Please Review My $$ Negotiation Letter Forum

[Cupidity]

Helping my BF with his $ Neg Letter to a T-30

Thank you for my acceptance into X School of Law. I am excited for the opportunity to attend your school because of the strength and variety of IP courses offered, strong placement into X law firms with X practices, and because my boyfriend of four years is a current 2L.

While X is my top choice for law school, and I hope to enroll as a member of the Class of 2015, financial considerations will play a large role in determining which school I ultimately attend. I recently received acceptances and scholarship offers from several other schools, including a $45,000 offer from the T14, and a $60,000 offer from T30. I have attached copies of the award letters to this email. I have not yet received any financial aid award from X, and I hope that you will consider these other scholarship offers when reaching a final determination.

Thank you for your consideration,
X

[Jaeger]

Helping my BF with his $ Neg Letter to a T-30

Thank you for my acceptance into X School of Law. I am excited for the opportunity to attend your school because of the strength and variety of IP courses offered, strong placement into X law firms with X practices, and because my boyfriend of four years is a current 2L.

While X is my top choice for law school, and I hope to enroll as a member of the Class of 2015, financial considerations will play a large role in determining which school I ultimately attend. I recently received acceptances and scholarship offers from several other schools, including a $45,000 offer from the T14, and a $60,000 offer from T30. I have attached copies of the award letters to this email. I have not yet received any financial aid award from X, and I hope that you will consider these other scholarship offers when reaching a final determination.

Thank you for your consideration,
X

I wouldn't put this. Also, I wouldn't say "T14" or T anything. While I'm sure they know what it means, I think it is just bad form to use jargon.

[Cupidity]

I wouldn't put this. Also, I wouldn't say "T14" or T anything. While I'm sure they know what it means, I think it is just bad form to use jargon.

That's just me making this pseudo anonymous

[Jaeger]

Were you putting the bf part as some sort of diversity statement?

[gaud]

If you filled in 'T14' and T30' with the real school names , which I'm sure you were going to, then I think it's quite good.

I've heard of people also creating a spreadsheet with the total COA from each school that they've sent in (and worked)

[Cupidity]

Were you putting the bf part as some sort of diversity statement?

Honestly, the T14 is UMich. I feel like it needs something better than "I like your IP program" to convince a T30 you want to go there over 45K at UMich. The BF line was previously mentioned in a Why X.

[MrAnon]

I would write this:

Dear school:

I am pleased that you've admitted me to your next class. However I will need a more generous scholarship from your institution in order to attend. Specifically, I will need $xx,xxx per year.

Love,
MrAnon


Really they don't care who where or what you've been accepted to. If they don't give you the money you want, you won't be attending. That's all they need to know. End of story. You don't owe anything to the schools, they are charging an arm and leg. They didn't think about you when they were setting prices.

[CanadianWolf]

If I understand your situation, this letter is premature since no award has been made. Is your target school known for refusing to negotiate scholarship awards ? Is so, then your letter is timely, but dangerous because they may not offer any award knowing that it will be a bidding war.

P.S. Many might doubt that one will turn down a T-14 with decent scholarship money to attend a top 30. The targeted T-30 law school probably competes with other T-30s, not with T-14s.

[Cupidity]

If I understand your situation, this letter is premature since no award has been made. Is your target school known for refusing to negotiate scholarship awards ? Is so, then your letter is timely, but dangerous because they may not offer any award knowing that it will be a bidding war.

School does engage in bidding pretty liberally. Letter is timely based on my experience, they usually offer merit in initial acceptance letter and did not in this case. Applicants numbers def. deserve scholarship.

[CanadianWolf]

Assuming that your letter is timely, why include the T-14 award ? Seems as if that would weaken your position or bring your boyfriend's judgment into question since a T-30 probably rarely competes well with a T-14 & because a primary reason for wanting to be a the targeted T-30 is a non-marital personal relationship. In my opinion, neither factor makes your boyfriend attractive to this school.

[CanadianWolf]

Simply expressing a preference for & interest in the targeted school's programs & placement in addition to the other T-30 offer makes sense, however.

P.S. Another thought is that maybe your boyfriend didn't receive a scholarship offer because the targeted T-30 assumed that he would be admitted to a T-14. If so, then definitely avoid mention of the T-14 acceptance & offer when pleading your case & pledging your love.

[Cupidity]

So, general consensus then, is that the letter is solid, other than the contentious issue of mentioning the BF?

[run26.2]

My first thoughts. The b/f thing cuts both ways. Isn't that already a fairly strong incentive for you to go there? It almost makes it sound like nothing will get you to come and that you're just trying to increase leverage with other schools. Also, why would you turn 45K down at UMich for a T30?

It seems like they would have to offer nearly a full ride for you to accept. In my mind, it would be better to have personal interaction for something like this because of the amount you would need to accept their offer. It's easier to communicate your interests in person or over the phone as opposed to via letter because the latter sounds distant. Do you know anyone in the admissions office? If you can explain what it would take for you to come to that person, they may be willing to go to bat for you. I tried this with a couple of T30 schools and it seemed to work pretty well.

[Cupidity]

My first thoughts. The b/f thing cuts both ways. Isn't that already a fairly strong incentive for you to go there? It almost makes it sound like nothing will get you to come and that you're just trying to increase leverage with other schools. Also, why would you turn 45K down at UMich for a T30?

It seems like they would have to offer nearly a full ride for you to accept. In my mind, it would be better to have personal interaction for something like this because of the amount you would need to accept their offer. It's easier to communicate your interests in person or over the phone as opposed to via letter because the latter sounds distant. Do you know anyone in the admissions office? If you can explain what it would take for you to come to that person, they may be willing to go to bat for you. I tried this with a couple of T30 schools and it seemed to work pretty well.

Honestly, we aren't really considering Michigan very hard. He has a hard science background and will be patent bar eligible. Given that, his odds at securing a BigLaw IP job are still pretty high even from a T30. It makes more sense to attend a slightly lower school at higher scholarship than an extra $100k in debt from a school like UMich, when odds are he will make the same $ after graduation.

[CanadianWolf]

Once you have considered the opinions above, everything becomes just a judgment call. Good luck !

P.S. Now that I know your current law school & city in addition to the T-14 in question, your original draft is fine since same sex couples may have additional concerns.
It's always difficult to offer solid advice based on partial facts.