Dream Weave wrote:Darby58 wrote:fLaw School Bound wrote:TheMostDangerousLG wrote:Just got a merit aid offer of $30K total. Took all of my willpower not to immediately reply "lol wut". I'm pretty sure that amount is less than they spend on postal shipping for a single acceptance letter.
Needless to say, withdrawing. Good luck, all.
I know this will offend some, but it just kills me when people get indignant about not receiving a MERIT scholarship to their liking. Your application didn't MERIT a bigger scholarship. Maybe you should have worked harder to get a better GPA, maybe your LSAT was low, either way you have been offered a scholarship that covers 20% of your tuition, if you want more money go to a lower ranked school that will be happy to have you. The entitlement of 20-somethings today just drives me crazy.
I too, got the 10k a year scholarship and am damn happy to have received it. I wish it had been more, but obviously there are candidates more worthy and they deserve the money they're getting.
What is this? Calling people entitled because they complain that a school like GW wants them to pay $250,000 is wrong and not fair. That is a ridiculously inflated number and not at all consistant with the financial value of a degree from the school.
The naiveté and the moral high handedness of 20 or 30 or 40-somethings today just drives me crazy.
I was trying to be nicer, but it is crazy think someone would
Be grateful to have to pay 200k for a coin flips chance at a job.
The rank is actually irrelevant in his argument, because GW is known to give way less than any of it's peer schools or even higher ranked schoolss because you get to work in the "fantastic DC"
I will give you that rank shouldn't be a focal point of my argument. In my frustration, I misstated my opinion. Rank is overvalued.
That said, George Washington does not owe you a cheap, risk-free education and more than BMW owes you a cheap car. It's a private institution and if you don't think it's worth the cost you can simply not go.
I don't have any issue with folks negotiating for better scholarships, but if you're denied an increase accept it. It's theirs to offer and yours to accept or reject. They don't owe you more and you don't owe them acceptance.
As far as the Cost of Attendance, the only cost for which GW should be held responsible is the cost of tuition and fees. The fact that apartments in DC are so expensive is hardly the Universities fault. Should you weigh the higher cost of living in your decision making, absolutely, but acting like the school should give you a better scholarship because of it is asinine.
For those claiming that GW is cheap when it comes to financing, exactly where are you getting that info? I'll give you that state schools are more generous, but then they have state funding. The tuition at GW is comparable to all of it's non-state peer schools, and one of very few to have need-based grants in addition to merit scholarships.
As for whether merit scholarships are really scholarships or just discounted tuition, it's merely semantics. There is an aid budget. Admissions staff can only give out so much money in scholarships (or discounts if you want to call them that). They choose to give that money to those applicants they deem to have the most merit, those that would be the most valuable additions to the student body.
If you think law school as a whole is too expensive and too risky, I can't argue with you. It is very expensive and awfully risky. I, for one, think it's worth the risk for an opportunity that wouldn't be there otherwise. If you don't think so, then you should look into other industries. If enough people do so, the schools will have to shrink their class sizes and lower their tuition.
For now it's expensive. And risky. And still I am grateful for the opportunity.