Transfer to Canadian school to negotiate aid bump at T14? Forum

[Phil Brooks]

Hello,

Would be grateful to anyone who could advise me. Here is my story:

I was very naive when applying to law schools two years ago. I had a 4.0 at a T5 UG, but got a 166 LSAT only. I applied to very few schools, and ended up getting into Penn. I then accepted a good job offer and deferred Penn. My thinking was that I could take the year off to increase my LSAT score and try to get a scholarship. I did not realize that the primary goal of merit scholarships is not to reward "merit" but to persuade students to attend a certain school rather than a different school. In short I did not realize that they were "negotiating scholarships" rather than "merit scholarships", and that by deferring an admissions offer I was foregoing the chance to negotiate. Naive. I know. So although I increased my LSAT score by several points, I didn't hear from Penn regarding any scholarships. I sent the admissions committee an email every week for a few months until finally they gave me a nominal 10k per year grant in July.

Now I have an A- average from first semester. I've also done a lot of work at the school's request to promote its international law opportunities to prospective students.

I feel like I lost out on money by being so naive. I want to find a way to negotiate and increase my scholarship. I am a Canadian citizen. My stats would allow me to transfer to Canada's best school, the University of Toronto, and attend there for free. Frankly I would not mind doing that, particularly since my desired field within international law can be practiced in either country.

Could I use the credible proposal (don't want to use the word "threat" here) of going to University of Toronto in order to negotiate an increased scholarship?

Thanks.

[Balthy]

.

[BVest]

Thanks for your reply, but as a 0L, two things:

1) Learn to read the call of the question. You'll need this skill going forward. OP's asking whether transfer admission at a Canadian school can help with negotiating with a T14. This is not your standard 50th ranked school to T14 situation. There are two factors here that make this question unanswerable by the standard "get accepted and then they'll negotiate" advice that the OP has surely seen. First is the fact that the transfer acceptance is at a Canadian school. Second is the fact that he's at a T14 already. OP's looking for a specialized answer which you cannot provide. (I can't provide it either, but you'll notice that I know that and am not attempting to.)

2) Please read the 0L notice and pay particular attention to the first sentence in the body of rule 3.

As a general rule, if you have to preface your statement with "I'm a 0L, but..." that's probably a good sign you simply shouldn't say it.

[Balthy]

Right, my bad.

[The Regulator]

I first would find out employment stats coming out of Toronto. If you know you can secure the job you want from there, then free is better. I have worked with a lot of international attorneys and never asked one of them where they went to school. And by a lot I mean probably around 15 throughout Europe, Middle East and Asia.

As for negotiating scholarship, I don't know for sure, but I would guess probably not as they can fill your spot no problem with another transfer student dying to get into Penn. that will be paying full tuition.

Since this is a financial decision, way your opportunity costs.

[quigglyboom]

Your stats would not allow you to attend U of T for free, unless you are also coming from a disadvantaged background. The University of Toronto does not give out merit based scholarships.

[Phil Brooks]

Your stats would not allow you to attend U of T for free, unless you are also coming from a disadvantaged background. The University of Toronto does not give out merit based scholarships.

That is important information. Thanks. One of my friends at the school told me he was getting x amount of dollars as a merit scholarship. Maybe he was being imprecise, or dishonest. In any case, the school states that its students pay an average effective tuition of $15,421. Since the top-line cost is $30,231, the average cost suggests that at least some students (the ones from disadvantaged backgrounds as you said) are going there for next to nothing.
http://www.law.utoronto.ca/admissions/j ... aid-office

Regarding stats, I mentioned in my original post that I improved my LSAT score by several points, without mentioning the final score. It's moot now, anyway, since ultimately I decided not to apply for the transfer. I figured that the prospects of a successful negotiation were too slim to be worth the time and effort, especially during exam time and when deadlines for outside merit scholarships were approaching.

This is one of those live and learn type situations I guess.