Minnesota 2011 Forum

[MST3K]

Has anyone who has been admitted to UMN been able to successfully negotiate for more scholarship money? I'm thinking about drafting a letter. Any advice appreciated.

Update in case anyone else was wondering: spoke with the Assistant Admissions Director and he said scholarships are non-negotiable.

[rman1201]

Has anyone who has been admitted to UMN been able to successfully negotiate for more scholarship money? I'm thinking about drafting a letter. Any advice appreciated.

Update in case anyone else was wondering: spoke with the Assistant Admissions Director and he said scholarships are non-negotiable.

This. I tried and they politely said No.

[purplebulldogs]

Has anyone who has been admitted to UMN been able to successfully negotiate for more scholarship money? I'm thinking about drafting a letter. Any advice appreciated.

Update in case anyone else was wondering: spoke with the Assistant Admissions Director and he said scholarships are non-negotiable.

This. I tried and they politely said No.

and cue the deletion of my gmail draft...

[geoduck]

Well for those of you unhappy with your scholarship, it looks like they just came out with a $15k Grodsky scholarship for the first year of 2 students... though it does say that they will prefer people who don't already have scholly money. Still, start your engines!

[MST3K]

Public interest law? booooo

[JenDarby]

Has anyone who has been admitted to UMN been able to successfully negotiate for more scholarship money? I'm thinking about drafting a letter. Any advice appreciated.

Update in case anyone else was wondering: spoke with the Assistant Admissions Director and he said scholarships are non-negotiable.

This. I tried and they politely said No.

I was just dropping in here to ask this question. Thanks for making it easy for me! Looks like I will be throwing my 66k back into the pot. The mandatory overpriced under equipped lenovo purchase irked me anyway. Good luck guys!

[Valhalla_Valkyrie]

Hmm... Hauling around a brick for three years...

[chrisbru]

Hmm... Hauling around a brick for three years...

Lolz. Who wants to carry a 6 pound laptop on top of books...?

[Valhalla_Valkyrie]

Let's not kid ourselves, Chris; you and I would happily jump off the waitlist if asked.

[fakemoney]

You guys would be willing to pay full in-state tuition?

[Valhalla_Valkyrie]

I didn't say that. I just implied that since MN is both Chris' and my first choice, carrying a 6lb laptop ontop of books would be a minor issue.

[FourOnTheFloor]

The laptop requirement is pretty annoying. If I have to spend $1200 on a new laptop then I'd rather just get another MacBook. However, the specs that I saw on the UMN website were for the class of 2012, so I presume that whatever laptop is imposed on next year's class will be more up to date (and hopefully lighter, although I'm not counting on it).

[fakemoney]

I didn't say that. I just implied that since MN is both Chris' and my first choice, carrying a 6lb laptop ontop of books would be a minor issue.

I was actually just curious if you would be, just to get a sense of how other people appraise UMN's value.

[ScrabbleChamp]

I didn't say that. I just implied that since MN is both Chris' and my first choice, carrying a 6lb laptop ontop of books would be a minor issue.

I was actually just curious if you would be, just to get a sense of how other people appraise UMN's value.

If accepted off the waitlist, I will not get any money and I will attend. However, I'll only have to pay about $5k/year, which I am willing to do.

[HornetGuy]

The laptop requirement is pretty annoying. If I have to spend $1200 on a new laptop then I'd rather just get another MacBook. However, the specs that I saw on the UMN website were for the class of 2012, so I presume that whatever laptop is imposed on next year's class will be more up to date (and hopefully lighter, although I'm not counting on it).

I wish there was an Apple option. Heck, my wife graduated from Abilene Christian where they hand out iPhones to the incoming freshmen. It'd be interesting to see what an iPad would do to UMN's yield percentage.

[chrisbru]

Let's not kid ourselves, Chris; you and I would happily jump off the waitlist if asked.

True. But I would carry around the laptop ONLY when absolutely required. I'll bring my Macbook or iPad whenever possible.

As for if I'd go at full cost... No way. First of all, I'm OOS. Second... I'm not going to turn down full tuition at Iowa for no scholarship at UMN. If they gave me half, I'd probably go.

[geoduck]

The laptop requirement is pretty annoying. If I have to spend $1200 on a new laptop then I'd rather just get another MacBook. However, the specs that I saw on the UMN website were for the class of 2012, so I presume that whatever laptop is imposed on next year's class will be more up to date (and hopefully lighter, although I'm not counting on it).

I wish there was an Apple option. Heck, my wife graduated from Abilene Christian where they hand out iPhones to the incoming freshmen. It'd be interesting to see what an iPad would do to UMN's yield percentage.

To be fair, at least they chose Lenovo. I was looking forward to getting an Air for law school, but if I'm forced to get a PC, at least it's a reliable brand. Though I don't really need tech support... So I could always sell the lenovo and buy/bootcamp an Air.

[Valhalla_Valkyrie]

Actually, now that I think about it, I would pay full in-state tuition. MN is where I want to stay, and if that means paying full tuition to the U, so be it.

[tropicalpeach]

As far as the laptop thing goes, it's definitely annoying. A student grilled the dean about it during the admitted student weekend. He said that he understands incoming students are really annoyed about it. However, he asked students at the end of their first year if they would still recommend getting rid of the laptop program and almost every student said it was worth it.

Technically, you only need the that particular laptop during exam period. I noticed a few people still using their macs during class.

The plus side of those ridiculous laptops is the warranty they provide. If anything happens to the laptop (the in-house IT people said literally anything- water, smash, etc), they will give you a replacement immediately and fix the laptop with no charge. And there's no limit to the "fixes" you could ask for. The dean said that the laptop was most important thing to a law student and the last thing people want to worry about come exam season is a computer malfunction.

[lifeaway1985]

Does anyone happen to know the specifications for the laptop? I know the website provides technical specifications for the Class of 2012. Will the Class of 2014 get laptops with the same technical specifications?

[Sandro]

anyone going to the April 1-2 ASW? Im contemplating right now but the $300 stipend doesnt even cover airfare, i'd have to pay for hotel/transportation to and from the school. I should probably ask them if they can help me out some more.

[MST3K]

Sandro, my airfare was $480 and then hotel is around $160. Regardless, they reimburse up to $300, no exceptions. That's definitely better than nothing though.

[deadpoetnsp]

anyone going to the April 1-2 ASW? Im contemplating right now but the $300 stipend doesnt even cover airfare, i'd have to pay for hotel/transportation to and from the school. I should probably ask them if they can help me out some more.

I attended the March ASW for a total cost of $100.

I bid for a hotel room on Priceline, got a great deal at $40/night for a downtown (4*) hotel. If you stay in the downtown area, you can buy cheap daily transit passes ($6/24 hours) to travel to and from the law school, which is about 20 minutes away.

How far are you traveling? If you are traveling around 500-600 miles, consider taking a bus. I booked a bus ticket really early, and got return tickets for about $40 (500 miles each way). You can try Megabus or Greyhound. I traveled overnight, saving the cost of one night's stay. So I departed at around 11pm, slept on the bus, got to Minneapolis at 7am in the morning.
Day 1: Checked in early at the hotel (they had free early check-in). Freshened up, used city transit to get to law school and return to the hotel in the evening.
Day 2: Checked out early next morning, kept my bags at the hotel front desk. 'Transitted' to law school and back in the afternoon. Walked to bus terminal in the evening, took overnight bus back home.

Of course, if you are traveling from the West coast, disregard what I said

[Sandro]

anyone going to the April 1-2 ASW? Im contemplating right now but the $300 stipend doesnt even cover airfare, i'd have to pay for hotel/transportation to and from the school. I should probably ask them if they can help me out some more.

I attended the March ASW for a total cost of $100.

I bid for a hotel room on Priceline, got a great deal at $40/night for a downtown hotel. If you stay in the downtown area, you can buy cheap daily transit passes ($6/24 hours) to travel to and from the law school, which is about 20 minutes away.

How far are you traveling? If you are traveling around 500-600 miles, consider taking a bus. I booked a bus ticket really early, and got return tickets for about $40 (500 miles each way). You can try Megabus or Greyhound. I traveled overnight, saving the cost of one night's stay. So I departed at around 11pm, slept on the bus, got to Minneapolis at 7am in the morning. Checked in early at the hotel (they had free early check-in). Freshened up, used city transit bus to get to law school.

Of course, if you are traveling from the West coast, disregard what I said

Yea i'm over 1200 miles away so I dont think a bus would work. I think ill be able to use some flight miles and make the $300 cover airfare+hotel with a good priceline bid.

[deadpoetnsp]

Yea i'm over 1200 miles away so I dont think a bus would work. I think ill be able to use some flight miles and make the $300 cover airfare+hotel with a good priceline bid.

PM me, if you want to know how I bid on Priceline. Use betterbidding.com to find what people recently bid for various locations in Minneapolis.