George Washington c/o 2018 Applicants (2014-2015 Cycle) Forum

[Dipper]

Anyone successfully negotiate their scholarship yet?

[Marylander25]

Emailed them today with my other offers. They said they'll start reviewing scholarship increase requests in early April and will provide a decision by April 13th, but we have to pay our deposits to be in the running.

[Nina8182]

Emailed them today with my other offers. They said they'll start reviewing scholarship increase requests in early April and will provide a decision by April 13th, but we have to pay our deposits to be in the running.

+1

[Revelation]

Anyone successfully negotiate their scholarship yet?

Emailed them last week and heard back yesterday. Some development but no real movement, PM for details.

[monkeyKT]

Did anyone see the new rankings out today? GW dropped to 22. Amy thoughts to this? I'm debating a school ranked at 20... not sure how consistent or inconsistent GW's ranks have been.

[HopefulURM]

Did anyone see the new rankings out today? GW dropped to 22. Amy thoughts to this? I'm debating a school ranked at 20... not sure how consistent or inconsistent GW's ranks have been.

It really only dropped one spot, mostly because of what happened in the T14 number ordering. I tend to like the Employment data that US News has listed for GW over many of the lower T14 and T20 schools, not sure why this doesn't push them higher.

[ChemEng1642]

Hello everyone! I withdrew from GW today given my other options - hopefully this frees up some money and an acceptance for someone else! Good luck!

[Iagreetotheseterms]

Did anyone see the new rankings out today? GW dropped to 22. Amy thoughts to this? I'm debating a school ranked at 20... not sure how consistent or inconsistent GW's ranks have been.

It really only dropped one spot, mostly because of what happened in the T14 number ordering. I tend to like the Employment data that US News has listed for GW over many of the lower T14 and T20 schools, not sure why this doesn't push them higher.

It fell because of changes made to how unsells rates school funded positions. Use the aba employment statistics or NALP if available, instead of US News. They are also becoming less selective and have larger class sizes. The question is if this is the beginning of a downward trend, of if they will correct and stay around 20.
I was deciding between GW and WUSTL, and chose WUSTL mostly because of cost. However the fact that GW seems to value income over other criteria was also a factor. Larger classes, less selective admissions, and taking in median transfers from schools like American. I was worried that this would start eroding the value of a degree from GW. Other people have made similar observations.

[Iagreetotheseterms]

Did anyone see the new rankings out today? GW dropped to 22. Amy thoughts to this? I'm debating a school ranked at 20... not sure how consistent or inconsistent GW's ranks have been.

http://7sage.com/top-law-school-rankings/

They've been circling 20. In 2009 they were #28.

[HopefulURM]

Did anyone see the new rankings out today? GW dropped to 22. Amy thoughts to this? I'm debating a school ranked at 20... not sure how consistent or inconsistent GW's ranks have been.

It really only dropped one spot, mostly because of what happened in the T14 number ordering. I tend to like the Employment data that US News has listed for GW over many of the lower T14 and T20 schools, not sure why this doesn't push them higher.

It fell because of changes made to how unsells rates school funded positions. Use the aba employment statistics or NALP if available, instead of US News. They are also becoming less selective.

I was always curious about why school funded positions posed such a big issue. From what I've read around the interwebz, most of those jobs only pay a very minimal wage ($15-$25/hour?). Yet, the Median income for private sector jobs remains at 160K, and public sector jobs median remains pretty normal at 57k. Able to shed some light on this?

[Iagreetotheseterms]

I was always curious about why school funded positions posed such a big issue. From what I've read around the interwebz, most of those jobs only pay a very minimal wage ($15-$25/hour?). Yet, the Median income for private sector jobs remains at 160K, and public sector jobs median remains pretty normal at 57k. Able to shed some light on this?

At GW it's $15 and the previous dean tried to reduce it to $10. They are used to game the rankings and make the employment statistics better. People at these jobs would probably be unemployed or at a similar low paying job, instead they are counted as full time bar passage required.

http://www.law.gwu.edu/Careers/prospect ... Report.pdf

Only some people report salaries, and those with higher salaries are more likely to report.

[Marylander25]

What I'm curious about is why Emory has an even higher percentage of its grads in school-funded positions and it stayed at 19. There must be something other than employment score that knocked down GW that Emory was immune from.

[tnlegal]

So I've been accepted to GW, but no scholarship. Debating putting in my seat deposit to possibly get one in April. I was looking at other scholarship offers, and found this guideline which those schools claim they follow:
http://www.lsac.org/docs/default-source ... oodadm.pdf

Under Financial Aid Section B. 3. is says:

Law schools that have not made institutional financial aid awards (for funds within the control of the law school) by April 1, should not require a nonrefundable financial commitment from applicants who have submitted timely financial aid applications until after such awards are made.

similar language is also under the section for the application process.

Does anyone know if GW honors this guideline? As in, if I put in a seat deposit, and don't get a scholly, can I get that money back? I don't think the document is by any means binding on law schools, so I'd bet they'd try and keep it. On the other hand, this seems like something law schools would try to follow to be respectable.

[HopefulURM]

So I've been accepted to GW, but no scholarship. Debating putting in my seat deposit to possibly get one in April. I was looking at other scholarship offers, and found this guideline which those schools claim they follow:
http://www.lsac.org/docs/default-source ... oodadm.pdf

Under Financial Aid Section B. 3. is says:

Law schools that have not made institutional financial aid awards (for funds within the control of the law school) by April 1, should not require a nonrefundable financial commitment from applicants who have submitted timely financial aid applications until after such awards are made.

similar language is also under the section for the application process.

Does anyone know if GW honors this guideline? As in, if I put in a seat deposit, and don't get a scholly, can I get that money back? I don't think the document is by any means binding on law schools, so I'd bet they'd try and keep it. On the other hand, this seems like something law schools would try to follow to be respectable.

Any reason why you would WANT to put in the seat deposit ahead of time? I say wait until April 1st and then deposit, it's not due until April 15.

[BroncBaseball33]

So I've been accepted to GW, but no scholarship. Debating putting in my seat deposit to possibly get one in April. I was looking at other scholarship offers, and found this guideline which those schools claim they follow:
http://www.lsac.org/docs/default-source ... oodadm.pdf

Under Financial Aid Section B. 3. is says:

Law schools that have not made institutional financial aid awards (for funds within the control of the law school) by April 1, should not require a nonrefundable financial commitment from applicants who have submitted timely financial aid applications until after such awards are made.

similar language is also under the section for the application process.

Does anyone know if GW honors this guideline? As in, if I put in a seat deposit, and don't get a scholly, can I get that money back? I don't think the document is by any means binding on law schools, so I'd bet they'd try and keep it. On the other hand, this seems like something law schools would try to follow to be respectable.

Any reason why you would WANT to put in the seat deposit ahead of time? I say wait until April 1st and then deposit, it's not due until April 15.

Also, just read this on the admitted students site,

'Please note: Submission of your seat deposit honors the following Acknowledgement:

"I understand that my acceptance to The George Washington University Law School is issued with the recognition that any course work I have in progress will be completed satisfactorily, with no significant changes in my grades. In addition, I understand that my non-refundable deposit(s) will be applied to tuition incurred in my first semester of attendance, and that if, for any reason, I withdraw prior to or after the point of matriculation at GW Law, my deposit(s) will be forfeited."'

[tnlegal]

Any reason why you would WANT to put in the seat deposit ahead of time? I say wait until April 1st and then deposit, it's not due until April 15.

The way I read the admissions lady's reply to me, it made it seem like I would have to put in a seat deposit to have the chance at scholarship money. Now it's clear that's not the case, thankfully.

So I've been accepted to GW, but no scholarship. Debating putting in my seat deposit to possibly get one in April. I was looking at other scholarship offers, and found this guideline which those schools claim they follow:

Under Financial Aid Section B. 3. is says:

Law schools that have not made institutional financial aid awards (for funds within the control of the law school) by April 1, should not require a nonrefundable financial commitment from applicants who have submitted timely financial aid applications until after such awards are made.

similar language is also under the section for the application process.

Does anyone know if GW honors this guideline? As in, if I put in a seat deposit, and don't get a scholly, can I get that money back? I don't think the document is by any means binding on law schools, so I'd bet they'd try and keep it. On the other hand, this seems like something law schools would try to follow to be respectable.

Any reason why you would WANT to put in the seat deposit ahead of time? I say wait until April 1st and then deposit, it's not due until April 15.

Also, just read this on the admitted students site,

'Please note: Submission of your seat deposit honors the following Acknowledgement:

"I understand that my acceptance to The George Washington University Law School is issued with the recognition that any course work I have in progress will be completed satisfactorily, with no significant changes in my grades. In addition, I understand that my non-refundable deposit(s) will be applied to tuition incurred in my first semester of attendance, and that if, for any reason, I withdraw prior to or after the point of matriculation at GW Law, my deposit(s) will be forfeited."'

Thanks for the catch. So they do cover themselves that way.

[ano957]

Still no scholarship from GW. Should I be concerned? LSAT is above the 75th by quite a bit and I've seen people with my numbers get 90k on LSN.

[LawsRUs]

Same for me as well. no scholarship info. i thought i wld get some money even if little..

[jendux]

Tried to solicit a fee waiver about a month ago... they said no. Then I get this email today that they have extended the application deadline along with a fee waiver... glad i didn't send in my app anyway hope this means maybe they want me...

[iguazu]

Tried to solicit a fee waiver about a month ago... they said no. Then I get this email today that they have extended the application deadline along with a fee waiver... glad i didn't send in my app anyway hope this means maybe they want me...

Got the same email. They were the only school that didn't give me a waiver when I asked, so not going to send in my app and let them reject me to help their ranking

[Sachem]

Just get fee waiver email from GW. The deadline is also extended to Apr 1st.
I wrote to ask for fee waiver and was denied by GW before. Interesting.
Are they doing this to improve ranking?

[Harry_Pluxen]

Just had a change to 3/12/15 on status date & "Decision Made" to be communicated by e-mail.
No indication of what it was yet.

[bpeck]

Just received a fee waiver as well, trying to decide if its worth the 28 dollar CAS fee at this point to apply.

[bababang]

Just had a change to 3/12/15 on status date & "Decision Made" to be communicated by e-mail.
No indication of what it was yet.

Same here. Any idea how long it's going to take for them to give us a response?

[Harry_Pluxen]

Just had a change to 3/12/15 on status date & "Decision Made" to be communicated by e-mail.
No indication of what it was yet.

Same here. Any idea how long it's going to take for them to give us a response?

It should be instantaneous. The top of the status checker indicates that a decision has been made and that all decisions are communicated via e-mail. I feel as if an auto-reject e-mail would be instantaneous. Since I haven't received one yet, lets hope that this is a good sign!