USC and UCLA how to negotiate for scholarship Part II Forum

[kdelijan]

Need advice negotiating between the two offers I have. I received $67,500 from UCLA which as far as costs means that UCLA will now cost me $68,000 total, and 35K/year from USC will cost me $60,000 total.

I need to be as close as possible to my family because my Dad is losing his job. Though USC is a bit cheaper I could commute from my grandmas apartment to UCLA. Not to mention not needing a car anymore which saves a ton more money. Obviously I need to consider these variables a little more carefully but overall UCLA is now cheaper than USC by a significant margin.

And yes my financial situation is so bad now that I'll probably live with my grandma until the end of law school .

I need to draft an email to USC communicating to them that I need a big scholarship increase without sounding rude. I would absolutely go 'SC if they offered me full scholarship, and would probably go if it was close to full. Again, I don't want to seem like I'm giving them an ultimatum, but I am, and it would be a shame if they lowballed and only gave me 10-15K more, they'd be getting there but I'd still turn them down unless it was full or close to full.

Any tips or suggestions? Even a brief draft email would help. Or if you think a personal phone call would be better let me know. Again thanks everyone for helping.

3.7/170 USC undergrad if it matters

[Big Dog]

After looking at my file and telling me there was some concern about my writing abilities...

To be honest, I can understand why. I have a real difficult time understanding your post and rationale. Was your essay so poorly worded?

I'm ...3.7 undergrad USC

Seriously?

[LawsRUs]

OP, there are several law school debt calculators floating around on the web. You might want to test a few of them. The CoA needs to take into account tuition increases, interests accumulated, what have you. I think you are greatly underestimating when you say "UCLA will now cost me $68,000 total, and USC will cost me $60,000 total."

The CoA will easily crawl into 6-figures with those offers. Take these figures, and you can ask those schools for moar, emphasizing your concern to minimize debt. Good luck, and could you pm me if you are successful?

[kdelijan]

After looking at my file and telling me there was some concern about my writing abilities...

To be honest, I can understand why. I have a real difficult time understanding your post and rationale. Was your essay so poorly worded?

I'm ...3.7 undergrad USC

Seriously?

Sorry I posted that in a rush between meetings, cleaned it up a bit

[MikeJD]

After looking at my file and telling me there was some concern about my writing abilities...

To be honest, I can understand why. I have a real difficult time understanding your post and rationale. Was your essay so poorly worded?

I'm ...3.7 undergrad USC

Seriously?

Sorry I posted that in a rush between meetings, cleaned it up a bit

must be the same person from the UCLA admissions who tried to get you to commit at sticker.. Remember you have a 170 LSAT score, the average of Harvard/yale Undergrads who take the LSAT is 167.

[starry eyed]

yea i see nothing wrong with his writing... no need to be a dick.