Negotiating scholarships works!!!!! Forum

[jdapplicant]

Is leveraging an acceptance from a higher ranked school (t4) a good idea when negotiating a scholarship from a lower ranked (t6) school (merit + need-based = ~90K)?

NYU won't give you more money just because you were accepted to Columbia, a peer school.

+1 Especially if you already have 90k at NYU. It might even insult them.

[sah]

Personally not the biggest fan of the idea of negotiating with acceptances only. How do you do that without coming across as insulting? I mean, schools can understand the "I really want to come here but it's cheaper for me at XX school so if you could reconsider" line for sure, but using "well, I got accepted to a better school than this dump so..." (not that you'd phrase it that way, but still) comes across as sort of rude. Just let them assume it based on your numbers. No need to shove Columbia/Harvard/etc. acceptances in a school's face.

[Highway61]

What range of schools would be appropriate to negotiate scholarships with for UCLA?

[chuckbass]

What range of schools would be appropriate to negotiate scholarships with for UCLA?

A bigger offer at USC would be helpful.

[hgp0002]

Personally not the biggest fan of the idea of negotiating with acceptances only. How do you do that without coming across as insulting? I mean, schools can understand the "I really want to come here but it's cheaper for me at XX school so if you could reconsider" line for sure, but using "well, I got accepted to a better school than this dump so..." (not that you'd phrase it that way, but still) comes across as sort of rude. Just let them assume it based on your numbers. No need to shove Columbia/Harvard/etc. acceptances in a school's face.

Yeah I didn't even mention any school names, I just said its financially easier to attend other institutions that I've been accepted to. School upped its offer from 18K to 27K per year. Definitely helps me give that school a harder look.

[Highway61]

What range of schools would be appropriate to negotiate scholarships with for UCLA?

A bigger offer at USC would be helpful.

What about Minnesota?

[The Dark Shepard]

What range of schools would be appropriate to negotiate scholarships with for UCLA?

A bigger offer at USC would be helpful.

What about Minnesota?

Not really comparable. USC and UCLA are direct competitors in the same market. USC doesn't send to the upper midwest, and Minnesota doesn't send to California

[chuckbass]

What range of schools would be appropriate to negotiate scholarships with for UCLA?

A bigger offer at USC would be helpful.

What about Minnesota?

Not really comparable. USC and UCLA are direct competitors in the same market. USC doesn't send to the upper midwest, and Minnesota doesn't send to California

I mean it's worth a shot if that's your best offer, but yeah it won't be as helpful as UCLA or a better school.

[Highway61]

If you have both options, would you include both or just USC?

[chuckbass]

If you have both options, would you include both or just USC?

You can include both.

[mxy_1216]

Anybody know good negotiation strategies with GW? Much appreciate thanks!!

[Caesar Salad]

Personally not the biggest fan of the idea of negotiating with acceptances only. How do you do that without coming across as insulting? I mean, schools can understand the "I really want to come here but it's cheaper for me at XX school so if you could reconsider" line for sure, but using "well, I got accepted to a better school than this dump so..." (not that you'd phrase it that way, but still) comes across as sort of rude. Just let them assume it based on your numbers. No need to shove Columbia/Harvard/etc. acceptances in a school's face.

Idk, what is the worst thing that can happen? I just sent a negotiation email to a school that gave me some money and didn't have any competing offers to leverage. My email went over how much I wanted to go to the school, but how I wasn't sure how I was going to be able to pay for it all myself. My 'other option' in my email wasn't a different school, but a year off and a retake. I don't expect anything, but regardless, as I opened this post: what is the worst thing that can happen?

[bravo1085]

I'd say leveraging against a year off and a retake is a completely different situation than an acceptance only. It sounds like a potentially successful approach, though. Especially during a time of low applications already. The only downside is that in the case of a competing offer, you have something tangible. But in a retake case, it's just your speculation that you'll do better on the LSAT. I'd be curious to hear how it works, though! Best of luck to you!

[Schollyplz]

I am trying to negotiate a full scholarship with Texas. They initially offered 78k over 3 yrs. I have offers from Uchicago 15k Uvirginia 90k and ucla 120k +21k/yr (need based).

If I received a full scholarship from Texas, I would almost certainly attend (unless admitted to H or S). I guess my question is ... Do I just straight out ask for it, or do I send them the scholarship info from my other schools and hope they give it to me?

[szb5058]

Personally not the biggest fan of the idea of negotiating with acceptances only. How do you do that without coming across as insulting? I mean, schools can understand the "I really want to come here but it's cheaper for me at XX school so if you could reconsider" line for sure, but using "well, I got accepted to a better school than this dump so..." (not that you'd phrase it that way, but still) comes across as sort of rude. Just let them assume it based on your numbers. No need to shove Columbia/Harvard/etc. acceptances in a school's face.

Negotiating with acceptances is CRUCIAL! You're not being insulting, you're simply leveraging your skills in a market where demand for great law students is at an all time high because, due to a failing job market, smarter students are choosing to go into other fields. If you start looking at yourself as a wanted commodity, and start seeing law schools as BUSINESSES (because they are!), then you'll have a much more successful negotiation period. You need to use school names when negotiating! Why would Stanford care that you got $40K a year from Suffolk? They won't. But it will definitely catch their eye when you say you got that full ride to Harvard!

This is a business. You've got to get on board and play the game or you'll be leaving some serious $$ on the table.

I thought this article ( http://lawschooladvice.com/guides/negot ... olarships/ ) was extremely helpful in changing my mindset and showing me how to leverage my skills, allowing me to get the most out of negotiating. I highly suggest anyone who's serious about negotiating their scholarships to check it out. It goes step by step through the process and even has SAMPLE NEGOTIATION LETTERS!

[Kimikho]

^those sample letters seem awfully long.

Could someone PM me their emails? I'm going to go back through the tips today.

Also, could anyone offer any tips when you receive more scholarship money from a higher ranked school? I don't want to mess this up

[sah]

Personally not the biggest fan of the idea of negotiating with acceptances only. How do you do that without coming across as insulting? I mean, schools can understand the "I really want to come here but it's cheaper for me at XX school so if you could reconsider" line for sure, but using "well, I got accepted to a better school than this dump so..." (not that you'd phrase it that way, but still) comes across as sort of rude. Just let them assume it based on your numbers. No need to shove Columbia/Harvard/etc. acceptances in a school's face.

Negotiating with acceptances is CRUCIAL! You're not being insulting, you're simply leveraging your skills in a market where demand for great law students is at an all time high because, due to a failing job market, smarter students are choosing to go into other fields. If you start looking at yourself as a wanted commodity, and start seeing law schools as BUSINESSES (because they are!), then you'll have a much more successful negotiation period. You need to use school names when negotiating! Why would Stanford care that you got $40K a year from Suffolk? They won't. But it will definitely catch their eye when you say you got that full ride to Harvard!

This is a business. You've got to get on board and play the game or you'll be leaving some serious $$ on the table.

I thought this article ( http://lawschooladvice.com/guides/negot ... olarships/ ) was extremely helpful in changing my mindset and showing me how to leverage my skills, allowing me to get the most out of negotiating. I highly suggest anyone who's serious about negotiating their scholarships to check it out. It goes step by step through the process and even has SAMPLE NEGOTIATION LETTERS!

Ok that's not what I mean. I don't mean don't name the schools. What I mean is this: If you got in to Duke, but only at sticker, and Vandy gave you $105k, I don't see the point of going back to Vandy with "I got into Duke at sticker, give me more money" when Vandy has already given you a generous scholarship. I mean, you can I guess, they won't like rescind your acceptance or anything, but if I'm Vandy it's like...yeah, well that's why we gave you $35k a year.

[szb5058]

Personally not the biggest fan of the idea of negotiating with acceptances only. How do you do that without coming across as insulting? I mean, schools can understand the "I really want to come here but it's cheaper for me at XX school so if you could reconsider" line for sure, but using "well, I got accepted to a better school than this dump so..." (not that you'd phrase it that way, but still) comes across as sort of rude. Just let them assume it based on your numbers. No need to shove Columbia/Harvard/etc. acceptances in a school's face.

Negotiating with acceptances is CRUCIAL! You're not being insulting, you're simply leveraging your skills in a market where demand for great law students is at an all time high because, due to a failing job market, smarter students are choosing to go into other fields. If you start looking at yourself as a wanted commodity, and start seeing law schools as BUSINESSES (because they are!), then you'll have a much more successful negotiation period. You need to use school names when negotiating! Why would Stanford care that you got $40K a year from Suffolk? They won't. But it will definitely catch their eye when you say you got that full ride to Harvard!

This is a business. You've got to get on board and play the game or you'll be leaving some serious $$ on the table.

I thought this article ( http://lawschooladvice.com/guides/negot ... olarships/ ) was extremely helpful in changing my mindset and showing me how to leverage my skills, allowing me to get the most out of negotiating. I highly suggest anyone who's serious about negotiating their scholarships to check it out. It goes step by step through the process and even has SAMPLE NEGOTIATION LETTERS!

Ok that's not what I mean. I don't mean don't name the schools. What I mean is this: If you got in to Duke, but only at sticker, and Vandy gave you $105k, I don't see the point of going back to Vandy with "I got into Duke at sticker, give me more money" when Vandy has already given you a generous scholarship. I mean, you can I guess, they won't like rescind your acceptance or anything, but if I'm Vandy it's like...yeah, well that's why we gave you $35k a year.

Oh definitely, I guess I misunderstood. Negotiating with only an acceptance and no scholly $$ will likely only work if you're negotiating with a far inferior school from the one you got accepted to. My bad.

[eaad91]

how do you negotiate with peer schools that are giving you nearly identical scholarships? I was waitlisted by my 2 safeties (5 waitlists total) so I have no other real leverage.

[Serett]

how do you negotiate with peer schools that are giving you nearly identical scholarships? I was waitlisted by my 2 safeties (5 waitlists total) so I have no other real leverage.

If there's a general COA difference, such that even with equivalent scholarships, one is cheaper than the other, you have a window. Otherwise, you're pretty much just exploiting the fear that you'll choose the other of two equivalent offers, and in that case, I'd start with the one likely to fear this most (for example, if one school is much closer, or has better weather, or is the better choice for the interests mentioned in your app, start with the other one). You could also just generally express concern about the cost to try for a minor increase in exchange for feeling more certain about depositing. I'm not sure that there's a great chance of any of this working, but as it goes, there's no drawback.

[eaad91]

how do you negotiate with peer schools that are giving you nearly identical scholarships? I was waitlisted by my 2 safeties (5 waitlists total) so I have no other real leverage.

If there's a general COA difference, such that even with equivalent scholarships, one is cheaper than the other, you have a window. Otherwise, you're pretty much just exploiting the fear that you'll choose the other of two equivalent offers, and in that case, I'd start with the one likely to fear this most (for example, if one school is much closer, or has better weather, or is the better choice for the interests mentioned in your app, start with the other one). You could also just generally express concern about the cost to try for a minor increase in exchange for feeling more certain about depositing. I'm not sure that there's a great chance of any of this working, but as it goes, there's no drawback.

I'll look into that and see what I can come up with. Thanks.

[baloneydanza]

That Law School Advice article is pretty useful, but how do we actually ask for more aid? Do I say something like "is there anyway you can make my decision easier?" or "is it possible you could increase the amount of aid I will receive" or "hey I got more money from a peer school...*nudge nudge*"?

[PattyCake]

That Law School Advice article is pretty useful, but how do we actually ask for more aid? Do I say something like "is there anyway you can make my decision easier?" or "is it possible you could increase the amount of aid I will receive" or "hey I got more money from a peer school...*nudge nudge*"?

I gave my reasons first (col, etc.), then said something like "because tuition and living expenses will have a profound financial impact on my family, I must consider scholarship offers from other schools. I have received several offers, including an offer of $X from [peer law school]." Then in the last paragraph I wrote something like "i am grateful for the scholarship I received last month. I respectfully request that the admissions committee consider a more generous financial aid package which will make Law SchoolX more affordable for me." The first paragraph was about how excited I was to be admitted, with details about parts of the program that interested me. I kept it brief, 1/2 to 2/3 of a page.

[CrystalLee]

Anyone have any sense of how many rounds of negotiations you can get away with? Like I already negotiated an increase, but it wasn't QUITE a big enough one...if they just upped it a little, I'd go. I don't want to push it and seem ungrateful, though.

^^I'm also interested in this. School A upped their offer and I'd like to use that to ask School B for some more $$. If they did, I'd absolutely go. If anyone has been successful at renegotiation after already receiving an increase, could you please PM me your sample email/letter?

[RLowry23]

Anyone have any sense of how many rounds of negotiations you can get away with? Like I already negotiated an increase, but it wasn't QUITE a big enough one...if they just upped it a little, I'd go. I don't want to push it and seem ungrateful, though.

^^I'm also interested in this. School A upped their offer and I'd like to use that to ask School B for some more $$. If they did, I'd absolutely go. If anyone has been successful at renegotiation after already receiving an increase, could you please PM me your sample email/letter?

I would just say you're gonna take sometime to make a final decision but before you do, you want to make sure you have their best financial offer - tell them about the other school upping their scholly and hope for the best.