At what point does one begin bargaining w/schools? Forum

[Zannie1986]

OK, so I was under the impression that people are supposed to sort of use their other accepted schools' scholarship offers as leverage against the school they DO want to go to, am I right? If so,...when should I be doing that? As soon as I know what school I want to go to, ie..a month or so? Anytime as long as it's before putting down a deposit? How do these things work?
Thanks, lovers and haters

[nahgems]

So, you probably don't want this in the transfer forum (it just isn't applicable since most schools don't offer aid to transfer students). Assuming this question was meant for regular first-year applicants:

The general idea is that the earlier you negotiate, the more likely you are to get $$$. There is a finite amount of $$$ available from most schools. If you wait too long, there just isn't anything left for them to give you. However, many schools will only consider one request per applicant. If you send your request before you have heard back from everyone, you might get a GREAT offer late in your cycle - but not be able to renegotiate. The longer you wait, the more information you have to "bargain" with. If you retook LSATs, or are expecting to get a GREAT offer from a different school - you generally want to wait until you have that information. It is a balancing act. If you wait too long there is no money left. If you ask too soon, you might get valuable information later.

[kings84_wr]

Not sure if this is waht the OP meant, but what about bargaining with your current school with the idea of transferring? Ive heard some stories of upped scholarships to stay, anyone know anything about that or when or how is proper?

[apper123]

So, you probably don't want this in the transfer forum (it just isn't applicable since most schools don't offer aid to transfer students). Assuming this question was meant for regular first-year applicants:

The general idea is that the earlier you negotiate, the more likely you are to get $$$. There is a finite amount of $$$ available from most schools. If you wait too long, there just isn't anything left for them to give you. However, many schools will only consider one request per applicant. If you send your request before you have heard back from everyone, you might get a GREAT offer late in your cycle - but not be able to renegotiate. The longer you wait, the more information you have to "bargain" with. If you retook LSATs, or are expecting to get a GREAT offer from a different school - you generally want to wait until you have that information. It is a balancing act. If you wait too long there is no money left. If you ask too soon, you might get valuable information later.

Fairly certain OP is referring to bargaining with his current school to give him $$ to stay.

[nahgems]

So, you probably don't want this in the transfer forum (it just isn't applicable since most schools don't offer aid to transfer students). Assuming this question was meant for regular first-year applicants:

The general idea is that the earlier you negotiate, the more likely you are to get $$$. There is a finite amount of $$$ available from most schools. If you wait too long, there just isn't anything left for them to give you. However, many schools will only consider one request per applicant. If you send your request before you have heard back from everyone, you might get a GREAT offer late in your cycle - but not be able to renegotiate. The longer you wait, the more information you have to "bargain" with. If you retook LSATs, or are expecting to get a GREAT offer from a different school - you generally want to wait until you have that information. It is a balancing act. If you wait too long there is no money left. If you ask too soon, you might get valuable information later.

Fairly certain OP is referring to bargaining with his current school to give him $$ to stay.

Duh. That makes significantly more sense in this forum. Its just the original post mentioned using "other accepted schools' scholarship offers as leverage against the school they DO want to go to" and that they were still figuring out which one that was... My impression was that the only school you can negotiate with is your current school. And you probably already know which one that is?

[chadwick218]

Now. Schools want to start locking in students as soon as possible and money will run out before you know it. With that said, before you start bargainning, be sure that you have something to bargain with (i.e. $20K / year at WUSTL in hopes of $20K / year at ND). Also, given that schools want to lock people in, I would recommend giving them a "price" to work with and let them know that you will withdraw all other applications.

[apper123]

So, you probably don't want this in the transfer forum (it just isn't applicable since most schools don't offer aid to transfer students). Assuming this question was meant for regular first-year applicants:

The general idea is that the earlier you negotiate, the more likely you are to get $$$. There is a finite amount of $$$ available from most schools. If you wait too long, there just isn't anything left for them to give you. However, many schools will only consider one request per applicant. If you send your request before you have heard back from everyone, you might get a GREAT offer late in your cycle - but not be able to renegotiate. The longer you wait, the more information you have to "bargain" with. If you retook LSATs, or are expecting to get a GREAT offer from a different school - you generally want to wait until you have that information. It is a balancing act. If you wait too long there is no money left. If you ask too soon, you might get valuable information later.

Fairly certain OP is referring to bargaining with his current school to give him $$ to stay.

Duh. That makes significantly more sense in this forum. Its just the original post mentioned using "other accepted schools' scholarship offers as leverage against the school they DO want to go to" and that they were still figuring out which one that was... My impression was that the only school you can negotiate with is your current school. And you probably already know which one that is?

He's saying he'll go to his dean's office or admissions or whoever handles it and say, "Look, it's my acceptance from GULC. I want to stay here, but it's hard to justify when I'd pay only slightly more at GULC."

[Zannie1986]

ohhhh boy. sorry, how do I move it out of this transfer section? I'm not a transfer, I'm a 0L hearing back from places, still waiting on a couple. so far there is one I'm more interested than others i've been accepted to, but it isn't giving me as much money as another school that I'm less interested in, even though the one I like is actually lower-ranked..so I was wondering at what point I should try to talk to the school I like saying I got offered this amount at x school if can you match that then I'd be able to attend, or something along those lines, especially cause I am still holding out on at least one school, really 1-3 but I don't know if that's pushing it (ie if I have time for it).
I'm female btw, hehe..did the lady gaga avatar throw you off the trail?

[TonyDigital]

I'm interested in this also. Obviously would like more money from my choice school but mainly would like for the class rank requirement to be lowered...good luck OP!