Negotiating with no real leverage... Forum

[gerghk]

In a nutshell:

International student, so not eligible for need-based aid
In at NYU, Penn, Duke, Northwestern and Cornell
WL at Stanford, Chicago

NYU said no money.
Northwestern said no money right now, but they're waiting to see what happens with their scholarship deadline on April 16 and will get back to my by the 23rd.
Penn pretty much said the same thing as Northwestern, but no dates were provided.
No word from Duke or Cornell yet...

What can I use to negotiate, if at all? For instance, my SO is in Milwaukee, so if nothing else comes along I'm mainly choosing between Northwestern and NYU. When they tell me I can send them any other offers I've received, are they referring to scholarship offers only? Does NYU technically being a better school offer me any bargaining power with Northwestern?

Please advise, TLS!

[roundabout]

Did you tell them about your admissions to other schools? Admission to a higher ranked school can be useful. Did you not get schollys from any lower ranked schools you can use?

This post is generally super useful: http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 22&t=79373

[gerghk]

Did you tell them about your admissions to other schools? Admission to a higher ranked school can be useful. Did you not get schollys from any lower ranked schools you can use?

This post is generally super useful: http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 22&t=79373

well i only mentioned "other law schools I have been accepted at"...

thanks for the link tho, i'll try to follow the tips there

[BenJ]

Wait until you hear from Cornell. Then try shaking the NYU acceptance in the face of Cornell first. Cornell competes directly with NYU (NYC market), so they might be inclined to give you a scholarship based on your NYU acceptance alone.

If Cornell bites, present their offer to Duke and Northwestern. If Duke or Northwestern bites, bring their offers back to Cornell to get Cornell to up their offer or else use the new Duke and Northwestern offers to try to shake down Penn. If Penn offers something, you might be able to use their offer to squeeze a tiny amount from NYU.

It could go wrong at any step in that process, but it's worth trying. I think you should at least get money from Cornell.

[CanadianWolf]

Based on your posted profile, you are a great candidate for scholarship merit money.
Talk with the admissions offices at each of the schools to which you have been admitted in an honest & straightforward manner. If you must have financial assistance to attend law school, then tell them. However, if you can afford law school without merit money, then tell each school that your final decision will be based upon scholarship money.
At this stage of the enrollment process, law schools want a committment if offering significant scholarship money since this is essentially the second round of merit offers. Remember that for merit aid to become available this late, then another student has probably rejected this scholarship offer & no institution wants to be turned down twice.
My main point is that you need to approach each school with honesty & readiness to committ, and to avoid playing one school against another because you did not receive scholarship money initially.

[gerghk]

hmm i think i'll try what CanadianWolf is suggesting; it is very late so i don't think i have enough time to pull off BenJ's plan

thanks for all the advice guys

[MURPH]

No it is not too late. Go to LSN and look at who is accepting students off of the waitlist that meet your profile. If you are a URM or high LSAT scorer or high GPA and they are admitting folks like you off of the waitlist then they need your type and they might pay for it. Why would you think it is too late. They are going to be scrambling for students all summer. Put down multiple deposits then in August threaten to go to another school if they don't fork over a few thousand more.

[gerghk]

Hmm but nyu and duke require that I withdraw from all other schools, r u suggesting I put down a deposit at just Penn nu and Cornell then?

[BenJ]

Hmm but nyu and duke require that I withdraw from all other schools, r u suggesting I put down a deposit at just Penn nu and Cornell then?

NYU's deposit deadline is over two weeks away: Plenty of time to negotiate through the entire chain I suggested. (No idea about Duke.)

[gerghk]

Hmm but nyu and duke require that I withdraw from all other schools, r u suggesting I put down a deposit at just Penn nu and Cornell then?

NYU's deposit deadline is over two weeks away: Plenty of time to negotiate through the entire chain I suggested. (No idea about Duke.)

But what about Cornell? My first deposit deadline is April 23, I sent an email to their financial aid office and they still haven't replied yet. I feel like they won't be able to tell me anything until after I pay my deposit.

[BenJ]

Hmm but nyu and duke require that I withdraw from all other schools, r u suggesting I put down a deposit at just Penn nu and Cornell then?

NYU's deposit deadline is over two weeks away: Plenty of time to negotiate through the entire chain I suggested. (No idea about Duke.)

But what about Cornell? My first deposit deadline is April 23, I sent an email to their financial aid office and they still haven't replied yet. I feel like they won't be able to tell me anything until after I pay my deposit.

It would be nasty of Cornell to not give you aid information until after their deposit deadline. But I would expect them to get back to you early next week.

[gerghk]

Okay I sent out emails to Penn and Northwestern telling them where else I've been accepted / waitlisted (attached scanned letters), that I am very interested in going there but scholarships are my main criterion right now. Both replied saying that they're only interested in scholarship offers from other schools, which I don't have any of yet. I basically did the same with NYU's scholarship appeal form.

Cornell got back to me saying that I don't have to pay my deposit until I receive my financial aid information. Called Duke and they said an email should have been sent to me, but well apparently not; so now they gotta find out what's going on.

I mean I'll probably just have to wait till someone bites... but does anyone have any other suggestions?

[gerghk]

ah crap duke can't give me any money right now either, they offered to extend my deadline to May 10 so they can consider me for any scholarship money that might cycle back after May 1. I'll have to call them tomorrow to tell them about my deadlines at other schools.

Dang it I have less than two weeks left, and still no $$ in hand, is there any hope left? or am i doing something blatantly wrong

[gerghk]

w00t $45K from penn today, i was totally not expecting it!

[Tanicius]

Your 3rd choice is Columbia, but your 8th is NYU? Huh? This makes no sense.

[gerghk]

Your 3rd choice is Columbia, but your 8th is NYU? Huh? This makes no sense.

yea i ranked my choices based on personal criteria:
- my SO goes to med school in milwaukee, which might explain why NU is ranked so high for me
- strong faculty and emphasis in law and technology (Eg. I'm a huge fan of profs Philip Wu and Eben Moglen at Columbia)