Notre Dame Law School c/o 2018 (2014-2015 applicants) Forum

[ManoftheHour]

When are you all gonna jump ship and come to wustl?

I liked the school, but am I the only one that didn't drink the Kool Aid? Still need more $$$.

[Lebrarian_Booker]

When are you all gonna jump ship and come to wustl?

I liked the school, but am I the only one that didn't drink the Kool Aid? Still need more $$$.

No Kool Aid consumed over here

[mx23250]

I drank the kool-aid and I'm sold. ASW sealed the deal for me. For those of you who'll be there this fall, I'll see you then! Looking forward to those $1 wells/$2 long islands at Brother's

[kyle010723]

I drank the kool-aid and I'm sold. ASW sealed the deal for me. For those of you who'll be there this fall, I'll see you then! Looking forward to those $1 wells/$2 long islands at Brother's

If you like ND in this miserable winter, you'll love the school in Spring and Fall (although I doubt we will have a Spring this year).

[magjag]

so the deal is like this

1. ND: 30k per year
2. Indiana Bloomington: 35k per year
3. Illinois: Full ride
4. Michigan: sticker
5. NU: waitlisted.

I am leaning towards ND. I can pay sticker at Michigan but will probably go hungry for the rest of my life. am a bit torn between ND and Indiana. any thoughts?

[mu13ski]

so the deal is like this

1. ND: 30k per year
2. Indiana Bloomington: 35k per year
3. Illinois: Full ride
4. Michigan: sticker
5. NU: waitlisted.

I am leaning towards ND. I can pay sticker at Michigan but will probably go hungry for the rest of my life. am a bit torn between ND and Indiana. any thoughts?

Where do you want to practice? What are your career goals?

[UMich11]

so the deal is like this

1. ND: 30k per year
2. Indiana Bloomington: 35k per year
3. Illinois: Full ride
4. Michigan: sticker
5. NU: waitlisted.

I am leaning towards ND. I can pay sticker at Michigan but will probably go hungry for the rest of my life. am a bit torn between ND and Indiana. any thoughts?

I picked ND over Umich and a few other T14s - if you have questions send me a PM.

[kyle010723]

so the deal is like this

1. ND: 30k per year
2. Indiana Bloomington: 35k per year
3. Illinois: Full ride
4. Michigan: sticker
5. NU: waitlisted.

I am leaning towards ND. I can pay sticker at Michigan but will probably go hungry for the rest of my life. am a bit torn between ND and Indiana. any thoughts?

If it is solely between IU-B and ND, I would pick ND and it is not even close. IU-B is a great school if you only want to practice in Indiana.

As far as other schools, I think you can rule NU off the list. Even if you get off waitlist at NU, it will likely be sticker. In that case, why pick NU at sticker over Michigan when CoL is much lower in AA and employment outcomes are very similar. Exception would be if you are dead set on Chicago and have no tie to the city. Even then, I would probably still pick Michigan over NU.

I think the tough question for you is ND vs. UIUC. And that comes down to where you want to practice.

[altoline115]

Notre Dame's website seems to indicate a policy of no negotiation once scholarship information has been released.

While their 30k per year award is generous, I have close to full rides from regionally-prestigious schools in the area in which I'd like to work (the South). Should I attempt to negotiate further?

[BentleyLittle]

Notre Dame's website seems to indicate a policy of no negotiation once scholarship information has been released.

While their 30k per year award is generous, I have close to full rides from regionally-prestigious schools in the area in which I'd like to work (the South). Should I attempt to negotiate further?

A few of us have already tried. No dice.

[kyle010723]

Notre Dame's website seems to indicate a policy of no negotiation once scholarship information has been released.

While their 30k per year award is generous, I have close to full rides from regionally-prestigious schools in the area in which I'd like to work (the South). Should I attempt to negotiate further?

A full-ride from a local flagship is usually the correct answer, especially with the South. It is my understanding that the South is extremely tie and connection oriented.

[yossarian]

Notre Dame's website seems to indicate a policy of no negotiation once scholarship information has been released.

While their 30k per year award is generous, I have close to full rides from regionally-prestigious schools in the area in which I'd like to work (the South). Should I attempt to negotiate further?

This is clearly a weird cycle/new process for ND. They are being far more generous this year than in years past. Further, they seemed to indicate a willing to negotiate very early on in the cycle in some communications to some people. But, you're right, the website does say that. Additionally, they have form responses everyone on TLS who has tried to negotiate with a "Thanks, but we're not negotiating" letter.

If you wouldn't attend without more money, I guess I would ask. Likelihood is, however, that they are sticking to these initial offers.

The real answer to your question, however, lies in your goals. If regional placement in the south is your top priority, I would assume the full-rides are better options.

EDIT: Double-scooped.

[frank617]

This is a pretty simple question for this point in the process, but would you feel comfortable at ND if Chicago is your goal market (as opposed to Indy, other Midwestern areas)?

Again, it's a pretty basic question but I'm considering passing up a strong school in my home market for ND because of the Chicago connection so I wanted to throw that out there.

[John Everyman]

This is a pretty simple question for this point in the process, but would you feel comfortable at ND if Chicago is your goal market (as opposed to Indy, other Midwestern areas)?

Again, it's a pretty basic question but I'm considering passing up a strong school in my home market for ND because of the Chicago connection so I wanted to throw that out there.

I'm most likely passing up a very, very tempting offer from a mid-30's school in my current-home market purely due to the fact that I have been itching to find a way back to Chicago since I left six years ago. I'm not saying that this is a good idea, but, you wouldn't be alone making that decision.

[Kanye West]

Notre Dame liked to push their alumni base as a highly-coveted perk when trying to land jobs, but, obviously none of us will see the alumni DB unless we're students.

But, if you check out martindale.com you can get a pretty good estimate of how many grads are in certain area. Break it down by city, county, type of law, etc. Just hit 'Find a Lawyer' and pop in the school.

Site shows 616 lawyers from ND in Chicago, so I'd day it's an intelligent decision. Not sure of accuracy, but it's something.

[John Everyman]

Notre Dame liked to push their alumni base as a highly-coveted perk when trying to land jobs, but, obviously none of us will see the alumni DB unless we're students.

But, if you check out martindale.com you can get a pretty good estimate of how many grads are in certain area. Break it down by city, county, type of law, etc. Just hit 'Find a Lawyer' and pop in the school.

Site shows 616 lawyers from ND in Chicago, so I'd day it's an intelligent decision. Not sure of accuracy, but it's something.

Yeah, but going by that count you've got 1008 in Chicago from WashU, and I doubt most people would say WashU places just as well in Chicago as ND (I get that they're peer schools in that respect, but ND should consistently place more grads in Chicago just due to the fact that there really isn't much of a home market for ND grads outside of Chicago).

[JJ123]

They seem to be real sticklers on the scholarships. It was really weird; the guy I talked to told me they don't negotiate scholarships, but then was asking to see my other offers. I'd totally go here if they made a competitive offer, but they're being real asshats.

[kyle010723]

Yeah, but going by that count you've got 1008 in Chicago from WashU, and I doubt most people would say WashU places just as well in Chicago as ND (I get that they're peer schools in that respect, but ND should consistently place more grads in Chicago just due to the fact that there really isn't much of a home market for ND grads outside of Chicago).

Keep in mind ND's class size is much much smaller, and a typical ND Alumni (Law school or not, actually, undergrad Domer are much more loyal and you can always ask them for help even if they went elsewhere for law school) is much more involved than most any other school.

As far as Chicago goes, ND Club of Chicago is the largest alumni club for ND, and we own the entire Santa Fe Building on Michigan Ave. (This is where ND Club of Chicago, Law School, Business School, and some other offices are located at. The so-called "Chicago campus")

[ManoftheHour]

They seem to be real sticklers on the scholarships. It was really weird; the guy I talked to told me they don't negotiate scholarships, but then was asking to see my other offers. I'd totally go here if they made a competitive offer, but they're being real asshats.

If they'd just give me 5k more per year, I'd send in my first seat deposit right now. I'm serious.

Adcoms, are you reading this?

[yossarian]

They seem to be real sticklers on the scholarships. It was really weird; the guy I talked to told me they don't negotiate scholarships, but then was asking to see my other offers. I'd totally go here if they made a competitive offer, but they're being real asshats.

If they'd just give me 5k more per year, I'd send in my first seat deposit right now. I'm serious.

Adcoms, are you reading this?

I get this. Cuz I feel similarly. And then I think, really, for a net swing of like $17k, that's the difference. Then I'm like, yeah dummy, that's the value of my car, then I'm like yeah, but it's like a 18% swing in total indebtedness, then I'm like yeah, but if it's the school you really want, it's like, one extra year of repayment, then I'm like but what if no job, etc., etc., etc.

Point is. I'm really close, too. I'm having such a hard time finding that magic #. What do I actually need, is $15k that different? I'm freaking out obsessively. If nothing else, the small bump would give me the discount fallacy to make me feel better.

[BentleyLittle]

They seem to be real sticklers on the scholarships. It was really weird; the guy I talked to told me they don't negotiate scholarships, but then was asking to see my other offers. I'd totally go here if they made a competitive offer, but they're being real asshats.

If they'd just give me 5k more per year, I'd send in my first seat deposit right now. I'm serious.

Adcoms, are you reading this?

Do you qualify for need based aid? That could be another 15K right there.

[ChicagoDawg]

They seem to be real sticklers on the scholarships. It was really weird; the guy I talked to told me they don't negotiate scholarships, but then was asking to see my other offers. I'd totally go here if they made a competitive offer, but they're being real asshats.

The ad director I talked to told me they don't negotiate, but wanted to see my other offers in order to make more competitive offers in future years and "rip good language" from other school's letters...

[kyle010723]

The new director of admission was literally hired about a month ago, maybe he is just not comfortable or not in the position to negotiate. As much as that stinks, it does seem that ND is giving out a lot more money this year than they had been in the past.

[John Everyman]

They seem to be real sticklers on the scholarships. It was really weird; the guy I talked to told me they don't negotiate scholarships, but then was asking to see my other offers. I'd totally go here if they made a competitive offer, but they're being real asshats.

If they'd just give me 5k more per year, I'd send in my first seat deposit right now. I'm serious.

Adcoms, are you reading this?

I literally wrote an email that said exactly this. I got the nicest, and probably longest, letter from an admissions dean that I have ever received, but no bump.

[knope34]

I also sent an email about scholarship negotiation. As unlikely as it is given everyone else's experiences, I will let you know if anything comes from it...