Duke University School of Law C/O 2019 Applicants Forum

[B102]

It's also pretty strange that you have to provide the income of a parent who, in the case of divorce, has/had no custody or visiting rights.

Totally. And it punishes single parent households, who you'd think would need financial aid the most. If you, say, have a deadbeat dad who won't provide the info (or who is just not in your life), you are SOL with both Need Access and FAFSA.

Just curious, but how so? I plan to work on all of these forms this weekend, but I haven't looked at Need Access yet. I've never had any issues filling out FAFSA as the child of a single mom. What exactly makes Need Access different?

I don't have any problems with the FAFSA either. However NeedAccess requires income information from both parents. You can fill out a "special circumstances" box but there is no guarantee that you will be eligible for aid. I also think (and hope) that there may be a box if your parents have been divorced for a certain amount of time and one parent had full custody.

[skimmilk]

It's also pretty strange that you have to provide the income of a parent who, in the case of divorce, has/had no custody or visiting rights.

Totally. And it punishes single parent households, who you'd think would need financial aid the most. If you, say, have a deadbeat dad who won't provide the info (or who is just not in your life), you are SOL with both Need Access and FAFSA.

Just curious, but how so? I plan to work on all of these forms this weekend, but I haven't looked at Need Access yet. I've never had any issues filling out FAFSA as the child of a single mom. What exactly makes Need Access different?

I don't have any problems with the FAFSA either. However NeedAccess requires income information from both parents. You can fill out a "special circumstances" box but there is no guarantee that you will be eligible for aid. I also think (and hope) that there may be a box if your parents have been divorced for a certain amount of time and one parent had full custody.

I'm assuming that since my father never had custody nor was married to my mom that this won't be an issue? He is not even listed on my birth certificate and I did not list him on my applications as my father? I'm sure this would qualify as a special circumstance, but it is somewhat frustrating that supplying your single parent's information is not enough for them.

[periwinkley]

Got put on PR from PT. Sigh. Nothing to do now but wait a week and supplement material.

[B102]

It's also pretty strange that you have to provide the income of a parent who, in the case of divorce, has/had no custody or visiting rights.

Totally. And it punishes single parent households, who you'd think would need financial aid the most. If you, say, have a deadbeat dad who won't provide the info (or who is just not in your life), you are SOL with both Need Access and FAFSA.

Just curious, but how so? I plan to work on all of these forms this weekend, but I haven't looked at Need Access yet. I've never had any issues filling out FAFSA as the child of a single mom. What exactly makes Need Access different?

I don't have any problems with the FAFSA either. However NeedAccess requires income information from both parents. You can fill out a "special circumstances" box but there is no guarantee that you will be eligible for aid. I also think (and hope) that there may be a box if your parents have been divorced for a certain amount of time and one parent had full custody.

I'm assuming that since my father never had custody nor was married to my mom that this won't be an issue? He is not even listed on my birth certificate and I did not list him on my applications as my father? I'm sure this would qualify as a special circumstance, but it is somewhat frustrating that supplying your single parent's information is not enough for them.

I agree, and I can't imagine how they could expect someone in your situation to obtain that information. I haven't received financial support from either side since I moved out at 17. I have had no contact with my father's side in almost 20 years. I don't even know where he lives. It honestly seems like a very flawed system for delivering need based aid. Sorry for the rant.

[skimmilk]

It's also pretty strange that you have to provide the income of a parent who, in the case of divorce, has/had no custody or visiting rights.

Totally. And it punishes single parent households, who you'd think would need financial aid the most. If you, say, have a deadbeat dad who won't provide the info (or who is just not in your life), you are SOL with both Need Access and FAFSA.

Just curious, but how so? I plan to work on all of these forms this weekend, but I haven't looked at Need Access yet. I've never had any issues filling out FAFSA as the child of a single mom. What exactly makes Need Access different?

I don't have any problems with the FAFSA either. However NeedAccess requires income information from both parents. You can fill out a "special circumstances" box but there is no guarantee that you will be eligible for aid. I also think (and hope) that there may be a box if your parents have been divorced for a certain amount of time and one parent had full custody.

I'm assuming that since my father never had custody nor was married to my mom that this won't be an issue? He is not even listed on my birth certificate and I did not list him on my applications as my father? I'm sure this would qualify as a special circumstance, but it is somewhat frustrating that supplying your single parent's information is not enough for them.

I agree, and I can't imagine how they could expect someone in your situation to obtain that information. I haven't received financial support from either side since I moved out at 17. I have had no contact with my father's side in almost 20 years. I don't even know where he lives. It honestly seems like a very flawed system for delivering need based aid. Sorry for the rant.

No need to apologize, this process seems very frustrating. When I visited Duke over Christmas break I met with the Director of Financial Aid. He was very friendly and helpful. Shooting Duke's financial aid office might help, especially if he is the one that responds. This is of course assuming that you haven't already done this? When I met with the Director he honestly made it seem like Need Access was a way for them to assess your need, parents aside (unlike FAFSA) so I am surprised that it requires so much information regarding their income.

[B102]

No need to apologize, this process seems very frustrating. When I visited Duke over Christmas break I met with the Director of Financial Aid. He was very friendly and helpful. Shooting Duke's financial aid office might help, especially if he is the one that responds. This is of course assuming that you haven't already done this? When I met with the Director he honestly made it seem like Need Access was a way for them to assess your need, parents aside (unlike FAFSA) so I am surprised that it requires so much information regarding their income.

I'm currently on priority reserve at Duke (working my "why Duke") but I am in at Cornell and they require need access too. I hadn't thought about calling and talking with finaid about it, that's a good idea.

[skimmilk]

No need to apologize, this process seems very frustrating. When I visited Duke over Christmas break I met with the Director of Financial Aid. He was very friendly and helpful. Shooting Duke's financial aid office might help, especially if he is the one that responds. This is of course assuming that you haven't already done this? When I met with the Director he honestly made it seem like Need Access was a way for them to assess your need, parents aside (unlike FAFSA) so I am surprised that it requires so much information regarding their income.

I'm currently on priority reserve at Duke (working my "why Duke") but I am in at Cornell and they require need access too. I hadn't thought about calling and talking with finaid about it, that's a good idea.

Just realized I left out call/email.. Please do not shoot at any financial aid office But in all seriousness, give them a call. They can probably share some insight as to what you should do and maybe they will even take down your name so when they are looking at your forms they will be more sympathetic to your case. That seems like a longshot, but Duke's finaid office seemed to favor personal interactions.

[texasellewoods]

Question -
I need to cancel my scholarship interview but am not sure how to go about it. I don't want to seem rude, but after recent developments I have no intention of enrolling at Duke no matter what the scholarship offer is, and it seems rather inconsiderate to waste their time and money. Any advice???

[spauldingno]

Question -
I need to cancel my scholarship interview but am not sure how to go about it. I don't want to seem rude, but after recent developments I have no intention of enrolling at Duke no matter what the scholarship offer is, and it seems rather inconsiderate to waste their time and money. Any advice???

The system that allows you to schedule the interview has a cancel feature. I imagine that is best so that slot can be released to someone else as well. (I switched the times on mine- it was painless).

[texasellewoods]

Question -
I need to cancel my scholarship interview but am not sure how to go about it. I don't want to seem rude, but after recent developments I have no intention of enrolling at Duke no matter what the scholarship offer is, and it seems rather inconsiderate to waste their time and money. Any advice???

The system that allows you to schedule the interview has a cancel feature. I imagine that is best so that slot can be released to someone else as well. (I switched the times on mine- it was painless).

Any idea how to get back to that system..? I don't think I ever received a confirmation email from them, and I can't log into the financial aid page on Duke for some reason.

[lymenheimer]

Question -
I need to cancel my scholarship interview but am not sure how to go about it. I don't want to seem rude, but after recent developments I have no intention of enrolling at Duke no matter what the scholarship offer is, and it seems rather inconsiderate to waste their time and money. Any advice???

The system that allows you to schedule the interview has a cancel feature. I imagine that is best so that slot can be released to someone else as well. (I switched the times on mine- it was painless).

Any idea how to get back to that system..? I don't think I ever received a confirmation email from them, and I can't log into the financial aid page on Duke for some reason.

PMed

[GrumpyYellowOgre]

Got put on PR from PT. Sigh. Nothing to do now but wait a week and supplement material.

Same here!

[larsy91]

If any admits are going to cancel or reschedule their fin aid interview, please let a fellow TLS-er know. First available dates aren't until March 9th now...

[vibius]

If any admits are going to cancel or reschedule their fin aid interview, please let a fellow TLS-er know. First available dates aren't until March 9th now...

PMed

[redfred22]

Got put on PR from PT. Sigh. Nothing to do now but wait a week and supplement material.

Same here!

What are yalls stats? Same thing happened to me. Feel free to PM.

[texasellewoods]

If any admits are going to cancel or reschedule their fin aid interview, please let a fellow TLS-er know. First available dates aren't until March 9th now...

PMed!

[madoodle16]

PT under review since 1/29. I'm starting to obsessively refresh now status checker

I don't recall anyone this late who is applying via PT get their decision in under 10 days. You know what the time frame is, no need to stress yourself further.

This. You are going to get your decision on the 10th day, and it will likely come in the late afternoon/evening.

Thanks guys! I was mostly waiting for the UR 2 and it updated today so now I can stop refreshing haha

Accepted

[RZ5646]

How does Mordecai work? If I'm being considered for it, should I have received some notice by now? With the fin aid interviews so far away, I'm guessing there won't be much money left for me here

[lymenheimer]

How does Mordecai work? If I'm being considered for it, should I have received some notice by now? With the fin aid interviews so far away, I'm guessing there won't be much money left for me here

idk how many rounds of Mordecais there are (or if there even are multiples). The first round has already passed. However, I don't think you should be concerned about there not being much money left, whatever that means.

[WhiteHouse]

Random question:

If they are putting PT applicants on priority reserve, is there any hope for non-PT applicants? Isn't the whole point of PT to get "better-numbered" candidates to apply. If they're turning away these "better numbers" then what hope is there for the rest of us?

[urbanist11]

They definitely have accepted non pt people in the past. Keep in mind dukes class is pretty small.

[gamerish]

Random question:

If they are putting PT applicants on priority reserve, is there any hope for non-PT applicants? Isn't the whole point of PT to get "better-numbered" candidates to apply. If they're turning away these "better numbers" then what hope is there for the rest of us?

If you're concerned that they're doing it because the class size is getting full, I don't know that I'd be excessively worried about that yet. I got PR off of PT months ago and am above both 75ths. Maybe they're being YP heavy this cycle or maybe high scorers are horrible aspies, who knows. I wouldn't count yourself out yet though.

[lymenheimer]

I don't know if it's "better-numbered" per se, but more "individuals with strong numbers who are likely to attend". A couple people who tried to solicit PT early in the cycle got an email back asking about their interest in Duke. Also what Urbanist said about small class size. It is fortunate for WLers though that the seat deposit is basically a commitment to attend. So those who do not pay will not have a seat in the class which means Duke can decisively and substantively get to its WL quicker than a bunch of other schools.

eta: also what gamerish said. There is a lot that goes into admissions on top of just "what are the numbers".

[RZ5646]

How does Mordecai work? If I'm being considered for it, should I have received some notice by now? With the fin aid interviews so far away, I'm guessing there won't be much money left for me here

idk how many rounds of Mordecais there are (or if there even are multiples). The first round has already passed. However, I don't think you should be concerned about there not being much money left, whatever that means.

There's a finite amount of scholarship money.

[lymenheimer]

How does Mordecai work? If I'm being considered for it, should I have received some notice by now? With the fin aid interviews so far away, I'm guessing there won't be much money left for me here

idk how many rounds of Mordecais there are (or if there even are multiples). The first round has already passed. However, I don't think you should be concerned about there not being much money left, whatever that means.

There's a finite amount of scholarship money.

Right. But you're assuming that they don't have measures in place to ensure individuals get the scholarships they deserve. That they don't keep a reserve for negotiations. That they give all the money to the first interviewers and then screw the later interviewers. I mean, the scholarship committee just (reportedly) met for the first time this past friday. Other than Mordecais, nobody has gotten any money offer yet. You're just not giving the whole process enough credit.