stanford or umich? Forum

[michlaw]

U=you R=are M=missing the point. Stanford has no bad grades. All P's = 180 G's (nice new number). This ain't about mismatch theory, gunning, or any of that crap. Go to Stanford. Amazing opportunity. Congratulations.

So this advice applies to everyone choosing between Stanford and Michigan, not just URMs who are shocked to get into Stanford?

Gee Bernie sorry if I offended your sensibilities by even pondering that someone who might possibly have lower incoming stats (why might I think this...the entire history of URM law school admissions and a wild guess from the op's screen name) may wish to avoid unnecessary direct competition for top of the class stats at a forced curve school. I'm not talking anything revolutionary here. Onward to the convention.

Let's try these.

Retake and hold out for Yale.
Go to whatever t-14 will give you a full ride. All schools are the same.
If not that then the highest rated school that will give you a full ride.
Or the school in the geographic area where you want to practice that is the cheapest.
Or business school since you are interested in M&A.

Oh hell just go to Stanford.

[WheninLaw]

Duh...Stanford...U Mich is nice but...As a URM who says they are shocked to get into Stanford I am guessing you would find the forced curve environment at Michigan challenging. I could be wrong. You would need top 10% at Mich to get the same opportunities as anything at Stanford.

Terrible, disastrous advice.

But yes, go to Stanford.

You agree with my advice. You disagree with my rationale. What matter, the result is the same. Was the Obama Care mandate really a tax? Who cares as long as you win. Stanford.

Sorry, I should have edited your post to isolate the terrible part. The last sentence is so, so wrong.

[pancakes3]

U=you R=are M=missing the point. Stanford has no bad grades. All P's = 180 G's (nice new number). This ain't about mismatch theory, gunning, or any of that crap. Go to Stanford. Amazing opportunity. Congratulations.

So this advice applies to everyone choosing between Stanford and Michigan, not just URMs who are shocked to get into Stanford?

Gee Bernie sorry if I offended your sensibilities by even pondering that someone who might possibly have lower incoming stats (why might I think this...the entire history of URM law school admissions and a wild guess from the op's screen name) may wish to avoid unnecessary direct competition for top of the class stats at a forced curve school. I'm not talking anything revolutionary here. Onward to the convention.

Let's try these.

Retake and hold out for Yale.
Go to whatever t-14 will give you a full ride. All schools are the same.
If not that then the highest rated school that will give you a full ride.
Or the school in the geographic area where you want to practice that is the cheapest.
Or business school since you are interested in M&A.

Oh hell just go to Stanford.

u mad bro?

[flawedargument]

OP: I would like to add the following advice. Please consider doing this before you withdraw from Michigan.

Inform Michigan that you've been accepted at Stanford and are planning to withdraw unless Michigan can give you a full ride. If Michigan gives you a full ride (or close to it), call Stanford and let them know of your new scholarship offer. Ask them what they can give you. Rinse and repeat if necessary.

You have 2 weeks to get these schools to increase their aid. I know firsthand that schools will increase their scholarship offers when competing with another school--even before a student has enrolled. I would guess this is especially true once you have enrolled--it looks pretty bad for them to lose a student who has already enrolled, both as a matter of optics and for their USNews ranking.

I can practically guarantee making these calls will get you something. Best case, you'll get substantially more $$$ from someone. Worst case, you'll get more information, which will make your decision much easier.

If, for example, Michigan offers you a full ride and Stanford offers you a total of 20k, the advice you're getting ("withdraw now and never look back") will have been 2-weeks premature ;)

I'll hang up and listen.

[foxes]

OP: I would like to add the following advice. Please consider doing this before you withdraw from Michigan.

Inform Michigan that you've been accepted at Stanford and are planning to withdraw unless Michigan can give you a full ride. If Michigan gives you a full ride (or close to it), call Stanford and let them know of your new scholarship offer. Ask them what they can give you. Rinse and repeat if necessary.

You have 2 weeks to get these schools to increase their aid. I know firsthand that schools will increase their scholarship offers when competing with another school--even before a student has enrolled. I would guess this is especially true once you have enrolled--it looks pretty bad for them to lose a student who has already enrolled, both as a matter of optics and for their USNews ranking.

I can practically guarantee making these calls will get you something. Best case, you'll get substantially more $$$ from someone. Worst case, you'll get more information, which will make your decision much easier.

If, for example, Michigan offers you a full ride and Stanford offers you a total of 20k, the advice you're getting ("withdraw now and never look back") will have been 2-weeks premature

I'll hang up and listen.

dont bet on stanford giving you more $ bc mich offered you a full ride. 1) stanford basically only offers need based aid (https://law.stanford.edu/apply/tuition- ... l-support/). 2) stanford isnt going to view mich as a peer school for the purposes of playing the scholarship game. you might be able to squeeze more money out of mich...but to go from 43k total over 3 years to a near full ride is prettty unlikely.

but anyway, go to stanford, op. losing a few friends sucks but w/e you can make more friends in california.

[flawedargument]

OP: I would like to add the following advice. Please consider doing this before you withdraw from Michigan.

Inform Michigan that you've been accepted at Stanford and are planning to withdraw unless Michigan can give you a full ride. If Michigan gives you a full ride (or close to it), call Stanford and let them know of your new scholarship offer. Ask them what they can give you. Rinse and repeat if necessary.

You have 2 weeks to get these schools to increase their aid. I know firsthand that schools will increase their scholarship offers when competing with another school--even before a student has enrolled. I would guess this is especially true once you have enrolled--it looks pretty bad for them to lose a student who has already enrolled, both as a matter of optics and for their USNews ranking.

I can practically guarantee making these calls will get you something. Best case, you'll get substantially more $$$ from someone. Worst case, you'll get more information, which will make your decision much easier.

If, for example, Michigan offers you a full ride and Stanford offers you a total of 20k, the advice you're getting ("withdraw now and never look back") will have been 2-weeks premature ;)

I'll hang up and listen.

dont bet on stanford giving you more $ bc mich offered you a full ride. 1) stanford basically only offers need based aid (https://law.stanford.edu/apply/tuition- ... l-support/). 2) stanford isnt going to view mich as a peer school for the purposes of playing the scholarship game. you might be able to squeeze more money out of mich...but to go from 43k total over 3 years to a near full ride is prettty unlikely.

but anyway, go to stanford, op. losing a few friends sucks but w/e you can make more friends in california.

I know of plenty of people who went from about 30-50k (total) at Mich to 110+k (total) at Mich, going from basically a 1/4 or 1/3 ride to a ~75% ride -- WITHOUT offers from Stanford.

I also know almost all top schools will weigh their scholarships against other T-14s. They know "free," or close to it, is very tempting.

OP: There's no reason not to at least give it a shot. If I offered you a chance at tens of thousands of extra dollars for the time spent making a few phone calls, you'd do it.

[foxes]

i mean yes, its prob worth the phone calls, but i would assume you probably wont get very far. just anecdotal, but i tried to play off a full ride at a mid t14 against h and got nowhere fast. in any case, short of mich giving you near full tuition, id go to stanford, esp if you qualify for substantial need based aid

[nativtracker]

Thanks guys, all this has been very informative. Stanford gave me a very generous need based fellowship. Michigan unfortunately would not match, only giving 14k per year over the course of 3 years. I can't say enough how generous Stanford was, and this will certainly help me achieve my dreams and frankly made the decision very easy. Its sad leaving friends, but I have to think long term, plus its just cheaper to attend Stanford. Thank you again guys.

[foxes]

Thanks guys, all this has been very informative. Stanford gave me a very generous need based fellowship. Michigan unfortunately would not match, only giving 14k per year over the course of 3 years. I can't say enough how generous Stanford was, and this will certainly help me achieve my dreams and frankly made the decision very easy. Its sad leaving friends, but I have to think long term, plus its just cheaper to attend Stanford. Thank you again guys.

congrats on making your decision and getting into sls you'll have a lot of fun at sls, don't worry about it

[flawedargument]

Congrats! Glad you pushed M to match. I'm sure the loss hurts. Enjoy SLS

[Joscellin]

Congrats and great decision.