Loyola (LA) Scholarship 30% stipulation Forum

[didionye]

I got into loyola but the scholarship comes with the requirement that i remain in the top 30% of the class. I've heard that some law schools put all the scholarship students in one sections so definatley more than half of them lose that scholarship. I called loyola today and asked for the % of incoming students who get similar scholarship stipulation and i was told they do not give out that information. However, the lady told me the section selection is done randomly. I don't know if i should believe this or not.

I dont' know if i should take my chances with this or not. Please any advice is welcomed.

[General Tso]

It's impossible to make a risk assessment without knowing
-the amount of the scholarship
-other schools that you are considering

[didionye]

It's impossible to make a risk assessment without knowing
-the amount of the scholarship
-other schools that you are considering

I got a needs based scholaship of 22k from usd. 17k from loyola.i want to practice in los angeles area. If i go to loyola i can stay home. If i go to usd i'll have to move down there.

[didionye]

i also got a full ride to western state. But i'm uncomfortable with that because they just became ABA approved even though they are the oldest law school in orange county. Makes me wonder what they've being doing for the past 60sum years.

[Bert]

I would kill to have a scholly to LLS. They are the only law school to not offer me $, and I would have sent them my two deposits in a heartbeat if they had matched any scholarship from any other school to which I was accepted.

As for your section selection concern, I wouldn't think that schools would purposefully lie to students about something like that.

[didionye]

I would kill to have a scholly to LLS. They are the only law school to not offer me $, and I would have sent them my two deposits in a heartbeat if they had matched any scholarship from any other school to which I was accepted.

As for your section selection concern, I wouldn't think that schools would purposefully lie to students about something like that.

So you would'nt mind the 30% stipulation?

[arhmcpo]

At my school someone claimed when they asked about section stacking they were told that the school ranked the incoming class from first to last and just went down it, assigning each student - A, B, C, A, B, C, etc. This would approximately divide up the scholarship recipients in 1/3rds. I would actually be more concerned by your admissions lady saying its "random" cuz either its not and their lying or it is, in which case you will have to worry all year that your section in particular is the one with all the driven scholarship recipient people.

You should read the fine print on your acceptance and see if it says, in addition to the scholarship retention being dependent on you staying in the top 30%, Whether they may (meaning "will") give that same scholarship stipulation to more than 30% of the incoming class.

[General Tso]

It's impossible to make a risk assessment without knowing
-the amount of the scholarship
-other schools that you are considering

I got a needs based scholaship of 22k from usd. 17k from loyola.i want to practice in los angeles area. If i go to loyola i can stay home. If i go to usd i'll have to move down there.

Wait, so those are your only two options? Are these yearly amounts or total? If yearly and no GPA req. at USD, I think you are crazy to pass that up. If total, then I think you are crazy for going to either of these schools for that kind of money & debt.

[didionye]

It's impossible to make a risk assessment without knowing
-the amount of the scholarship
-other schools that you are considering

I got a needs based scholaship of 22k from usd. 17k from loyola.i want to practice in los angeles area. If i go to loyola i can stay home. If i go to usd i'll have to move down there.

Wait, so those are your only two options? Are these yearly amounts or total? If yearly and no GPA req. at USD, I think you are crazy to pass that up. If total, then I think you are crazy for going to either of these schools for that kind of money & debt.

It yearly! not total. There is no gpa requirement for either of them. Ucla gave me no money so i'm not going there at all. So Usd and loyola are my final two.

[Bert]

What are the USD strings?

As for me, I really don't think I would mind the 30% stipulation it if I really wanted to go to LLS (which I do).

You are going to need to be near the top of your class anyway to have a chance to get a great job, so just think of the scholly as a little more incentive for you to place where you would need to place anyway. Plus, LLS has a good reputation in LA and you would be saving money on food (presumably) and housing, bringing your total savings up somewhere near the USD money.

[didionye]

At my school someone claimed when they asked about section stacking they were told that the school ranked the incoming class from first to last and just went down it, assigning each student - A, B, C, A, B, C, etc. This would approximately divide up the scholarship recipients in 1/3rds. I would actually be more concerned by your admissions lady saying its "random" cuz either its not and their lying or it is, in which case you will have to worry all year that your section in particular is the one with all the driven scholarship recipient people.

You should read the fine print on your acceptance and see if it says, in addition to the scholarship retention being dependent on you staying in the top 30%, Whether they may (meaning "will") give that same scholarship stipulation to more than 30% of the incoming class.

It does'nt mention anything about giving the same stipulation to 30% of the incoming class in the fine print. I would have liked to know the percentage of the incoming class getting that kind of scholarship. But they don't give out that information. which school are you attending?

[didionye]

What are the USD strings?

As for me, I really don't think I would mind the 30% stipulation it if I really wanted to go to LLS (which I do).

You are going to need to be near the top of your class anyway to have a chance to get a great job, so just think of the scholly as a little more incentive for you to place where you would need to place anyway. Plus, LLS has a good reputation in LA and you would be saving money on food (presumably) and housing, bringing your total savings up somewhere near the USD money.

I thought of that too. I'm obviously planning on being as high up the rank as i can without the stipulation invading my dreams. USD comes with no major strings. I just have to continue to show i have a financial need for the money.
After doing the math, they will both come to the same amount eventually because i'll have to get my own place if i go to USD. its just the needs based versus the top 30% that is giving me a headache.
I really want to go to LLS and practice in the LA area. San diego is just down there by itself.

[General Tso]

It's impossible to make a risk assessment without knowing
-the amount of the scholarship
-other schools that you are considering

I got a needs based scholaship of 22k from usd. 17k from loyola.i want to practice in los angeles area. If i go to loyola i can stay home. If i go to usd i'll have to move down there.

Wait, so those are your only two options? Are these yearly amounts or total? If yearly and no GPA req. at USD, I think you are crazy to pass that up. If total, then I think you are crazy for going to either of these schools for that kind of money & debt.

It yearly! not total. There is no gpa requirement for either of them. Ucla gave me no money so i'm not going there at all. So Usd and loyola are my final two.

There is no GPA requirement for either of them?? Then what is the point of this thread titled: "Loyola (LA) Scholarship 30% Stipulation"????

[RadMobile]

Man, Loyola's GPA inflation stunt really put a bad taste in my mouth.

During the LLS Financial Aid chat, there was a room specifically for scholarship questions. The representatives from the school said that their philosophy is to not set up students to lose their scholarship, and as such, they don't offer 75% of the incoming class a scholarship and tell them that they have to retain top 30%. They said that they usually give around 30% of the incoming class a scholarship. Now who knows whether "around 30%" means "25%-45%" or "40%-75%", but HTH.

I'd say USD all the way.

[didionye]

The title of the thread is pretty obvious if u look properly. 30% stipulation. Not gpa stipulation. There is a difference. I'm not asking about the latter.

[didionye]

Man, Loyola's GPA inflation stunt really put a bad taste in my mouth.

During the LLS Financial Aid chat, there was a room specifically for scholarship questions. The representatives from the school said that their philosophy is to not set up students to lose their scholarship, and as such, they don't offer 75% of the incoming class a scholarship and tell them that they have to retain top 30%. They said that they usually give around 30% of the incoming class a scholarship. Now who knows whether "around 30%" means "25%-45%" or "40%-75%", but HTH.

I'd say USD all the way.

But i thought most law schools adjust their gpa's too. Loyola just did theirs retroactively which got people all upset about it.

[OGR3]

It's impossible to make a risk assessment without knowing
-the amount of the scholarship
-other schools that you are considering

I got a needs based scholaship of 22k from usd. 17k from loyola.i want to practice in los angeles area. If i go to loyola i can stay home. If i go to usd i'll have to move down there.

Wait, so those are your only two options? Are these yearly amounts or total? If yearly and no GPA req. at USD, I think you are crazy to pass that up. If total, then I think you are crazy for going to either of these schools for that kind of money & debt.

It yearly! not total. There is no gpa requirement for either of them. Ucla gave me no money so i'm not going there at all. So Usd and loyola are my final two.

Hold on. You got into UCLA but because they didn't give you a scholarship you're not going? Just live at home and go to UCLA.

[General Tso]

The title of the thread is pretty obvious if u look properly. 30% stipulation. Not gpa stipulation. There is a difference. I'm not asking about the latter.

*facepalm*

GPA determines class rank. Class rank determines whether or not you keep your scholarship. I'm trying to give advice here but I might reconsider if you insist on holding me to these technicalities.

You need to do a better job of negotiating the scholarship amounts. These two schools offered me 81k and 84k respectively last year, and I didn't even have the numbers for UCLA. I wouldn't even consider Loyola over USD if LLS imposes a CLASS RANK contingency and USD does not. If you are top 33% and not 30% you are going to feel like a total moron for paying sticker at Loyola when you could have paid sticker at UCLA.

Then again, I'd probably take the debt at UCLA and do LRAP.

[fwaam]

Top 30% seems kind of high to me, especially given that UGPA and LSAT aren't great predictors of your success in law school. If you can go to USD for about the same price and without the risk, I'd say take USD. (Or take UCLA--you alluded to wanting biglaw and they'd give you a much better shot at it.) And if by "living at home" you meant with your parents, as I suspect it does, at your age you'd probably be better off moving out. (If you meant your spouse is working in LA, OTOH, I can see why you want to stay there so much.)

At the very least, try to negotiate with Loyola. My scholarship offers have come with stipulations like "must stay in top 2/3" or "must not get on academic probation", which seems a lot more reasonable. Even if they don't offer schollys to more than 30% of the class, I can guarantee you that the 30% receiving schollys will not automatically match up with the 30% at the top.

[savesthedayajb]

This really scares the hell out of me. I didnt receive a substatial scholarship from anywhere else, only thie 84k from Loyola. I also got into UCH and UCD but I want to practice in LA. Would it be stupid for me to go to UCH or UCD? I only got 10k total from each. Here's hoping to get off the wait list at my top choices at which I'd be more than happy to pay sticker!

[Vegas_Rebel]

So you would'nt mind the 30% stipulation?

With deference to the folks who (correctly) say that guessing where you're going to end up in the class ranking is difficult, you have some idea of your own abilities, I'm sure.

How do your numbers (LSAT/GPA) stack up vs. the class average at Layola? How much are you saving over the next school that has a better or no requirement for scholly money? Do you really want to go to Layola, even if you lose your scholly? Is that line going to motivate you to work harder, or just scare the hell out of you and pile on more pressure?

If it were me, and I had the options you do, and I planned on working in Cali near LA, I'd probably go with UCLA. Barring that, you don't seem to be saving much by going to Layola.

I took a top 33% scholly over a T20. I can't say yet whether that's going to bite me in the ass, but so far it feels like the right choice.

[didionye]

Top 30% seems kind of high to me, especially given that UGPA and LSAT aren't great predictors of your success in law school. If you can go to USD for about the same price and without the risk, I'd say take USD. (Or take UCLA--you alluded to wanting biglaw and they'd give you a much better shot at it.) And if by "living at home" you meant with your parents, as I suspect it does, at your age you'd probably be better off moving out. (If you meant your spouse is working in LA, OTOH, I can see why you want to stay there so much.)

At the very least, try to negotiate with Loyola. My scholarship offers have come with stipulations like "must stay in top 2/3" or "must not get on academic probation", which seems a lot more reasonable. Even if they don't offer schollys to more than 30% of the class, I can guarantee you that the 30% receiving schollys will not automatically match up with the 30% at the top.

I spoke with someone at the admissions and they told me they are really strict about the 30% stip. Even if you are in the 31% you will still lose the scholarship. But if after your second year you make it to the top 30% they'll give you back the scholarship for the final year.

Unfortunately negotiating does'nt really work with loyola. They are pretty stiff about these things.

[General Tso]

Unfortunately negotiating does'nt really work with loyola. They are pretty stiff about these things.

they won't negotiate class rank, but they will up the $$$

[General Tso]

This really scares the hell out of me. I didnt receive a substatial scholarship from anywhere else, only thie 84k from Loyola. I also got into UCH and UCD but I want to practice in LA. Would it be stupid for me to go to UCH or UCD? I only got 10k total from each. Here's hoping to get off the wait list at my top choices at which I'd be more than happy to pay sticker!

It wouldn't be stupid to choose Hastings or Davis if you want to work in LA. LA is the number 2 destination for Hastings after SF. Roughly 30% of UCH/UCD grads work in SoCal. There's no question that UCH/UCD are better schools, but I might be tempted to take the 84k at Loyola if I were choosing a school this year.

[didionye]

Unfortunately negotiating does'nt really work with loyola. They are pretty stiff about these things.

they won't negotiate class rank, but they will up the $$$

So how do you go about getting them to increase your scholly?