-eligible (or, for that matter, anything that says it wouldn't be, though of course expected payments from student earnings/assets usually aren't).

[splbagel]

Oddly, it seems like it's also possible to use LIPP-eligible borrowing to cover the automatic student contribution from pre-1L summer ($2,500) - anyone know anything about that?

Go on....?

Well, in the "message" section, point 6 says that I can borrow up to $X amount that would be eligible for LIPP. When I add up the base loan and parent contribution, it's $2,500 short of my LIPP-eligible amount. But this is why I want more details - I figure that $2,500 gap isn't a coincidence, and I can't imagine anything else that it would be for, but I can't find anything that explicitly says the expected summer contribution would be LIPP-eligible (or, for that matter, anything that says it wouldn't be, though of course expected payments from student earnings/assets usually aren't).

Odd... I just double-checked and my LIPP-eligible borrowing is exactly equal to the sum of the loans / the estimated student budget.

[bogm2012]

Oddly, it seems like it's also possible to use LIPP-eligible borrowing to cover the automatic student contribution from pre-1L summer ($2,500) - anyone know anything about that?

Go on....?

Well, in the "message" section, point 6 says that I can borrow up to $X amount that would be eligible for LIPP. When I add up the base loan and parent contribution, it's $2,500 short of my LIPP-eligible amount. But this is why I want more details - I figure that $2,500 gap isn't a coincidence, and I can't imagine anything else that it would be for, but I can't find anything that explicitly says the expected summer contribution would be LIPP-eligible (or, for that matter, anything that says it wouldn't be, though of course expected payments from student earnings/assets usually aren't).

Hmmm. Did you report $7,500 in liquid assets (or $15,000 in retirement assets)?

[sailboat]

Oddly, it seems like it's also possible to use LIPP-eligible borrowing to cover the automatic student contribution from pre-1L summer ($2,500) - anyone know anything about that?

Go on....?

Well, in the "message" section, point 6 says that I can borrow up to $X amount that would be eligible for LIPP. When I add up the base loan and parent contribution, it's $2,500 short of my LIPP-eligible amount. But this is why I want more details - I figure that $2,500 gap isn't a coincidence, and I can't imagine anything else that it would be for, but I can't find anything that explicitly says the expected summer contribution would be LIPP-eligible (or, for that matter, anything that says it wouldn't be, though of course expected payments from student earnings/assets usually aren't).

Odd... I just double-checked and my LIPP-eligible borrowing is exactly equal to the sum of the loans / the estimated student budget.

Weird - I hope it's not just a mistake with my offer! If it's not, maybe they took my current (nonprofit) income into account, or family resources, or something... but it would surprise me if they did that when they don't seem to say anything about it on their website. Hm. Mind if I ask if you got any grant aid? (I did.)

Also, hopefully I haven't just massively outed myself to them, haha.

Hmmm. Did you report $7,500 in liquid assets (or $15,000 in retirement assets)?

Nah. To put it another (maybe simpler) way, I have an optional supplemental loan offer, which is the parent contribution + $2,500.

[splbagel]

No grant aid, unfortunately (or, fortunately, because the timing of law school coincides perfectly with my sister getting out of college and my parents paying off their mortgage, oops). It'll be 100% loans for me, which I'm hoping to get mostly paid back by LIPP before jumping into some kind of clinical faculty / cabinet secretary / international woman of mystery position.

I'm trying to figure out how the hell to come up with $2,500. That's more than a month's wages for me... and I was hoping to travel this summer. I could pay it by selling my car, but as soon as I report selling the car, they'll want 100% of what I make on that, plus the original $2,500... so that's a no go. I could also beg my parents to cover it and promise to pay them back in 2038 when my ship comes in, but I really hate doing that. Anyone else dealing with this situation?

[bogm2012]

Anyone have any luck getting grant aid with parents whose incomes were well below the $180k AGI but whose parents' relevant assets were at or a bit above the $500k mark?

Apparently only 3-6% of net worth is suggested for parental contributions, so hopefully being above the $500k asset number won't knock me out entirely.

[sea15]

No grant aid, unfortunately (or, fortunately, because the timing of law school coincides perfectly with my sister getting out of college and my parents paying off their mortgage, oops). It'll be 100% loans for me, which I'm hoping to get mostly paid back by LIPP before jumping into some kind of clinical faculty / cabinet secretary / international woman of mystery position.

I'm trying to figure out how the hell to come up with $2,500. That's more than a month's wages for me... and I was hoping to travel this summer. I could pay it by selling my car, but as soon as I report selling the car, they'll want 100% of what I make on that, plus the original $2,500... so that's a no go. I could also beg my parents to cover it and promise to pay them back in 2038 when my ship comes in, but I really hate doing that. Anyone else dealing with this situation?

I spoke to a lady in the financial aid office about that at ASW. She said if students can't pay the student contribution, they can take out loans for it. It won't be LIPP eligible, but $2500 spread out over 10 years isn't a huge deal. In fact- it's about $30 a month, which is something, but not much, especially if most of the rest of your loan payments are already covered by LIPP.

I will most certainly be 100% loans as well. Terrifying.

[Syme]

Checking in! Very excited.