Veterans Thread Forum

[SemperLegal]

We are addressing a seat deposit issue at my school, but I was thinking that maybe others have been affected.

When anyone was a 1L and used GI Bill or Vocational Rehab, were you reimbursed for your seat deposit? Our school has not been billing the VA for the seat deposit; rather, they are applying the seat deposit towards tuition but only billing the VA for tuition, minus the $400 seat deposit. I addressed it last year and waiting to see if our school fixes it. Anyone have the same issue at their school?

Thanks.

IIRC I paid the deposit, VA was billed whole tuition, then I had a positive balance with the school. Had to pick up my check.

Also, as to you have a deposit every year, I talked to the Registrar at my school, and after confirming that I wanted to attend and had GIBILL they waived all deadlines/deposits and didn't contact me until after the VA (mis)paid them, each semester. Although, sometimes IT wouldn't get the memo and my bbs account would be suspended. See what you can do.

[Billy Madison]

LOL at Cornell offering waivers for service in the Peace Corps and Teach for America but telling vets to pound salt. I'll never get truly pissy about not receiving a handout, but that's kinda dumb. Must be some mutual arrangement between the organizations and the school.

Today's list of vet waivers from simple emails includes:

NYU
Penn
UVA
Vandy
ND
BU
BC
Fordham

+free apps at NU and USC

No waivers for Columbia, Duke, Cornell, Michigan, and Texas.

[baghdadi]

Salam & schlonick from Baghdad.

I admit I haven't read all 87 pages of this forum, but looking for some general advice from you beautiful people. I apologize if I did this completely wrong.

- Applying for Fall, 2016
- Sad 3.4ish GPA from public college
- Master's Degree from online, for-profit uni (3.97)
- 171 LSAT
- SOCOM MOS, 4 deployments

What are my chances of getting into a coveted "Top 10" school? My GPA is outside basically everywhere, but... but...

Can I fool someone somewhere into letting me through the gates of their University!?

[Nagster5]

Salam & schlonick from Baghdad.

I admit I haven't read all 87 pages of this forum, but looking for some general advice from you beautiful people. I apologize if I did this completely wrong.

- Applying for Fall, 2016
- Sad 3.4ish GPA from public college
- Master's Degree from online, for-profit uni (3.97)
- 171 LSAT
- SOCOM MOS, 4 deployments

What are my chances of getting into a coveted "Top 10" school? My GPA is outside basically everywhere, but... but...

Can I fool someone somewhere into letting me through the gates of their University!?

Top ten probably not, but NU would like your work experience and LSAT quite a bit. 3.4 is not that bad, check my 2.7.

[Dcc617]

Salam & schlonick from Baghdad.

I admit I haven't read all 87 pages of this forum, but looking for some general advice from you beautiful people. I apologize if I did this completely wrong.

- Applying for Fall, 2016
- Sad 3.4ish GPA from public college
- Master's Degree from online, for-profit uni (3.97)
- 171 LSAT
- SOCOM MOS, 4 deployments

What are my chances of getting into a coveted "Top 10" school? My GPA is outside basically everywhere, but... but...

Can I fool someone somewhere into letting me through the gates of their University!?

I'd think you'd have a good shot everywhere where your LSAT is at or above the median, which is most of the top 14. Your GPA isn't that low. You can look at mylsn.info for a ballpark idea.

[MT Cicero]

Salam & schlonick from Baghdad.

I admit I haven't read all 87 pages of this forum, but looking for some general advice from you beautiful people. I apologize if I did this completely wrong.

- Applying for Fall, 2016
- Sad 3.4ish GPA from public college
- Master's Degree from online, for-profit uni (3.97)
- 171 LSAT
- SOCOM MOS, 4 deployments

What are my chances of getting into a coveted "Top 10" school? My GPA is outside basically everywhere, but... but...

Can I fool someone somewhere into letting me through the gates of their University!?

Top ten probably not, but NU would like your work experience and LSAT quite a bit. 3.4 is not that bad, check my 2.7.

I don't know if I agree with the bolded (as least as to "probably not"), at least not statistically. Maybe each is below 50%, but one overall is probably realistic. There's a pretty good MyLSN band at the lower T10 once you're above 3.3 (then another little one at 3.4) that makes 170+ scorers get admitted at a bit higher rates. If you're prepared to hustle off the WL, I think you have a 35-50% shot at NYU, Penn, UVA, Mich & Duke...slightly less so at Berkeley due to their GPA focus (but who knows with that black box).

Short answer: I think you'll scoop a 1-2 from NYU through Mich and another couple of NCG. Could grab more, could grab less. Get from "applying" to "applied" quickly and with a tight app so you're in early, and keep this thread informed with how you did when you are nearing the end of your cycle!

Edit: Scooped by Dcc

[Troianii]

LOL at Cornell offering waivers for service in the Peace Corps and Teach for America but telling vets to pound salt. I'll never get truly pissy about not receiving a handout, but that's kinda dumb. Must be some mutual arrangement between the organizations and the school.

Today's list of vet waivers from simple emails includes:

NYU
Penn
UVA
Vandy
ND
BU
BC
Fordham

+free apps at NU and USC

No waivers for Columbia, Duke, Cornell, Michigan, and Texas.

That is pretty ridiculous, on Cornell's part.

I'm curious about Fordham - I've contacted them and they said I need to mail in a request form, a form which is all about my finances. If they're offering a fee waiver to vets, I don't see why they need to know about my undergraduate finances. It's a hassle to put together (had that classic example where I put it together on their PDF form and then the PDF saved without entered data - greeaat).

[Troianii]

Salam & schlonick from Baghdad.

I admit I haven't read all 87 pages of this forum, but looking for some general advice from you beautiful people. I apologize if I did this completely wrong.

- Applying for Fall, 2016
- Sad 3.4ish GPA from public college
- Master's Degree from online, for-profit uni (3.97)
- 171 LSAT
- SOCOM MOS, 4 deployments

What are my chances of getting into a coveted "Top 10" school? My GPA is outside basically everywhere, but... but...

Can I fool someone somewhere into letting me through the gates of their University!?

Definitely seem like it's worth a shot at NYU, UPENN, UVA, Duke, and Michigan. Based on your gpa and lsat alone, exlcuding early decision and under represented minority status, lsn has you at between a 32% and 48% chances at each of these, but you can basically write off HYS. It looks like you're a little less competitive than these schools normally admit based on these two factors, but not far off. Throw in your work experience, and you should definitely be able to get into one of them. Especially if you're SOCOM - that's gotta make a great PS (personal statement).

Good luck.

EDIT: forgot to add in the LSN info
http://mylsn.info/tsuhb1/

[Troianii]

We are addressing a seat deposit issue at my school, but I was thinking that maybe others have been affected.

When anyone was a 1L and used GI Bill or Vocational Rehab, were you reimbursed for your seat deposit? Our school has not been billing the VA for the seat deposit; rather, they are applying the seat deposit towards tuition but only billing the VA for tuition, minus the $400 seat deposit. I addressed it last year and waiting to see if our school fixes it. Anyone have the same issue at their school?

Thanks.

Haven't heard anything about that, but it definitely sounds like the school screwed up. Your seat deposit is applied to your tuition, and they should have charged the VA for maximum benefits - your seat deposit isn't some "outside funding" they'd have to reduce for charging the VA.

In the end it's not a big difference, but I'd certainly always like another few hundred dollars.

[Billy Madison]

That is pretty ridiculous, on Cornell's part.

I'm curious about Fordham - I've contacted them and they said I need to mail in a request form, a form which is all about my finances. If they're offering a fee waiver to vets, I don't see why they need to know about my undergraduate finances. It's a hassle to put together (had that classic example where I put it together on their PDF form and then the PDF saved without entered data - greeaat).

Texas does basically the same thing Cornell does. I don't understand it.

Here is what Fordham sent me in response to my email about a waiver:

"Hi Nicolas,

Thank you for your service and interest in Fordham Law!  We do provide fee waivers for veterans, you just have to send us a copy of proof of service and we will send you one right away.



Best,

Office of Admissions"

[Troianii]

That is pretty ridiculous, on Cornell's part.

I'm curious about Fordham - I've contacted them and they said I need to mail in a request form, a form which is all about my finances. If they're offering a fee waiver to vets, I don't see why they need to know about my undergraduate finances. It's a hassle to put together (had that classic example where I put it together on their PDF form and then the PDF saved without entered data - greeaat).

Texas does basically the same thing Cornell does. I don't understand it.

Here is what Fordham sent me in response to my email about a waiver:

"Hi Nicolas,

Thank you for your service and interest in Fordham Law!  We do provide fee waivers for veterans, you just have to send us a copy of proof of service and we will send you one right away.



Best,

Office of Admissions"

I didn't even get that from Texas. When I asked Texas if they have fee waivers for vets, their response was basically "nope". Fordham, again, said I need to fill out a fee waiver request form which was entirely about my financial status - seems pretty ridiculous when it's about veteran status when I included proof of veteran status in my email.

Also one other one, I think it was Michigan, said they'd offer a fee waiver to veterans but that I'd have to apply for the LSAC need based fee first. Makes perfect sense if you're giving fee waivers for veteran status, right? Just more hoops to jump through for the sake of jumping through hoops - anyone reminded of their days in the service yet?

[nontrad2014]

We are addressing a seat deposit issue at my school, but I was thinking that maybe others have been affected.

When anyone was a 1L and used GI Bill or Vocational Rehab, were you reimbursed for your seat deposit? Our school has not been billing the VA for the seat deposit; rather, they are applying the seat deposit towards tuition but only billing the VA for tuition, minus the $400 seat deposit. I addressed it last year and waiting to see if our school fixes it. Anyone have the same issue at their school?

Thanks.

Haven't heard anything about that, but it definitely sounds like the school screwed up. Your seat deposit is applied to your tuition, and they should have charged the VA for maximum benefits - your seat deposit isn't some "outside funding" they'd have to reduce for charging the VA.

In the end it's not a big difference, but I'd certainly always like another few hundred dollars.

I was thinking that if our school has been doing this consistently for many years, that is a substantial sum the school withheld from students. I am not looking at it from a personal position of being out $400 bucks, but many thousands of $ over the years. That is a large chunk of money that we could take out of the schools piggy bank and partially fund our Veterans Clinic.

[Troianii]

We are addressing a seat deposit issue at my school, but I was thinking that maybe others have been affected.

When anyone was a 1L and used GI Bill or Vocational Rehab, were you reimbursed for your seat deposit? Our school has not been billing the VA for the seat deposit; rather, they are applying the seat deposit towards tuition but only billing the VA for tuition, minus the $400 seat deposit. I addressed it last year and waiting to see if our school fixes it. Anyone have the same issue at their school?

Thanks.

Haven't heard anything about that, but it definitely sounds like the school screwed up. Your seat deposit is applied to your tuition, and they should have charged the VA for maximum benefits - your seat deposit isn't some "outside funding" they'd have to reduce for charging the VA.

In the end it's not a big difference, but I'd certainly always like another few hundred dollars.

I was thinking that if our school has been doing this consistently for many years, that is a substantial sum the school withheld from students. I am not looking at it from a personal position of being out $400 bucks, but many thousands of $ over the years. That is a large chunk of money that we could take out of the schools piggy bank and partially fund our Veterans Clinic.

That's a great way to look at it, and I hope you have good luck making that argument to the school. That'd be a great outcome.

[OLitch]

LOL at Cornell offering waivers for service in the Peace Corps and Teach for America but telling vets to pound salt. I'll never get truly pissy about not receiving a handout, but that's kinda dumb. Must be some mutual arrangement between the organizations and the school.

Today's list of vet waivers from simple emails includes:

NYU
Penn
UVA
Vandy
ND
BU
BC
Fordham

+free apps at NU and USC

No waivers for Columbia, Duke, Cornell, Michigan, and Texas.

Cornell isn't even nice about it. I emailed them for a fee waiver and they replied with a link to their scholarship page. They didn't even acknowledge my request directly. At the LSAC forum I requested a military waiver and they told me they don't give them out to veterans. I asked why they offer waivers for TFA but not military. The rep just said, "we offer need based waivers if you qualify." I walked away. They are giving me the impression that they don't want vets.

Michigan was super nice. They denied my request but they told me about the various reasons why a vet would enjoy UMich. I was impressed!

[Nagster5]

LOL at Cornell offering waivers for service in the Peace Corps and Teach for America but telling vets to pound salt. I'll never get truly pissy about not receiving a handout, but that's kinda dumb. Must be some mutual arrangement between the organizations and the school.

Today's list of vet waivers from simple emails includes:

NYU
Penn
UVA
Vandy
ND
BU
BC
Fordham

+free apps at NU and USC

No waivers for Columbia, Duke, Cornell, Michigan, and Texas.

Cornell isn't even nice about it. I emailed them for a fee waiver and they replied with a link to their scholarship page. They didn't even acknowledge my request directly. At the LSAC forum I requested a military waiver and they told me they don't give them out to veterans. I asked why they offer waivers for TFA but not military. The rep just said, "we offer need based waivers if you qualify." I walked away. They are giving me the impression that they don't want vets.

Michigan was super nice. They denied my request but they told me about the various reasons why a vet would enjoy UMich. I was impressed!

Same here. I said specifically in my email "It doesn't say specifically on your admissions page whether you offer FW to vets, but I was wondering if you'd be willing to since I see you offer them to other service based organizations..." Got a response that was just a link to their admissions page.

[Billy Madison]

Totally just sent an email to GULC asking for a waiver for BU... Send another email to correct it or just forget about applying to GULC?

[usn26]

Totally just sent an email to GULC asking for a waiver for BU... Send another email to correct it or just forget about applying to GULC?

Definitely do not let the mistake deter you from applying. I would send a correction, personally.

[Billy Madison]

Totally just sent an email to GULC asking for a waiver for BU... Send another email to correct it or just forget about applying to GULC?

Definitely do not let the mistake deter you from applying. I would send a correction, personally.

That's what I ended up doing. Someone in another thread said they did the same thing and still got a waiver. I just hope they don't take it too seriously and it doesn't reflect poorly on me.

[baghdadi]

hello again, heroes. this forum has been quite useful. (I think... maybe this is actually fucking me.)

Maybe this isn't a place to ask about personal statements, but it's a vet thread.

--- Is the "battlefield death story and its aftermath on those still living" a bad topic? Every PS I read is about wanting to help low-income adopted transgenders from the jungle, or playing sports. Too heavy?

--- Anyone here have experience with getting admitted "above their weight class" due to vet status? I'm thinking this is actually not something that happens often.

Thank you all again! I love you!

[Maplesyrup]

.

[Billy Madison]

LOL at Cornell offering waivers for service in the Peace Corps and Teach for America but telling vets to pound salt. I'll never get truly pissy about not receiving a handout, but that's kinda dumb. Must be some mutual arrangement between the organizations and the school.

Today's list of vet waivers from simple emails includes:

NYU
Penn
UVA
Vandy
ND
BU
BC
Fordham
GULC, even though I called them "BU" in my email

+free apps at NU and USC

No waivers for Columbia, Duke, Cornell, Michigan, and Texas.

[nontrad2014]

hello again, heroes. this forum has been quite useful. (I think... maybe this is actually fucking me.)

Maybe this isn't a place to ask about personal statements, but it's a vet thread.

--- Is the "battlefield death story and its aftermath on those still living" a bad topic? Every PS I read is about wanting to help low-income adopted transgenders from the jungle, or playing sports. Too heavy?

--- Anyone here have experience with getting admitted "above their weight class" due to vet status? I'm thinking this is actually not something that happens often.

Thank you all again! I love you!

I think PS opinion varies widely. As others said I think bringing up this topic can be done well, but with soft hands. If it can be done in a tasteful manner and grabs your attention, without causing them to write you off as "crazy," I say go for it. They read the same shit all the time and I assume like something unique. Just don't come across in a way you don't intend. My paralegal from work applied to our school. While it wasn't Vet focused, you felt it and his story shook you to the core. I have never read a PS that left me in shock, but also wanting more. He wasn't up selling (his LSAT and undergrad at NYU were great), but he didn't apply until 1 week before the semester began. The admissions office reopened admissions just so he could submit his app. He was admitted, with decent scholarship, but who knows if the PS mattered.

[Troianii]

Totally just sent an email to GULC asking for a waiver for BU... Send another email to correct it or just forget about applying to GULC?

Definitely do not let the mistake deter you from applying. I would send a correction, personally.

That's what I ended up doing. Someone in another thread said they did the same thing and still got a waiver. I just hope they don't take it too seriously and it doesn't reflect poorly on me.

they'll probably laugh, "look at this idiot", and then completely forget it by the time they start looking at applications.

[SemperLegal]

- SOCOM MOS, 4 deployments

Interesting phrasing.

[Troianii]

LOL at Cornell offering waivers for service in the Peace Corps and Teach for America but telling vets to pound salt. I'll never get truly pissy about not receiving a handout, but that's kinda dumb. Must be some mutual arrangement between the organizations and the school.

Today's list of vet waivers from simple emails includes:

NYU
Penn
UVA
Vandy
ND
BU
BC
Fordham

+free apps at NU and USC

No waivers for Columbia, Duke, Cornell, Michigan, and Texas.

Cornell isn't even nice about it. I emailed them for a fee waiver and they replied with a link to their scholarship page. They didn't even acknowledge my request directly. At the LSAC forum I requested a military waiver and they told me they don't give them out to veterans. I asked why they offer waivers for TFA but not military. The rep just said, "we offer need based waivers if you qualify." I walked away. They are giving me the impression that they don't want vets.

Michigan was super nice. They denied my request but they told me about the various reasons why a vet would enjoy UMich. I was impressed!

Same here. I said specifically in my email "It doesn't say specifically on your admissions page whether you offer FW to vets, but I was wondering if you'd be willing to since I see you offer them to other service based organizations..." Got a response that was just a link to their admissions page.

Wow. That's a straight up a-hole move.

It's funny how these schools say over and over crap like, "to us, you're MORE THAN a number", and then they pull this kind of crap that screams "you're just a number (and we don't care)".