UVA Class of 2013 Forum

[Kohinoor]

^_^ I was thoroughly annoyed that the gym and Chipotle appeared closed, but I guess their power must be out.

Are you watching the game? I can't watch the game up here in the law school, I'm coming over if you've got the game on.

Nah, I'm trying to win the best brief award. Some of my sectionmates mentioned getting together in Ivy to watch it but I'm guessing the outage ruined their plans.

[vanwinkle]

Nah, I'm trying to win the best brief award.

Y'all are writing your briefs already??

(Then again, if we'd had class on Friday I might have gotten that as my assignment... who knows.)

[Kohinoor]

Nah, I'm trying to win the best brief award.

Y'all are writing your briefs already??

Just me

[vanwinkle]

Just me

[Chromakey]

LOL. Your picture pleases me.

[Philo38]

So, just briefly: what typically is the timeline/series of events that follows once one finishes the financial aid app?

[YCrevolution]

..

[jawsthegreat]

How truthful are they when they say that ED applicants are considered for merit money along with the RD pool?

Scholarships weren't a big consideration for me (hence applying ED) though with my numbers some $$ could be possible, and it certainly would be nice to get some money.

[YCrevolution]

..

[jawsthegreat]

How truthful are they when they say that ED applicants are considered for merit money along with the RD pool?

Scholarships weren't a big consideration for me (hence applying ED) though with my numbers some $$ could be possible, and it certainly would be nice to get some money.

It's hard to tell since many ED people don't really have the numbers for any significant merit money... I believe 2 ED people got around 1/2 tuition last year. That said, I wouldn't count on getting anything.

Thanks, about what I figured. I am still holding out hope for some $$ because looking at LSN, the people with my stats that actually avoid getting YP'd seem to get about 10K a year.

[lilspainishflea]

Question:

The "recommended" FAFSA and UVA Law deadline for completing financial aid applications is 1 March 2010 (http://www.law.virginia.edu/html/prospe ... d/ufaa.htm). Applicants under 26 must submit parental financial information, even if they qualify as independent per the FAFSA application. Would it be shrewd to submit the UVA Law financial aid application a few days late if you'll be 26 after the deadline and avoid having to submit parental financial data?

[jawsthegreat]

Question:

The "recommended" FAFSA and UVA Law deadline for completing financial aid applications is 1 March 2010 (http://www.law.virginia.edu/html/prospe ... d/ufaa.htm). Applicants under 26 must submit parental financial information, even if they qualify as independent per the FAFSA application. Would it be shrewd to submit the UVA Law financial aid application a few days late if you'll be 26 after the deadline and avoid having to submit parental financial data?

Wow, that is an interesting question.

[slider]

Question:

The "recommended" FAFSA and UVA Law deadline for completing financial aid applications is 1 March 2010 (http://www.law.virginia.edu/html/prospe ... d/ufaa.htm). Applicants under 26 must submit parental financial information, even if they qualify as independent per the FAFSA application. Would it be shrewd to submit the UVA Law financial aid application a few days late if you'll be 26 after the deadline and avoid having to submit parental financial data?

"Please note that entering law students age 26 and under who are unmarried are required to submit parental financial information to be considered for scholarship aid with a need component. A Law School Financial Aid Application Worksheet is available to help you complete the online application. All students are strongly encouraged to print and complete the worksheet prior to beginning the online application to expedite the process."

ref: http://www.law.virginia.edu/html/prospe ... d/ufaa.htm

I believe you have to be 27 or otherwise married to avoid parental financial disclosure.

[lilspainishflea]

Question:

The "recommended" FAFSA and UVA Law deadline for completing financial aid applications is 1 March 2010 (http://www.law.virginia.edu/html/prospe ... d/ufaa.htm). Applicants under 26 must submit parental financial information, even if they qualify as independent per the FAFSA application. Would it be shrewd to submit the UVA Law financial aid application a few days late if you'll be 26 after the deadline and avoid having to submit parental financial data?

"Please note that entering law students age 26 and under who are unmarried are required to submit parental financial information to be considered for scholarship aid with a need component. A Law School Financial Aid Application Worksheet is available to help you complete the online application. All students are strongly encouraged to print and complete the worksheet prior to beginning the online application to expedite the process."

ref: http://www.law.virginia.edu/html/prospe ... d/ufaa.htm

I believe you have to be 27 or otherwise married to avoid parental financial disclosure.

Good call. Maybe I should get married in the next 3 weeks?

[slider]

Question:

The "recommended" FAFSA and UVA Law deadline for completing financial aid applications is 1 March 2010 (http://www.law.virginia.edu/html/prospe ... d/ufaa.htm). Applicants under 26 must submit parental financial information, even if they qualify as independent per the FAFSA application. Would it be shrewd to submit the UVA Law financial aid application a few days late if you'll be 26 after the deadline and avoid having to submit parental financial data?

"Please note that entering law students age 26 and under who are unmarried are required to submit parental financial information to be considered for scholarship aid with a need component. A Law School Financial Aid Application Worksheet is available to help you complete the online application. All students are strongly encouraged to print and complete the worksheet prior to beginning the online application to expedite the process."

ref: http://www.law.virginia.edu/html/prospe ... d/ufaa.htm

I believe you have to be 27 or otherwise married to avoid parental financial disclosure.

Good call. Maybe I should get married in the next 3 weeks?

That might work. But they may consider his/her income so you might still be in the same boat.

[Philo38]

So, just briefly: what typically is the timeline/series of events that follows once one finishes the financial aid app?

In late March/early April, you should get information on any grant/merit money they've awarded you. Confirmation of your eligibility for student loans should follow soon thereafter. Sometime before August (preferably much earlier), you'll need to fill out a loan application with a lender for Stafford/Grad Plus loans.

Also, if you haven't filled out FAFSA, you'll need to do so.

Thanks.

[02082010]

So, just briefly: what typically is the timeline/series of events that follows once one finishes the financial aid app?

In late March/early April, you should get information on any grant/merit money they've awarded you. Confirmation of your eligibility for student loans should follow soon thereafter. Sometime before August (preferably much earlier), you'll need to fill out a loan application with a lender for Stafford/Grad Plus loans.

Also, if you haven't filled out FAFSA, you'll need to do so.

Thanks.

Why does it take them so long to notify candidates about merit aid? If you don't get any merit aid, how will you know when to stop checking your mail/email?

[YCrevolution]

..

[flyingpanda]

Sweet! The realty people survived the blizzard. Time to try to snag me an apartment.

[pilotgal]

The 1Ls at Chicago I talked to made it seem like they had all their apps out on, or shortly after, Dec 1.

OGI =/= NALP deadline. OGI is the interview process that takes place after firms have your grades. There is no way that any school did 1L OGI in December because no students had even taken their exams yet. The firms would have been flying blind. The Dec. 1st deadline is simply the NALP deadline. After December 1st, firms can communicate with the 1Ls.

OGI last year happened before most people had all, and from what I hear before some people had any, grades.

1L job hunting is a mysterious beast. Career Services can't have meetings with 1Ls until November 1st, per NALP rules. NALP employees (firms mostly, but people tend to observe it as custom in the legal industry no matter what) aren't to talk to students until December 1st, which means Dec 1 is sort of the defacto earliest application time - be it to a firm, judge, government job, or public interest work.

Some people get jobs before grades come out, because employers have a connection or are impressed by their undergraduate work thus far. Some employers won't look at an application without grades. Most law students don't hit the Dec 1 deadline - it's right before finals, and so many don't start the application process until after grades come out.

In early February, there's a week of firm interviews for 1Ls. We had 9 firms, each probably taking between 0 and 1 person this year, and 368 1Ls. You do the math on how important 1L OGI was in most people's employment plans

The following week (would have been Monday if it weren't for the SNOWPOCALYPSE) public interest groups show up to do interviews. I think at least some 2Ls and 3Ls can do that as well, but I may be wrong.

Concurrent with all of this are applications for research positions. They have the reputation of being the summer job of last resort. I know at least one professor mentioned explicitly that 'students who can get better jobs tend to do so', but that's a bit too general. Especially with famous / well known profs, those jobs can be competitive too. There's no formal process - some profs advertise on a board, some profs ask the A students in their class, some profs ask other profs for recommendations, some profs just wait until somebody approaches them. Plenty of professors at UVA never teach 1Ls, and 2Ls and 3Ls don't apply for summer RA positions, so there tends to be plenty to go around.

The prime directive is: Do something law related during your 1L summer, or else it will be a black mark when you seek 2L summer / permanent employment. There are of course exceptions, but in the aggregate it's a bad idea to decide to spend the summer working as a camp counselor. What you actually do is of little importance for your future prospects, there's not a job that will significantly boost your chances of a 2L gig or permanent employment. Firm jobs can pay truckloads of money, and so are obviously attractive for that reason, but as you can tell from the chart the competition is over a tiny handful of jobs. Most people who get them head back to a tiny home market, from what it seems.

Just curious do you get paid for the RA positions? And if so, what's the pay? Is it just part time? I'm really curious if I will be able to make enough money to cover summer expenses or if I need to make my living budget last the whole year.

[D Brooks]

Just tagging.

[FeuerFrei]

.

[Philo38]

I e-mailed the financial aid office about parental info and got this response:

"If you do not wish to be considered for need-based scholarships, you would not have to provide the parental information on both documents. If, however, you would like to be considered for need-based scholarships, as well as our merit scholarships, and you are an unmarried student age 26 or younger, you would need to provide the parental data as requested."

I thought merit aid was independent of the financial aid forms??? I wasn't going to bother with parental information and just use Stafford/GradPLUS but if you have to do it to get sholarship monies too, then I guess I have to.

I think that you can infer from this that the application only affects your ability to get need-based aid. Merit is seperate I believe.

[D Brooks]

I e-mailed the financial aid office about parental info and got this response:

"If you do not wish to be considered for need-based scholarships, you would not have to provide the parental information on both documents. If, however, you would like to be considered for need-based scholarships, as well as our merit scholarships, and you are an unmarried student age 26 or younger, you would need to provide the parental data as requested."

I thought merit aid was independent of the financial aid forms??? I wasn't going to bother with parental information and just use Stafford/GradPLUS but if you have to do it to get sholarship monies too, then I guess I have to.

I think that you can infer from this that the application only affects your ability to get need-based aid. Merit is seperate I believe.

Not exactly:

Most scholarship assistance at the Law School is awarded on a combined basis of academic merit and need. All admitted applicants who wish to be considered for scholarships in which demonstrated need is a component must file the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and the Law School Institutional Application for Financial Aid. Information on accessing the Institutional Application for Financial Aid will be provided to applicants offered admission beginning in January 2010.

http://www.law.virginia.edu/html/prospe ... rships.htm

[Philo38]

I e-mailed the financial aid office about parental info and got this response:

"If you do not wish to be considered for need-based scholarships, you would not have to provide the parental information on both documents. If, however, you would like to be considered for need-based scholarships, as well as our merit scholarships, and you are an unmarried student age 26 or younger, you would need to provide the parental data as requested."

I thought merit aid was independent of the financial aid forms??? I wasn't going to bother with parental information and just use Stafford/GradPLUS but if you have to do it to get sholarship monies too, then I guess I have to.

I think that you can infer from this that the application only affects your ability to get need-based aid. Merit is seperate I believe.

Not exactly:

Most scholarship assistance at the Law School is awarded on a combined basis of academic merit and need. All admitted applicants who wish to be considered for scholarships in which demonstrated need is a component must file the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and the Law School Institutional Application for Financial Aid. Information on accessing the Institutional Application for Financial Aid will be provided to applicants offered admission beginning in January 2010.

http://www.law.virginia.edu/html/prospe ... rships.htm

I believe that the "Law School Institutional App for Financial Aid" only affects your need-based aid eligibility. If you fill out the FAFSA and decide not to fill our the LSIAFA you will still be considered for merit-based aid.