Top Law Schools

1) I have been accepted to both UT and SMU. I am from Dallas and plan on practicing there, hopefully BigLaw. UT is giving me 5,000 per year (plus in-state), while SMU is giving me 30,200 per year. Is there anyway I could leverage SMU into giving me a full ride. Obviously, most people are going to say go to UT, but if I can get a full ride, SMU would be hard to turn down. Do you think SMU would ever consider this?

2)If I decide on Texas, do you think it would be possible to leverage them into giving me more money based on the fact that WUSTL is giving me 25,000 per year? The three year tuition differences for the two schools would be WUSTL at 11k less. Are the schools ranked close enough that I could try to bump my scholarship up from 5k per year to possibly 7-10k? What do y'all think? Any advice on how one even proposes this?

I don't know the answer to #2, but it seems in looking at the SMU thread of people who have been accepted that SMU doesn't negotiate...you get their best shot up front.

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sternc--- I'm dealing with the same dilemma (UT vs. SMU) ...I am however not getting 5k from UT...and only 22k a year from SMU. I actually emailed SMU asking them about if they could up my offer (I had more money from Cardozo). They said just what kalvano said...they give you their best offer up front. Let me know what you decide. We have very similar situations (I'm from Dallas...family is in Dallas...most likely going to practice in Dallas...but a part of me is still SCREAMING UT! ) Who knows?

hopefulhorn wrote:I'm from Dallas...family is in Dallas...most likely going to practice in Dallas...but a part of me is still SCREAMING UT!

Go to SMU.

bump on question 2

I highly doubt you'll get more out of SMU.

I'm not aware of the success rate with leveraging lower-ranking law school offers to get more money from higher-ranked schools. I would imagine it's somewhere between true zero and virtually nonexistent.

ut has a "matching program" where you send in other offers and they consider whether to up your scholarship offer. here's a link to the web site:

http://www.utexas.edu/law/depts/finaid/ ... match.html

there are some people in the acceptance/denial thread who have done this. for some it has worked, for others no. perhaps pm some of them to see what they were working with and how much more they received. i have no clue whether it would work for you, but you should definitely try!

I used the scholarship matching program at UT, from which I received a decent bit of money, and I am completely convinced that my offer from SMU is what did it. I mentioned in my cover letter that I wanted to practice in Dallas, and that was why the offer carried so much weight. In addition, most in-state students (and I believe some OOS students) receive tuition grants (some from the state, some from the university), which SMU does not do (its private). I got my fin aid award today, and I had an extra $5000 in grants in addition to my scholarship.

I'm going to try to get more $, but hoe does one go about doing this? What should I say?