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I got my results back from the September 2014 LSAT and got a 166. Just below my target score, so I will be retaking. However, my target school is UNC, which a 166 will allow me to attend. I still want to retake for financial aid purposes.

Am I correct in assuming a February retake will not be too late for that? UNC distributes financial aid until June usually. November is a packed month for me, so I don't see myself getting enough studying done to warrant taking the December test.

Is retaking in February too late for financial aid benefits for UNC?

Any help is greatly appreciated

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LockonStratos wrote:I got my results back from the September 2014 LSAT and got a 166. Just below my target score, so I will be retaking. However, my target school is UNC, which a 166 will allow me to attend. I still want to retake for financial aid purposes.

Am I correct in assuming a February retake will not be too late for that? UNC distributes financial aid until June usually. November is a packed month for me, so I don't see myself getting enough studying done to warrant taking the December test.

Is retaking in February too late for financial aid benefits for UNC?

Any help is greatly appreciated

I think February should be fine for $$ negotiation.

I was able to negotiate with a June LSAT score. Most schools are desperate

LockonStratos wrote:I got my results back from the September 2014 LSAT and got a 166. Just below my target score, so I will be retaking. However, my target school is UNC, which a 166 will allow me to attend. I still want to retake for financial aid purposes.

Am I correct in assuming a February retake will not be too late for that? UNC distributes financial aid until June usually. November is a packed month for me, so I don't see myself getting enough studying done to warrant taking the December test.

Is retaking in February too late for financial aid benefits for UNC?

Any help is greatly appreciated

The only potential problem with this plan is that your target school is UNC. Make sure the outcomes from UNC align with your goals and you get a lot of money.

IsThisForReal wrote: I think February should be fine for $$ negotiation.

Good, I was hoping I wasn't wrong about that. Thanks love

BigZuck wrote:I was able to negotiate with a June LSAT score. Most schools are desperate

I wish UNC would negotiate. Still though, good to know. Thanks!

Mullens wrote: The only potential problem with this plan is that your target school is UNC. Make sure the outcomes from UNC align with your goals and you get a lot of money.

Judging by last year's stats on LawSchoolNumbers, assuming they are an accurate representation, I should be able to get $14k/yr. Doesn't look like they often go above that, even for 170+, which is disappointing. I'll still retake and hope for $18k/yr or more though. If I could get $18k/yr, I would likely be able to graduate without any loans, which is my goal.

As far as outcomes go, I don't really have any intention to practice law outside of North Carolina. Within the state UNC is a fairly valuable degree. Also, UNC has produced a large number of NC politicians, which is a career goal further down the line.

Whether I get $5k/yr or $20k/yr, UNC is the only school I'm really looking at. Thank you for the suggestions though! I can imagine quite a few people attending UNC with biglaw hopes, only to learn that biglaw placement is pretty poor.

Tell UNC to suck it and take your talents to Duke then if they refuse to negotiate

How's your GPA?

BigZuck wrote:Tell UNC to suck it and take your talents to Duke then if they refuse to negotiate

How's your GPA?

Eh. Duke's tuition is too high for my tastes. I would need $40k/yr(which I would not get offered) to consider attending. Even then I would be taking much more on in loans than I would like.

With UNC @ 14k/yr, I would need to pay ~$19,000 out of pocket/through loans over my three years there, after taking into account the outside scholarships I know I will get or can reasonably expect. That is including my living expenses and tuition going from 23k-->24k-->25k.

@18k/yr I would need to pay ~$7,000 out of pocket/through loans.

Granted, I didn't take into account the cost of books, but cost of books would (likely) be the same or similar between UNC and Duke. I would be able to pay the $7,000 out of pocket. Of the $19,000, I would be able to pay at least $9,000. That would leave me with $10,000 in loans. I could pay that off in a year, even with most public sector jobs.

I might be able to work for firms that offer higher salaries if I went to Duke, but I would have to deal with much more in loans, which I'm not comfortable in doing. Shit happens, I might fail law school or become paralyzed my first year working. I care as much about the loans I will be taking on for the degrees as I do the portability and salaries the degrees would afford me.

/end

But yeah, to answer your question, my GPA is shit. 3.4

LockonStratos wrote:

BigZuck wrote:Tell UNC to suck it and take your talents to Duke then if they refuse to negotiate

How's your GPA?

Eh. Duke's tuition is too high for my tastes. I would need $40k/yr(which I would not get offered) to consider attending. Even then I would be taking much more on in loans than I would like.

With UNC @ 14k/yr, I would need to pay ~$19,000 out of pocket/through loans over my three years there, after taking into account the outside scholarships I know I will get or can reasonably expect. That is including my living expenses and tuition going from 23k-->24k-->25k.

@18k/yr I would need to pay ~$7,000 out of pocket/through loans.

Granted, I didn't take into account the cost of books, but cost of books would (likely) be the same or similar between UNC and Duke. I would be able to pay the $7,000 out of pocket. Of the $19,000, I would be able to pay at least $9,000. That would leave me with $10,000 in loans. I could pay that off in a year, even with most public sector jobs.

I might be able to work for firms that offer higher salaries if I went to Duke, but I would have to deal with much more in loans, which I'm not comfortable in doing. Shit happens, I might fail law school or become paralyzed my first year working. I care as much about the loans I will be taking on for the degrees as I do the portability and salaries the degrees would afford me.

/end

But yeah, to answer your question, my GPA is shit. 3.4

Sorry, lots of numbers there and I'm not good at reading so I didn't bother

Lets assume you got into Duke at sticker and UNC at (instate?) sticker. How much debt would you be in at graduation once you add in all your outside scholarships and stuff?

BigZuck wrote: Sorry, lots of numbers there and I'm not good at reading so I didn't bother

Lets assume you got into Duke at sticker and UNC at (instate?) sticker. How much debt would you be in at graduation once you add in all your outside scholarships and stuff?

hahaha Fair enough, I can't blame you for that. I go a little overboard with details

UNC would be instate for me. With no tuition increases, and using $23k for UNC and $55k for Duke...

I would have to pay/loan $58,000 for UNC, and $156,000 for Duke.

Are you good with a relative modest outcome- PD/DA or small firm, things like that?

Only reason I mentioned Duke was I was thinking that if UNC was being stingy and you had outside funding and could squeeze out something from Duke (maybe 15-20K a year? Not sure how feasible that is with a 3.4), Duke might be really appealing. Duke for 100Kish cost of attendance is a pretty good outcome and a pretty great one for a splitter IMO.

Youre probably right though, Duke probably isn't worth 100K more than UNC, especially if you want to stay in NC and have modest goals.