URM, first generation, low income law student = full rides? Forum

[robertrulez]

Hello all,

I'm currently a junior double majoring in Philosophy/Spanish at the University of Texas at Austin. I will have a gpa of about 3.7-3.8 by the time I start applying to law school and hoping to score at least a 165 on the LSAT. Basically, I'm dead set on UT Law because I'm exempt from paying tuition there due to my dad's military service so it will be completely free the first two years. I'm just wondering if any top 5's are known to give full rides to economically disadvantaged students based on need alone? I've done some great things extra curriculars wise, but my academic performance is hardly merit worthy.

[howlery]

Only the top 3 provide exclusively need-based aid. I am not entirely sure that full rides are even possible at HYS barring extreme and abject poverty. Harvard has a base loan amount that guarantees you'll be ~100k in debt if I remember correctly. What kind of URM?

Stats will get you a full ride, not being poor. Theoretically you can (and are somewhat expected to) get loans to cover full cost of attendance.

[sharktankdean]

Right now focus on Keeping your gpa as high as possible because it's something you can control right now.

With a 165 (and depending on what type of URM you are) you should get a full ride at UT and prob even some lower ranked t-14 schools.


Again focus on maintaining/improving your GPA and worry about the LSAT and the law schools you should/will be applying to when the time comes.

[robertrulez]

Only the top 3 provide exclusively need-based aid. I am not entirely sure that full rides are even possible at HYS barring extreme and abject poverty. Harvard has a base loan amount that guarantees you'll be ~100k in debt if I remember correctly. What kind of URM?

Stats will get you a full ride, not being poor. Theoretically you can (and are somewhat expected to) get loans to cover full cost of attendance.

Thanks for the response, im in abject poverty but there is no way im taking out 100k in loans, especially in this economy. I'm a Chicano by the way but we'll see, I'll keep my grades up for now and im mainly looking to apply to Stanford, Columbia, and UT at this point!

[howlery]

I believe those who receive virtually full rides at HYS typically have families. Otherwise, a single person just gets a discount on sticker price. If you'd like to end up with less than 100k you might be restricted to schools that offer you substantial scholarships. Theres another thread somewhere in this forum about 60k+ scholarships and URM applicants specifically. For the Hamilton (full ride) at Columbia I believe you might need to score between 170-174 on the LSAT while keeping your 3.8. I imagine its similar for Chicago if they can even afford to fund their full rides anymore.

Are you interested in public interest work? If so, 100k (or a bit more than that) might not be a bad idea if your school has a great LRAP.

[thederangedwang]

Only the top 3 provide exclusively need-based aid. I am not entirely sure that full rides are even possible at HYS barring extreme and abject poverty. Harvard has a base loan amount that guarantees you'll be ~100k in debt if I remember correctly. What kind of URM?

Stats will get you a full ride, not being poor. Theoretically you can (and are somewhat expected to) get loans to cover full cost of attendance.

Thanks for the response, im in abject poverty but there is no way im taking out 100k in loans, especially in this economy. I'm a Chicano by the way but we'll see, I'll keep my grades up for now and im mainly looking to apply to Stanford, Columbia, and UT at this point!

although scary, HYS are certainly worth 100k in loans.

The real question would be what to do if you were offered fully scholly at UT and also got into HYS with some aid.

[AllTheLawz]

Only the top 3 provide exclusively need-based aid. I am not entirely sure that full rides are even possible at HYS barring extreme and abject poverty. Harvard has a base loan amount that guarantees you'll be ~100k in debt if I remember correctly. What kind of URM?

Stats will get you a full ride, not being poor. Theoretically you can (and are somewhat expected to) get loans to cover full cost of attendance.

Thanks for the response, im in abject poverty but there is no way im taking out 100k in loans, especially in this economy. I'm a Chicano by the way but we'll see, I'll keep my grades up for now and im mainly looking to apply to Stanford, Columbia, and UT at this point!

although scary, HYS are certainly worth 100k in loans.

The real question would be what to do if you were offered fully scholly at UT and also got into HYS with some aid.

All of HYS will require at least $110-120k+ in loans for people with an EFC of 0 (aka "abject poverty"). The max aid at all of HYS for a single student is somewhere around 35k. I got a full ride plus stipend at UT and a few higher ranked schools and still took max aid at H. Being a minority at H really does take some of the stress off of the economic disaster we are in. This board really, really underestimates employment prospects at H. I would have had to work much, much harder at a lower ranked school and my employment situation would still probably be pretty dicey (given what I now know about my law school skills).

I too was initially hesitatant about the 6 figure loans, but $120k in loans can easily be paid off in 5 years or less living a very comfortable lifestyle when you have a job paying $145k+.

[dixon02]

I consider myself fairly debt averse, but I think almost anyone would tell you that HYS are easily worth ~125k (or more) in debt. Their employment numbers combined with their LRAPs make them extremely low-risk, and there are just so many more opportunities for people who graduate from one of them.

But regardless, just do what everyone else said. Keep your GPA up, focus hard on the LSAT, and you won't need any merit aid outside of the T14 because you'll get plenty of $$ from T14 schools.