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[unemployable]

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[js1663]

Take whatever i'm saying as just a laymans advice, 0L here with little full time work experience though plenty of experience during college.

First, make sure your scholarships go with you when you defer - different schools have different policies, but if deferring means you will lose your full scholly from UVA and you're GPA has changed enough where you wouldn't get something like that again, IMO you should be going this year or making sure it (or wherever else you commit) goes with the deferral.

As far as whether the work experience will help, I think everyone agrees it can help in that it gives you time to mature, gives you experience in the real world which helps as you learn new things, which you can now place in context, and finally, it'll help you in interviews relating your interest in law, as well as ultimately in the legal job you'll land. With that said, if it's at risk of losing the scholarship you've gotten I'd say that work experience is simply not worth that much - it's great to have, many people have said here taking a year off was the best thing they ever did, etc. However, find out from the schools whether they'll let you by calling and explaining the circumstances - for the ones you want to negotiate with maybe write them an email an explain the three options (i.e. attend UVA for free, them at partial, or defer for 2 years to one of the schools), explain your preferences, and ask them if there's anything they can do to help with your concern regarding the deferral and the COA difference. Though I would say that the right way to do this might be to make sure scholarships go with deferrals first, and then negotiate for scholarships before requesting a deferral - I don't know if it would hurt though i'd imagine it would if they know in advance you plan on deferring.

[unemployable]

Take whatever i'm saying as just a laymans advice, 0L here with little full time work experience though plenty of experience during college.

First, make sure your scholarships go with you when you defer - different schools have different policies, but if deferring means you will lose your full scholly from UVA and you're GPA has changed enough where you wouldn't get something like that again, IMO you should be going this year or making sure it (or wherever else you commit) goes with the deferral.

As far as whether the work experience will help, I think everyone agrees it can help in that it gives you time to mature, gives you experience in the real world which helps as you learn new things, which you can now place in context, and finally, it'll help you in interviews relating your interest in law, as well as ultimately in the legal job you'll land. With that said, if it's at risk of losing the scholarship you've gotten I'd say that work experience is simply not worth that much - it's great to have, many people have said here taking a year off was the best thing they ever did, etc. However, find out from the schools whether they'll let you by calling and explaining the circumstances - for the ones you want to negotiate with maybe write them an email an explain the three options (i.e. attend UVA for free, them at partial, or defer for 2 years to one of the schools), explain your preferences, and ask them if there's anything they can do to help with your concern regarding the deferral and the COA difference. Though I would say that the right way to do this might be to make sure scholarships go with deferrals first, and then negotiate for scholarships before requesting a deferral - I don't know if it would hurt though i'd imagine it would if they know in advance you plan on deferring.

merit scholarships definitely get deferred at UVA. pretty sure thats the case for the other schools Im considering as well

[js1663]

Take whatever i'm saying as just a laymans advice, 0L here with little full time work experience though plenty of experience during college.

First, make sure your scholarships go with you when you defer - different schools have different policies, but if deferring means you will lose your full scholly from UVA and you're GPA has changed enough where you wouldn't get something like that again, IMO you should be going this year or making sure it (or wherever else you commit) goes with the deferral.

As far as whether the work experience will help, I think everyone agrees it can help in that it gives you time to mature, gives you experience in the real world which helps as you learn new things, which you can now place in context, and finally, it'll help you in interviews relating your interest in law, as well as ultimately in the legal job you'll land. With that said, if it's at risk of losing the scholarship you've gotten I'd say that work experience is simply not worth that much - it's great to have, many people have said here taking a year off was the best thing they ever did, etc. However, find out from the schools whether they'll let you by calling and explaining the circumstances - for the ones you want to negotiate with maybe write them an email an explain the three options (i.e. attend UVA for free, them at partial, or defer for 2 years to one of the schools), explain your preferences, and ask them if there's anything they can do to help with your concern regarding the deferral and the COA difference. Though I would say that the right way to do this might be to make sure scholarships go with deferrals first, and then negotiate for scholarships before requesting a deferral - I don't know if it would hurt though i'd imagine it would if they know in advance you plan on deferring.

merit scholarships definitely get deferred at UVA. pretty sure thats the case for the other schools Im considering as well

If that's the case if you want to go to UVA then your best bet is to ask them straight out whether you can defer for 2 years and explain the circumstances - if they say no then you have to decide what's more important though personally if they said no I'd probably take the job for the 1 year allowed deferral and attend UVA for free then...

[champagnepapi]

merit scholarships definitely get deferred at UVA. pretty sure thats the case for the other schools Im considering as well

tagging this! also considering deferring and am curious how to navigate that alongside negotiating scholarships. didn't realize that deferring merit based scholarships was a common practice at UVA, that's very good to know