Scholarship vs. Grade Curve Forum

[PickMe!]

Hey y'all! Does the ABA require law schools to disclose scholarship retention rates among first year law students? If so, where can I find the numbers? I'm starting to think a few of my prospective law schools are blowing hot-air up my ass.

[cinephile]

If you know the GPA required for retaining your scholarship, that should give you a pretty good indication. I wouldn't take anything more strict than good standing.

[dingbat]

Hey y'all! Does the ABA require law schools to disclose scholarship retention rates among first year law students? If so, where can I find the numbers? I'm starting to think a few of my prospective law schools are blowing hot-air up my ass.

Be very wary of retention stipulations.
Some schools section stack, meaning everyone with a scholarship is competing with each other and non-retention is guaranteed

[PickMe!]

Be very wary of retention stipulations.
Some schools section stack, meaning everyone with a scholarship is competing with each other and non-retention is guaranteed

Yeah, I asked about that. I keep getting vague answers. When I asked the exact percentage of students who lose their scholarship after the first year, I'm being met with "Our students, on average, do very well. Blah blah blah."

[jkpolk]

Be very wary of retention stipulations.
Some schools section stack, meaning everyone with a scholarship is competing with each other and non-retention is guaranteed

Yeah, I asked about that. I keep getting vague answers. When I asked the exact percentage of students who lose their scholarship after the first year, I'm being met with "Our students, on average, do very well. Blah blah blah."

I think you know what that means. Any school that shady doesn't deserve your time.

[dingbat]

Be very wary of retention stipulations.
Some schools section stack, meaning everyone with a scholarship is competing with each other and non-retention is guaranteed

Yeah, I asked about that. I keep getting vague answers. When I asked the exact percentage of students who lose their scholarship after the first year, I'm being met with "Our students, on average, do very well. Blah blah blah."

To contrast: my scholly has no stipulations (other than that I don't flunk out)

[SPerez]

Is there any way to easily find out what percentage of students retain their scholarship at a particular school? It doesn't seem to be published on too many school websites - or else I'm just completing missing it because they bury the information. I'm mainly curious about Texas schools (Tech in particular) but any data would be helpful!

Did I hear my name? haha...

Actually, the ABA instituted a new accreditation standard (ABA Standard 509) pertaining to "Consumer Information". This includes several things, including a requirement that schools "publicly disclose on its website, in the form designated by the (ABA) Council (on Accreditation), its conditional scholarship retention data. A law school shall also distribute this data to all applicants being offered conditional scholarships at the time the scholarship offer is extended." The form has spaces for the last three years.

So this means anyone who receives a scholarship with a condition other than simply remaining in good standing (not flunking out, committing honor code violation) should also receive retention information. If a school only gives good standing scholarships, then they don't have to report anything (e.g. how many scholarship recipients flunked out).

Also, keep in mind that the "form designated by the Council" does NOT require a school specify what exactly the criteria were, e.g. top half, top third, top 10%, etc. (In Texas Tech's case, three years ago-before I got here-there were multiple criteria; some scholarships were top 1/3 others top 1/3.)

It also doesn't require a school disclose how many total scholarships were awarded, which would tell a student what percentage of a school's awards have a GPA requirement. I added that information to our disclosure to provide that context.

Dean Perez
Asst. Dean for Admissions, Texas Tech Law

[PickMe!]

Did I hear my name? haha...

Actually, the ABA instituted a new accreditation standard (ABA Standard 509) pertaining to "Consumer Information". This includes several things, including a requirement that schools "publicly disclose on its website, in the form designated by the (ABA) Council (on Accreditation), its conditional scholarship retention data. A law school shall also distribute this data to all applicants being offered conditional scholarships at the time the scholarship offer is extended." The form has spaces for the last three years.

So this means anyone who receives a scholarship with a condition other than simply remaining in good standing (not flunking out, committing honor code violation) should also receive retention information. If a school only gives good standing scholarships, then they don't have to report anything (e.g. how many scholarship recipients flunked out).

Also, keep in mind that the "form designated by the Council" does NOT require a school specify what exactly the criteria were, e.g. top half, top third, top 10%, etc. (In Texas Tech's case, three years ago-before I got here-there were multiple criteria; some scholarships were top 1/3 others top 1/3.)

It also doesn't require a school disclose how many total scholarships were awarded, which would tell a student what percentage of a school's awards have a GPA requirement. I added that information to our disclosure to provide that context.

Dean Perez
Asst. Dean for Admissions, Texas Tech Law

Thanks!

[Nova]

This might be able to give you some insight on schools with GPA cutoffs (it has medians listed), although its incomplete. http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 2&t=189178

On another note, I think you should be less concerned with retention rates and more concerned with the class rank that is correlated with the GPA cut off.