Top Law Schools

.

Apparently it said that last year as well, I think.

From what I heard, they still negotiated but they weren't as willing as peer schools?

I may be making this up I can't quite remember.

They said the same thing last year. And while it's true in the sense that they were much less willing to discuss than other schools, they still ended up giving me more when I showed them money from V.

Dean Z made me actually call and talk to her in person about it - presumably to evaluate how serious my interest was - and I just made sure I had plenty of good things to say about the school and concrete COA figures from the different schools that I could point to.

They are only likely to increase an existing offer if you've got a larger offer from a higher ranked school or after you've sent in multiple deposits. Even then, there's no guarantee.

I'm a 1L at Mich. It's awesome here.

also 1L at UMich, and had success negotiating with Duke and UCLA in particular after receiving no initial offer from Michigan; hope that helps

Just try

Worst they can say is no

They don't negotiate. They wouldn't negotiate last year. Unlikely to this year. They will develop insane and clearly out of touch reasons why Michigan is worth the added cost difference, or worth the same value as another school (I recall last year someone came to Michigan with a Harvard acceptance and need-based offer, and the Dean of Financial Aid at Michigan concocted a justification for Michigan costing nearly the same amount).

Never hurts to ask, but it's very likely it won't do anything.

Actually I was able to call and negotiate merit aid pretty easily. Just make sure you have your info from other schools in hand, and emphasize your love of Michigan.

AHugeSpider wrote:Actually I was able to call and negotiate merit aid pretty easily. Just make sure you have your info from other schools in hand, and emphasize your love of Michigan.

Didn't you say that you're a recent summer-start grad? was this non-negotiation a explicitly stated stipulation of your original offer in 2012?

jbagelboy wrote:They don't negotiate. They wouldn't negotiate last year. Unlikely to this year. They will develop insane and clearly out of touch reasons why Michigan is worth the added cost difference, or worth the same value as another school (I recall last year someone came to Michigan with a Harvard acceptance and need-based offer, and the Dean of Financial Aid at Michigan concocted a justification for Michigan costing nearly the same amount).

Never hurts to ask, but it's very likely it won't do anything.

simply not true, based on my experiences and stories from several classmates

welcometoscotland wrote:

jbagelboy wrote:They don't negotiate. They wouldn't negotiate last year. Unlikely to this year. They will develop insane and clearly out of touch reasons why Michigan is worth the added cost difference, or worth the same value as another school (I recall last year someone came to Michigan with a Harvard acceptance and need-based offer, and the Dean of Financial Aid at Michigan concocted a justification for Michigan costing nearly the same amount).

Never hurts to ask, but it's very likely it won't do anything.

simply not true, based on my experiences and stories from several classmates

"no initial offer" is explicitly different than a non-satisfactory answer - they stipulate on their website that they will take into consideration other schools' scholarships where no money has been offered. Correct me if I'm wrong but it sounds like you weren't in the specific scenario outlined? Were any of your cited classmates?

jbagelboy wrote:They don't negotiate. They wouldn't negotiate last year. Unlikely to this year. They will develop insane and clearly out of touch reasons why Michigan is worth the added cost difference, or worth the same value as another school (I recall last year someone came to Michigan with a Harvard acceptance and need-based offer, and the Dean of Financial Aid at Michigan concocted a justification for Michigan costing nearly the same amount).

Never hurts to ask, but it's very likely it won't do anything.

Not true. They definitely negotiated last year, even if they didn't negotiate with you. And yes, I remember that person with 75K from Harvard. That was ridiculous, but it just leads me to believe that they just tend to respond to higher offers rather than similar or lower offers from higher-ranked schools.

alex.cm wrote:"no initial offer" is explicitly different than a non-satisfactory answer - they stipulate on their website that they will take into consideration other schools' scholarships where no money has been offered. Correct me if I'm wrong but it sounds like you weren't in the specific scenario outlined? Were any of your cited classmates?

I know someone from last cycle who negotiated from 75K to 90K.

Lavitz wrote:

jbagelboy wrote:They don't negotiate. They wouldn't negotiate last year. Unlikely to this year. They will develop insane and clearly out of touch reasons why Michigan is worth the added cost difference, or worth the same value as another school (I recall last year someone came to Michigan with a Harvard acceptance and need-based offer, and the Dean of Financial Aid at Michigan concocted a justification for Michigan costing nearly the same amount).

Never hurts to ask, but it's very likely it won't do anything.

Not true. They definitely negotiated last year, even if they didn't negotiate with you. And yes, I remember that person with 75K from Harvard. That was ridiculous, but it just leads me to believe that they just tend to respond to higher offers rather than similar or lower offers from higher-ranked schools.

alex.cm wrote:"no initial offer" is explicitly different than a non-satisfactory answer - they stipulate on their website that they will take into consideration other schools' scholarships where no money has been offered. Correct me if I'm wrong but it sounds like you weren't in the specific scenario outlined? Were any of your cited classmates?

I know someone from last cycle who negotiated from 75K to 90K.

Lav, you may be right, but you know very well I wasn't the only one shafted on the negotiation front...no need to be snide. Michigan is notoriously unwilling to budge. There are exceptions that prove every rule, but that's what they are, exceptions.

jbagelboy wrote:Lav, you may be right, but you know very well I wasn't the only one shafted on the negotiation front...no need to be snide. Michigan is notoriously unwilling to budge. There are exceptions that prove every rule, but that's what they are, exceptions.

I know you weren't. But multiple people already claimed in this thread that they succeeded in negotiating. And there's a big difference between "they're less likely to negotiate than other schools" and "they don't negotiate."

Lavitz wrote:

jbagelboy wrote:Lav, you may be right, but you know very well I wasn't the only one shafted on the negotiation front...no need to be snide. Michigan is notoriously unwilling to budge. There are exceptions that prove every rule, but that's what they are, exceptions.

I know you weren't. But multiple people already claimed in this thread that they succeeded in negotiating. And there's a big difference between "they're less likely to negotiate than other schools" and "they don't negotiate."

You've been reading too much con law my friend .

I'll revise: OP, it's not that they "no longer" negotiate merit aid. They have been historically difficult about it, and I'm sure they will continue to be difficult about it this year, although occasionally people are successful.

What about if you come to them with other offers in addition to an improved LSAT score? Would that be a basis for increasing a scholarship since the original number was based on the previous LSAT?

jbagelboy wrote:You've been reading too much con law my friend .

More like I'm hypersensitive to imprecise rule statements from graded LRW.

.

billables247 wrote:bumping this thread.

I got a reply last week from Michigan with a laundry list of reasons why they won't budge on my merit aid offer despite a peer school offering almost 30K more. They continually cited the "we do not compete" clause.

Any reason to go hard on the negotiating? Has anyone had success with initial pushback?

30k more a year or total? If its total, Michigan's COA could still be around the same. That may be in part why they aren't that willing to negotiate.

CTT wrote: I'm a 1L at Mich. It's awesome here.

But where are the jerbs

.