GWU Full Scholarship for ED? Forum

[JustMe83]

I tried searching for this but didn't find anything more recent than 2008, so I was wondering if anyone here has anymore recent experience with this program, or what kind of numbers one would need. Is it really as good as it seems? This program is looking very attractive for me for next year (I know I've got a long time still...), and my numbers are well above 75th (3.9+/170) for GWU (3.7/167) so I think I have a pretty good shot. Obviously, I could get into a higher ranked school, but the prospect of going to a T20 school in a prime location like this for free is looking very good right about now. Do you think it would be realistic for me to get anything close to a full ride at anything else in the T20, or even 30, with these numbers (non-URM, okay softs)?

[whereskyle]

I tried searching for this but didn't find anything more recent than 2008, so I was wondering if anyone here has anymore recent experience with this program, or what kind of numbers one would need. Is it really as good as it seems? This program is looking very attractive for me for next year (I know I've got a long time still...), and my numbers are well above 75th (3.9+/170) for GWU (3.7/167) so I think I have a pretty good shot. Obviously, I could get into a higher ranked school, but the prospect of going to a T20 school in a prime location like this for free is looking very good right about now. Do you think it would be realistic for me to get anything close to a full ride at anything else in the T20, or even 30, with these numbers (non-URM, okay softs)?

You might get NU ED with those numbers.

[Tiago Splitter]

Yeah forget GW. Apply ED to NU. Even if you don't get it you'll get big scholarships in the T-14, where the job prospects are much better than at GW.

[Moneytrees]

Wow, I didn't know about those ED options. Getting a full ride to GW would be pretty amazing. However, your numbers will most likely get you decent scholarships from the lower T14 schools. I don't really see why you would limit yourself to GW with a 170 and a stellar GPA.

[Moneytrees]

Btw, are there other programs that offer full tuition scholarships to ED applicants?

[Winston1984]

Btw, are there other programs that offer full tuition scholarships to ED applicants?

BU

[PrideandGlory1776]

2 People with 168/3.8 got 150k from #12 Northwestern Law and just fyi look at the difference in employement

NU 2012: 51.43% landed top 250 firms (5th best in the nation)
NU 2013: 51.05% landed top 250 firms (6th best in the nation)

GW 2012:22.51% (21st place)
GW 2013:22.00% (21st place)

(Source: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc ... ring#gid=0)

No brainer - ED Northwestern next year!

[JustMe83]

Btw, are there other programs that offer full tuition scholarships to ED applicants?

It looks like NU has pretty much the same program, I don't think any other T14 schools do though. But from what I understand ED is pretty much a one-shot thing right, like it would be totally unethical to apply ED to multiple schools? I feel like NU's ED might be a little more selective than GW's though, do you have any idea about the numbers one would need there?

And another thing I don't really understand about the process is the 'binding' nature of it. It sounds like when I send in the app I would basically be signing my soul away and I'd be contractually bound to attend GWU if I got in through ED, in addition to having to rescind all my other law school apps to accept it. Is this right? Thanks for the respones

[JustMe83]

2 People with 168/3.8 got 150k from #12 Northwestern Law and just fyi look at the difference in employement

NU 2012: 51.43% landed top 250 firms (5th best in the nation)
NU 2013: 51.05% landed top 250 firms (6th best in the nation)

GW 2012:22.51% (21st place)
GW 2013:22.00% (21st place)

(Source: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc ... ring#gid=0)

No brainer - ED Northwestern next year!

Thanks for this - I wasn't aware that GWU got such a bad rap around here haha. But these numbers reflect "big law" placement right? How do you reconcile this figure with the 82% 'bar passage required' and median salary of $142k employment figures on their site? These seemed like close to top numbers to me

[Moneytrees]

GW is a good school, it just doesn't have elite Biglaw placement numbers, which is the only criteria most people on this forum use to evaluate the competency of a school. Getting a full scholarship at GW would be a great deal, but as I said earlier, your numbers will get get you into some schools in the top 10 and will probably land you some good scholarships at some of the lower T14 schools.

[francesfarmer]

Btw, are there other programs that offer full tuition scholarships to ED applicants?

And another thing I don't really understand about the process is the 'binding' nature of it. It sounds like when I send in the app I would basically be signing my soul away and I'd be contractually bound to attend GWU if I got in through ED, in addition to having to rescind all my other law school apps to accept it. Is this right? Thanks for the respones

Yes, that's what ED means. I don't think ED GWU is a good idea for people with competitive numbers who otherwise would get $$ at T-14 schools.

[francesfarmer]

2 People with 168/3.8 got 150k from #12 Northwestern Law and just fyi look at the difference in employement

NU 2012: 51.43% landed top 250 firms (5th best in the nation)
NU 2013: 51.05% landed top 250 firms (6th best in the nation)

GW 2012:22.51% (21st place)
GW 2013:22.00% (21st place)

(Source: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc ... ring#gid=0)

No brainer - ED Northwestern next year!

Thanks for this - I wasn't aware that GWU got such a bad rap around here haha. But these numbers reflect "big law" placement right? How do you reconcile this figure with the 82% 'bar passage required' and median salary of $142k employment figures on their site? These seemed like close to top numbers to me

Don't look at GWU's site for their employment numbers, silly. Look at lawschooltransparency.com

[Tiago Splitter]

Thanks for this - I wasn't aware that GWU got such a bad rap around here haha. But these numbers reflect "big law" placement right? How do you reconcile this figure with the 82% 'bar passage required' and median salary of $142k employment figures on their site? These seemed like close to top numbers to me

You need to look more closely at these numbers. According to LST, 81% of the class of 2012 had full time, bar passage required positions. Unfortunately, this number drops to just 60% when you take out those positions that are school funded. These school funded positions last exactly one year (so the ABA will count them as "long term") and you make $15 per hour. After that, you're on your own. The data we have shows that 119 people were still doing these jobs nine months after graduation; if they had found something better, they probably would have moved on, so it's hard to assume that at the one year mark everybody is happily employed.

As for the salary statistics, just ignore them. The median salary you're referring to is based off of just 240 salaries reported, despite there having been 575 graduates. It's well known that schools aggressively seek this data from people who got big firm jobs and try a lot less hard with everyone else. A little deductive reasoning helps here; if 20% of the class is making $15 an hour, could that median salary of $142,500 really be representative?

To your question about ED, if you get in yes you are expected to attend that school, at least for that cycle. At best you'd have to sit out a year and re-apply if you wanted to go somewhere else. If you get rejected or rolled into the regular applicant pile. you can apply ED somewhere else if there is still time.

[Mullens]

Thanks for this - I wasn't aware that GWU got such a bad rap around here haha. But these numbers reflect "big law" placement right? How do you reconcile this figure with the 82% 'bar passage required' and median salary of $142k employment figures on their site? These seemed like close to top numbers to me

Only 41.7% of graduates reported their salaries and so the salary numbers are skewed. This is a problem at most schools, but generally the higher you go into the rankings, the larger percentage of the class is reporting their salaries. For example, at Northwestern the number is about 76%.

[PrideandGlory1776]

http://employmentsummary.abaquestionnaire.org/

Click the year and school you want - you will get a download of the ABA reported information

Add together the number of Big Law (500+) and Federal Clerkship and divide by total student body.

So for example 2012

103 students 501+
22 in federal clerkships
______
125 / 532 = 23.4% made it big time

Ok but someone will say someone wants a bit more lax standards and says well what about 50-100 101-250 and 251-500 size firms those people "made" it too - i.e. got good well-paying private sector jobs and what about the state clerkships those are good too for people who want to return to their state
K so then add in
21 students in the 50-100
29 students in the 251-500
25 students in the 101-250
24 state & local clerkships
_______
203/532 = 42.1% made either Big Law & Fed Clerk or at least a nice sized firm 50+ firm or State Clerkship.

Nevertheless, NU crushes this by a mile obviously if you look above NU literally gets 10% more students to BIG LAW than GW gets to any law 50+ plus any Federal or State Clerkships. The decision is clear ED NU next year my friend you won't regret it.

[Dr. Mantis Toboggan]

dont go to GWU unless you are EE or PHD Bio/Chem/Pharm

[JCougar]

Thanks for this - I wasn't aware that GWU got such a bad rap around here haha. But these numbers reflect "big law" placement right? How do you reconcile this figure with the 82% 'bar passage required' and median salary of $142k employment figures on their site? These seemed like close to top numbers to me

These are obvious lies.

GWU places 22% of its class into school-funded "jobs," so that 82% is more like 60%.

And the median salary of $142K is nonsense. I can guarantee you that the median GWU student isn't making more than $60K after graduation.

[JustMe83]

So you would say that, all things considered, it would be better to attend a T14 - say Georgetown - with maybe half or less tuition in scholarships than to attend a school like GWU with a full ride? Would applying ED to a school without a program like this still probably net me more financial aid than doing regular admissions? If not it doesn't really seem like a good idea to do a binding ED (I probably couldn't relocate to Chicago..), other than to find out early if you got in, which seems like a shit reason to not go through the whole admissions cycle

[Tiago Splitter]

So you would say that, all things considered, it would be better to attend a T14 - say Georgetown - with maybe half or less tuition in scholarships than to attend a school like GWU with a full ride? Would applying ED to a school without a program like this still probably net me more financial aid than doing regular admissions? If not it doesn't really seem like a good idea to do a binding ED (I probably couldn't relocate to Chicago..), other than to find out early if you got in, which seems like a shit reason to not go through the whole admissions cycle

Is there no way you can leave DC? Even if that's the case I'd still probably just apply broadly and try to leverage scholarships. You have the numbers for full rides at other T-14s so even if Georgetown doesn't give you one you can probably negotiate an offer that's pretty close to that from them. And even if you don't apply ED to GW they'll probably give you a full ride too.

ED applicants typically get no money. People do it because at some schools it can increase your chances, but it's usually a bad idea because you give up your financial leverage.

[JCougar]

I think Georgetown is notoriously bad with scholarships, though. But is UVA or Penn close enough to DC?