Minnesota c/o 2016 Applicants (2012-2013 cycle) Forum

[simplycatalina]

File went complete today, pretty quick considering what I've read from others.

Hoping to go under review in the next week or so! Very excited...

Same! I went complete today too, that was less than a week.

Sweet! Is UMN your first choice? Been very encouraged the past week, I've been reading that 167 is the magic number for most.

I love the Twin City area, spent a ton of time there traveling for hockey growing up.

It's one of my top choices but I'm kind of a reverse splitter so I'm just hoping for the best. I've actually never been to the Twin City area, I'm from San Francisco, but I've heard good things about it.

[romanticegotist]

It's one of my top choices but I'm kind of a reverse splitter so I'm just hoping for the best. I've actually never been to the Twin City area, I'm from San Francisco, but I've heard good things about it.

It's really awesome up there! Lemme know if you have questions about the twin cities.

[bettercallsaul91]

It's one of my top choices but I'm kind of a reverse splitter so I'm just hoping for the best. I've actually never been to the Twin City area, I'm from San Francisco, but I've heard good things about it.

+1 exactly haha. Can barely handle the 33-degree strangely cold weather we've been having in SF this week. -35-degrees ... phewwwwwww ...

[romanticegotist]

It's one of my top choices but I'm kind of a reverse splitter so I'm just hoping for the best. I've actually never been to the Twin City area, I'm from San Francisco, but I've heard good things about it.

+1 exactly haha. Can barely handle the 33-degree strangely cold weather we've been having in SF this week. -35-degrees ... phewwwwwww ...

Well fortunately you can get from the campus bus stop to the law building underground haha.

[Jacq2212]

Just received my packet this morning 1/17/13 accepted 1/11/13, very thankful and excited to find that I've been offered a full tuition and fees scholarship! This has been my only response from schools so far and I'm relaxed to know that even if nothing else happens this is a wonderful opportunity.

[WhatOurBodiesAreFor]

Why does Minnesota have huge ranges and unpredictable scholly offers? I'm at the LSAT median but just below the GPA's and they offered me over $100K. I'm assuming it's the poor location it has compared to its peers. Is this correct? I also have a hunch they do indeed look beyond the numbers a little bit.

Thoughts?

[alwayssunnyinfl]

Why does Minnesota have huge ranges and unpredictable scholly offers? I'm at the LSAT median but just below the GPA's and they offered me over $100K. I'm assuming it's the poor location it has compared to its peers. Is this correct? I also have a hunch they do indeed look beyond the numbers a little bit.

Thoughts?

They're really well endowed, especially for a public school, and they're currently in a big fundraising push which earmarks a huge chunk of the money for scholarships. I would not be surprised if they continue giving out large scholarship packages, especially to students who they think won't get accepted to higher ranked schools and will get little-to-no money from peer schools. At least, that has been my impression.

[Nova]

I'm assuming it's the poor location it has compared to its peers. Is this correct?

Its cold and not in a major market, so its not for everyone. I wouldnt call the location comparatively poor, though. I think Minneapolis is amazing.

[alwayssunnyinfl]

I'm assuming it's the poor location it has compared to its peers. Is this correct?

Its cold and not in a major market, so its not for everyone. I wouldnt call the location poor, though. I think Minneapolis is amazing.

Yeah, especially compared to its peers. Of the top-30ish midwestern schools, I'd say Minnesota is in the best city.

[timeandspace11]

Should you only negotiate aid after you get offers from peer and higher ranked schools or could you inform them they are a serious choice but financial aid is important? I already got 72k but with out of state tuition that is still pretty expensive.

[BigZuck]

Should you only negotiate aid after you get offers from peer and higher ranked schools or could you inform them they are a serious choice but financial aid is important? I already got 72k but with out of state tuition that is still pretty expensive.

No harm in trying that but I would wait and say that as a last resort. See what your other offers are first and try and use those. IMO.

[alwayssunnyinfl]

Here's a really good article on negotiating.

I'd say that you should probably wait. However, it doesn't necessarily need to be because you're waiting on offers from other schools. For me, money is one of the biggest considerations, but I also don't like the idea of pitting on school against the other, at least not explicitly. I made the deal with myself that I would either pay X amount or less for a law degree, go to a top school, or not go at all. I still haven't decided if I'm even going to reference other schools' scholarship offers in my letter when the time comes. It's probably going to be more of an "I won't be able to pay more than this" mentality.

I'm just beginning to really think, in concrete terms, about how to approach this process, but this is where a lot of people are going to diverge based on personal interests and communication skills. However, and maybe this is just flawed thinking on my part, being as crass as saying "so-and-so gave me this much, what are you going to do about it?" just rubs me the wrong way.

[BigZuck]

Sunny, why do you see that as crass? I wouldn't phrase it that directly but I think it's ok to basically say that because that's just business. People do that when buying goods and services all the time.

Also these schools lie to applicants and admits all the time, particularly when it comes to job prospects (even now in the era of things like LST). Even t14 schools do it. Personally I'm not worried about being crass and saying they need to do better considering how they treat prospective students.

Eta: when I say "these schools" I just meant lots of law schools in general. Wasn't meant as a slight toward Minnesota or every single law school.

[alwayssunnyinfl]

Sunny, why do you see that as crass? I wouldn't phrase it that directly but I think it's ok to basically say that because that's just business. People do that when buying goods and services all the time.

Also these schools lie to applicants and admits all the time, particularly when it comes to job prospects (even now in the era of things like LST). Even t14 schools do it. Personally I'm not worried about being crass and saying they need to do better considering how they treat prospective students.

I would probably feel differently if I were in a position to get a much better deal from a peer school, but in all reality I probably won't unless WUSTL goes crazy this year with scholarship money. But most likely, Minnesota will be the best school in the best city with the best scholarship offer that I'll have (barring a miracle with NU) so instead of being able to use another school as leverage, my bargaining position will be more absolute. My personal limit is the $20.5k limit before having to take out PLUS loans. Any cost more than that, and I'd be tempted to just sit this year out, work, and reapply next year.

And what I said about being crass; I think we need to remember that the narrative we hear from internet blogs is very negative and also narrow in scope. Yes, the numbers are pretty damning in some ways, and yes the schools are a business, but Minnesota (ETA: and schools like it) is not some "festering TTT" that swindles its students, at least that's not how the admissions office sees reality. I'd say go into the negotiating process with these things in mind, and know your position relative to the school, but be careful not to let that animosity spill over into your correspondances with the school. Come off as well-informed but not jaded.

[romanticegotist]

I'm assuming it's the poor location it has compared to its peers. Is this correct?

Its cold and not in a major market, so its not for everyone. I wouldnt call the location poor, though. I think Minneapolis is amazing.

Yeah, especially compared to its peers. Of the top-30ish midwestern schools, I'd say Minnesota is in the best city.

The Twin Cities are wonderful. For those who care, Minneapolis is the most bicycle-friendly city in the nation (odd I know), one of the most 'hipster' cities (if that's your thing), and one of the best cities to 'live well' in (meaning that if you are making good money then your quality of life will be higher than if you were making good money in a different city [this is to say nothing about how nice it is if you're a broke student too]). Pretty sure that one thing Minneapolis has going for it is that there are a lot of corporate HQs there - Best Buy, Target, 3M, MedTronic, etc - so non-firm legal jobs are pretty plentiful.

[Granfalloon12]

Is anyone else going to the Minnesota Law Highlights Event on Friday? I couldn't go to ASW, so I'm going to visit the school this week instead. Flight and hotel are booked, and I'm very excited as UMN is definitely a top choice of mine!

[WhatOurBodiesAreFor]

I'm assuming it's the poor location it has compared to its peers. Is this correct?

Its cold and not in a major market, so its not for everyone. I wouldnt call the location poor, though. I think Minneapolis is amazing.

Yeah, especially compared to its peers. Of the top-30ish midwestern schools, I'd say Minnesota is in the best city.

The Twin Cities are wonderful. For those who care, Minneapolis is the most bicycle-friendly city in the nation (odd I know), one of the most 'hipster' cities (if that's your thing), and one of the best cities to 'live well' in (meaning that if you are making good money then your quality of life will be higher than if you were making good money in a different city [this is to say nothing about how nice it is if you're a broke student too]). Pretty sure that one thing Minneapolis has going for it is that there are a lot of corporate HQs there - Best Buy, Target, 3M, MedTronic, etc - so non-firm legal jobs are pretty plentiful.

OK, but: http://www.lstscorereports.com/?school=minnesota

Not that good.

[nickb285]

.

[romanticegotist]

OK, but: http://www.lstscorereports.com/?school=minnesota

Not that good.

WTF is up with those 25-50% numbers. What a weird admissions dept. And yeah, I don't like the look of that. How's it compare w/peers?

[Nova]

OK, but: http://www.lstscorereports.com/?school=minnesota

Not that good.

WTF is up with those 25-50% numbers. What a weird admissions dept. And yeah, I don't like the look of that. How's it compare w/peers?

They are openly gaming medians. Almost everyone either has a 3.8+ or a 167+. Their other number is often much lower. Thats why theyre considered splitter and reverse splitter friendly.

[WhatOurBodiesAreFor]

OK, but: http://www.lstscorereports.com/?school=minnesota

Not that good.

WTF is up with those 25-50% numbers. What a weird admissions dept. And yeah, I don't like the look of that. How's it compare w/peers?

(Employment Score)/(Under-employment score)
Emory: 68.4/22.2
Wash U: 57.7/25.6
GWU: 80.7/8.3
U Wash: 51.1/26.4
ND: 62.1/26.8
UMN: 58.6/25.3

[alwayssunnyinfl]

Keep in mind that something like 15% of GWU's employed are funded by the school

[WhatOurBodiesAreFor]

Keep in mind that something like 15% of GWU's employed are funded by the school

Never heard this before. Could you link me to something?

[Nova]

Keep in mind that something like 15% of GWU's employed are funded by the school

Never heard this before. Could you link me to something?

http://www.lstscorereports.com/?school=gw&show=chars

15.6% of graduates were employed in school-funded jobs. 15.4% were in full-time, long-term school-funded jobs (i.e. the job was for at least 35 hours per week, and had a fixed duration of at least one year or the job had no definite duration).

[historicrep]

under review! see ya in a few weeks (I hope!)