SMU C/O 2017 (2013-2014 Applicants) Forum

[Mandakay16]

Visiting the school tomorrow. So excited!

Have fun!

[lsatyolo]

Got the call on valentines day. I was really surprised considering I sent my app 1/29. Got a lil $ too. I've lived in Texas my entire life (Houston area) and have never been to Dallas. Definitely visiting soon!

[Mandakay16]

Been looking at apartments nearby..

Curious to what everyone is thinking of doing?

[BVest]

Here's my quick and dirty of the three main options:

Village is alright, and you'll have lots of company from classmates. It's a dense collection of two-story apartment buildings mostly built around 1965-1980.

Uptown area will also give you lots of classmates around you. Mostly more modern apartments (as in within the last decade) but a couple of older buildings in there too.

If you're looking for a yard and don't want to be too far away, there's the lower greenville/m streets/lakewood area (lots of 1920s to 1940s homes, with a sprinkling of classmates) or the neighborhoods just east of the village and north of mockingbird (lots of ranch style homes and a couple classmates). Historic East Dallas (Swiss Ave/Munger Heights) is also cool. If you're going this route, you'll just have to pick a day to drive the neighborhoods, preferably with an ipad surfing CL for new posts, and then be ready to sign a lease that day.

[Mandakay16]

Thanks for the reply. Yeah, I was looking at the Village - there is a lot of options that aren't too bad priced.

[l1bound]

Does anyone know if we can negotiate our scholarship offers? has anyone done it successfully?

[kalvano]

Does anyone know if we can negotiate our scholarship offers? has anyone done it successfully?

Nope.

[Mandakay16]

Still looking at housing -

Does anyone know if Lovers Lane, Royal Lane, and Leisure Drive are o.k. areas to live?

[BVest]

Still looking at housing -

Does anyone know if Lovers Lane, Royal Lane, and Leisure Drive are o.k. areas to live?

The first two are very broad descriptions:

Lovers runs from the airport to east Dallas. I'm going to assume you're talking about Lovers in the Village area and not about Park Cities or the airport area. It's a decent area and will be wall-to-wall apartment complexes serving the SMU community until you get to Skillman. After that, it's a 1955-1965 single-family neighborhood for about 10 more blocks before it dead ends at NW Highway. The neighborhood, to my recollection, seemed to fall apart a little bit in the last 3 or so blocks before you get to NW Highway.

Royal will likely be farther north than you really want to be if you can swing it.

I can't really speak to the neighborhood around Leisure (just outside the NE corner of 635). That's really going to be a longer commute than you want on some days, but won't be terrible and will give you the option of surface streets as well as freeways. It will certainly beat anywhere that requires you to get on a freeway. I think I ended up in that area once looking for a super walmart at an odd hour. I want to say it's just kind of strip-center hell with apartments tucked in around.

[Mandakay16]

You and Kalvano are awesome!

Yeah, I'm looking at the La Vita and Alista apartments - I guess the best thing to do is just visit and get a sense of the community when I'm down in March.

[BVest]

I guess the best thing to do is just visit and get a sense of the community when I'm down in March.

Definitely do this. I didn't look up the second one, but the first one, while it appears to have been redone well, is way down at the end of Lovers (that I mentioned above) so that it backs up to the businesses on NW Hwy. Be sure to drive past it as well so you get the full sense of what's around it.

It's worth noting that rents on what are commonly student apts get higher as you get into summer, so getting a lease signed in April or so (to start in summer) is to your advantage if you're 100% sure you're going to SMU.

[kobe1020]

by sending an email asking about updated scholarship i think i just made a mistake. people, stand our ground and be patient..
read this
http://spiveyconsulting.com/blog/timing ... nd-timing/

[BVest]

by sending an email asking about updated scholarship i think i just made a mistake. people, stand our ground and be patient..
read this
http://spiveyconsulting.com/blog/timing ... nd-timing/

A mistake how? You're already in and SMU won't negotiate scholarship with you anyway. No harm no foul.

(Note, SMU has been known to offer more scholarship money on people who are matriculating elsewhere in the last few days before orientation, but that's not the same.)

[kobe1020]

by sending an email asking about updated scholarship i think i just made a mistake. people, stand our ground and be patient..
read this
http://spiveyconsulting.com/blog/timing ... nd-timing/

A mistake how? You're already in and SMU won't negotiate scholarship with you anyway. No harm no foul.

(Note, SMU has been known to offer more scholarship money on people who are matriculating elsewhere in the last few days before orientation, but that's not the same.)

i'm not actually negotiating because they've replied someone else that they are reevaluating applicants/admits who had updated LSAT. i just asked when they will have an answer for us all. hopefully my email won't piss them off. just sit tight and wait...

[fallingup77]

Anyone heard from Sumners yet? I think emails for interviews had gone out by this time last year.

[LEPWU]

Anyone heard from Sumners yet? I think emails for interviews had gone out by this time last year.

I too noticed that the emails had gone out by this time last year, but in earlier years they seemed to have gone out closer to March 1 or even later. ...no word that I've heard thus far!

[Doctolaw]

Anyone heard from Sumners yet? I think emails for interviews had gone out by this time last year.

I too noticed that the emails had gone out by this time last year, but in earlier years they seemed to have gone out closer to March 1 or even later. ...no word that I've heard thus far!

I haven't heard anything either. Waiting. Hoping.

[Cthon]

Hello fellow SMU applicants,

So I was admitted and received my admissions package. Stats: 3.27, 161, URM
24K per a year scholarship.

While I'm happy about getting a scholarship, I'm of course going to try to negotiate for 30 K.
I've browsed this thread and others... it doesn't look good, though there doesn't seem to be a lot of information. Everyone is saying that SMU doesn't negotiate except for last minute scholarship increases.

Maybe this question is better suited for the URM forum, but does me being a URM(AA male) give me extra leverage? I'm also waiting on a February LSAT and other law school admissions(if I manage to get in any T14), but I'm wondering if being a URM would make a difference as well(or if I would just fall into the pool of people who failed at negotations)

I guess the only conceivable way anyone could actually answer this would be if any of you knew of any stories of people who failed to negotiate(despite having higher ranked law school acceptance, higher ranked law school acceptances + better scholarship money, and/or higher lsats) and were also URMs.

Would SMU really refuses to upgrade their scholarship even if someone got 10 more points on the lsat or into a t14 school?

[bound]

Hello fellow SMU applicants,

So I was admitted and received my admissions package. Stats: 3.27, 161, URM
24K per a year scholarship.

While I'm happy about getting a scholarship, I'm of course going to try to negotiate for 30 K.
I've browsed this thread and others... it doesn't look good, though there doesn't seem to be a lot of information. Everyone is saying that SMU doesn't negotiate except for last minute scholarship increases.

Maybe this question is better suited for the URM forum, but does me being a URM(AA male) give me extra leverage? I'm also waiting on a February LSAT and other law school admissions(if I manage to get in any T14), but I'm wondering if being a URM would make a difference as well(or if I would just fall into the pool of people who failed at negotations)

I guess the only conceivable way anyone could actually answer this would be if any of you knew of any stories of people who failed to negotiate(despite having higher ranked law school acceptance, higher ranked law school acceptances + better scholarship money, and/or higher lsats) and were also URMs.

Would SMU really refuses to upgrade their scholarship even if someone got 10 more points on the lsat or into a t14 school?

There's certainly no way to know for sure unless you try. But what I gather is that SMU really wants students who want SMU. They want students who know they want Dallas or Texas in general. Obviously going to another regional school isn't going to help that student break the Dallas market - so probably not going to help with the negotiations. I'm no genius on the matter, but thats just the way it seems. They want students who are serious about attending SMU.


By the way, isn't there a full-ride scholarship that you could have applied for thats specifically for URM? 99% positive you missed the deadline, but that could have been your opportunity.

[BVest]

Hello fellow SMU applicants,

So I was admitted and received my admissions package. Stats: 3.27, 161, URM
24K per a year scholarship.

While I'm happy about getting a scholarship, I'm of course going to try to negotiate for 30 K.
I've browsed this thread and others... it doesn't look good, though there doesn't seem to be a lot of information. Everyone is saying that SMU doesn't negotiate except for last minute scholarship increases.

Maybe this question is better suited for the URM forum, but does me being a URM(AA male) give me extra leverage? I'm also waiting on a February LSAT and other law school admissions(if I manage to get in any T14), but I'm wondering if being a URM would make a difference as well(or if I would just fall into the pool of people who failed at negotations)

I guess the only conceivable way anyone could actually answer this would be if any of you knew of any stories of people who failed to negotiate(despite having higher ranked law school acceptance, higher ranked law school acceptances + better scholarship money, and/or higher lsats) and were also URMs.

Would SMU really refuses to upgrade their scholarship even if someone got 10 more points on the lsat or into a t14 school?

Looking at Law School Numbers, your numbers seem to be at the very tail end of numbers for people getting 24k a year. Everyone else had either higher GPA or higher LSAT, or in most cases both. The URM status may have already been factored in.

As to your last question, do you mean if they got 10 more points at some point after their application and scholarship had been decided? In that case, I suspect SMU would consider the higher score... in fact someone else ITT talked about the fact that their scholarship was likely under reconsideration for that reason.

As for whether they might renegotiate because someone gets into a T14, generally that would have been taken into account with the first offer. If someone has the numbers for a T14, they're going to get offered more money. (See all the 3.85+s and the 171+s that get $30k).

[Cthon]

There's certainly no way to know for sure unless you try. But what I gather is that SMU really wants students who want SMU. They want students who know they want Dallas or Texas in general. Obviously going to another regional school isn't going to help that student break the Dallas market - so probably not going to help with the negotiations. I'm no genius on the matter, but thats just the way it seems. They want students who are serious about attending SMU.


By the way, isn't there a full-ride scholarship that you could have applied for thats specifically for URM? 99% positive you missed the deadline, but that could have been your opportunity.

Yeah, that's most likely true. And I'm sure my Why SMU essay assured them of my interest, so I wouldn't think a regional school would have an impact. But maybe T14s and UT?

And yeah, there was a full ride scholarship due on the 15th(that I chose not to write).

Looking at Law School Numbers, your numbers seem to be at the very tail end of numbers for people getting 24k a year. Everyone else had either higher GPA or higher LSAT, or in most cases both. The URM status may have already been factored in.

As to your last question, do you mean if they got 10 more points at some point after their application and scholarship had been decided? In that case, I suspect SMU would consider the higher score... in fact someone else ITT talked about the fact that their scholarship was likely under reconsideration for that reason.

As for whether they might renegotiate because someone gets into a T14, generally that would have been taken into account with the first offer. If someone has the numbers for a T14, they're going to get offered more money. (See all the 3.85+s and the 171+s that get $30k).

Yeah, I'm sure it did. I'm wondering if it would be further factored in negotiations. I haven't really asked what I'm trying to find out clearly.

Yeah, that's exactly what I'm wondering. I took the February LSAT specifically so that I would have more leverage to negotiate for scholarship money and possibly get into T14 schools, if I manage to do better. Do you remember what user or what page? I'm just trying to see if that's possible, or if SMU was known to be unwilling to budge even if a student boosted their stats after admission and came at them with offers from T14 schools(though, I'm not implying that I'll get into any).

True. The idea of getting into T14s also relates directly with getting a higher LSAT(and the issue of being a URM makes those lsat points go farther). Like, let's say I hypothetically got a 167 on the recent LSAT. That's a stats boost, and it would raise my potential for getting into T14s - more so as an AA male. I see two possible methods for negotiation that are interwoven... I was just wondering if SMU had also shown that they were unwilling to negotiate even if these circumstances were present.

[IgosduIkana]

withdrew and released 72k...hope it reaches somebody here

[BVest]

withdrew and released 72k...hope it reaches somebody here

Best wishes at UHLC.

[IgosduIkana]

withdrew and released 72k...hope it reaches somebody here

Best wishes at UHLC.

Thanks buddy! I hope things go your way, too.

[Mandakay16]

Just to have some laughs -

Found this old "Why SMU" spoof video through old threads and just thought I'd bring it back to life. Really funny

http://vimeo.com/4202868