WUSTL c/o 2017 Applicants (2013-2014 Cycle) Forum

[KanyeShrug]

Fucking nice, everyone! Glad to hear it. Hopefully my full ride just kinda got lost in the (e)mail or something.

Do we have a head count on depositors thus far? If so, I apologize for my ignorance.

[bmr456]

Do they say "we were impressed with your application" in every email request for an interview? Any significance to this?

[Daedalus]

Congrats on the scholarship increases everyone! Just out of curiosity, did you guys have similar scholarships at other schools that Wash U matched or did Wash U just increase your money on its own after you asked?

[yossarian]

Do they say "we were impressed with your application" in every email request for an interview? Any significance to this?

This is the typical language.

[gta]

Congrats on the scholarship increases everyone! Just out of curiosity, did you guys have similar scholarships at other schools that Wash U matched or did Wash U just increase your money on its own after you asked?

Since I first received a scholarship offer, it has been increased three times. Only one of those three was solicited by me.

[LET'S GET IT]

They all say that. No significance. On the upside, getting an interview in itself is significant since most interviewees seem to get accepted. Good luck!

[paulinams]

Wooo just deposited! Down to 2 schools for me.

[TatteredDignity]

Apparently our adcomm has created something called a Dean's Fellowship for this year. Here's a guide on determining its value IF you're still on the fence abt WUSTL.

1. Do you want to clerk? If yes...
2. Who is your faculty mentor?

That's it. The guaranteed full ride only adjusts for tuition increases which is a negligible boost from your likely original "full ride".

A guaranteed RA position is a joke because RA positions aren't hard to get. Are you above median? Are you capable of emailing your prof to ask? Does your prof need an RA? Congrats you just got an RA.

If your mentor is Lee Epstein, then the fellowship has value. If it's Konig, then demand right now that they change your mentor.

The fellowship should only influence your decision if it's valuable. The value is determined by the identity of your faculty mentor.

ETA: If you're already committed to WUSTL and just happened to get the Fellowship, then congrats . This post is only relevant to 0L's who are still on the fence about attending

I'd say you're underselling this idea.

First, the tuition guarantee isn't "negligible." WashU, just like almost every other school, raises tuition by $1,000-$2,000 each year. This guarantee could mean a difference of over $5k after three years. I know that doesn't seem like a lot to incoming 0Ls who are contemplating six-figure debt at other schools, but as a 3L who is about to start repaying, I can tell you that every penny means something.

Second, claiming that being an RA only has value if you plan to clerk is just short-sighted and misinformed. Cuse, I realize that you're a 1L, but I can't tell you how valuable my various RA positions have been in ways that can't be tied directly to clerking. The intangible benefits of working with really smart people, developing professional references, developing solid writing samples (usually better than what you'll get from legal practice), and even the mentoring--all that stuff will pay dividends for a long time to come, even if you aren't interested in clerking.

Third, you have no way of knowing how "valuable" an RA position with any particular professor will be until you're actually in that relationship. Someone who isn't a great professor can be a wonderful mentor, and vice versa. And don't make the mistake of assuming that a professor's "prestige factor" (or whatever you're trying to go for with Epstein) has any correlation to their willingness/ability to place you in a great clerkship. Lots of things happen behind closed doors that would surprise you. You don't know which professors have which connections.

Finally: you can't seriously be saying that a guaranteed RA position with a professor is meaningless. Some professors are much more selective than others. I'm glad that, for you, it was as easy as emailing your resume to professors. Try that with someone like Sale or Becker and see how that works out for you. A TLS poster I know IRL just got an offer through this program for Badawi, which is really cool, and isn't at all guaranteed for any random 1L.

I'm not saying this program should be the deciding factor for anyone, but it's definitely a good move by Wash U and it's not "negligible."

[JustHawkin]

Completely late to the party on this whole Dean's Fellowship. Anyone care to elaborate on how we found out about this, how many get this, etc?

[Ricky-Bobby]

Completely late to the party on this whole Dean's Fellowship. Anyone care to elaborate on how we found out about this, how many get this, etc?

We found out about them when some of us were offered them. No idea how many were offered, but I have a feeling it's no more than the number of professors at the school. From what I've seen, no two people were offered the same mentor.

[jleighg]

These scholarships are great... But they make me uneasy. The unsolicited increases are kind of desperate. Am I just being ungrateful? They are doing a good job confusing me!

[wsparker]

Offered the Dean's scholarship as well. Pretty much set attending somewhere else, but damn, they are doing a great job of my making choice harder. All the personal stuff is a very nice touch as well.

[sublime]

..

[xJD2017x]

WUSTL is a rich school, they don't need as much tuition $$$ as anyone near them in rankings. Huge endowment.

[pauly_biegler]

really wish I would've been offered an increase...I don't really have any incentive to believe I'll get bumped after the deposit deadilne with my low LSAT score! unfortunately not gonna send the deposit and I plan to withdraw.

[MKC]

These scholarships are great... But they make me uneasy. The unsolicited increases are kind of desperate. Am I just being ungrateful? They are doing a good job confusing me!

They are confusing.

Last year, they gave unsolicited full rides to people already set on attending, like after the second deposit and everything.

Maybe they were worried about people getting poached, maybe it was something else. Who knows.

But, the school was in a bit of a transition phase earlier in the cycle, without a dean or anything, and may just be correcting, as I have heard that things like financial support for scholarships can/does come up in dean negotiations.

As a student, I am biased, but I wouldn't view it as a weakness, as it is definitely a good thing, especially for the people receiving the bumps. I am happy because it at least suggests they are serious about spending money to increase our standing, whereas I wasn't sure if that would continue after last year.

I would guess it's this. By waiting until later in the cycle to start dropping big money, they limit the ability of applicants to use them for leverage. You guys all know you would have been shopping that Wustl offer all over the country if you had gotten it first. If it comes at the last minute, it acts as an offer rather than a bargaining chip.

[BillsFan9907]

Completely late to the party on this whole Dean's Fellowship. Anyone care to elaborate on how we found out about this, how many get this, etc?

We found out about them when some of us were offered them. No idea how many were offered, but I have a feeling it's no more than the number of professors at the school. From what I've seen, no two people were offered the same mentor.

What professors names have been thrown around? Has anyone been assigned to Epstein?

[chuckbass]

Hey everyone, congrats on your accomplishments this cycle! Once you've decided on a school, make your way over to the TLS Class of 2017 thread http://top-law-schools.com/forums/viewt ... 8&t=227952 to let everyone know where you're going.

[bombaysippin]

Completely late to the party on this whole Dean's Fellowship. Anyone care to elaborate on how we found out about this, how many get this, etc?

Got one unsolicited via email. Withdrew though, so I hope it goes to someone else here. Gluck all.

[stillswimming72]

The tornadoes didn't scare me away. Turned in my deposit.

[theycallmefoes]

For those of you who were offered the Dean's Fellowship, was this your initial scholarship offer, or was the invitation sent at a later time? Rather, is there still hope for me (due to people declining the offer) if I haven't heard anything yet?

[DoveBodyWash]

Apparently our adcomm has created something called a Dean's Fellowship for this year. Here's a guide on determining its value IF you're still on the fence abt WUSTL.

1. Do you want to clerk? If yes...
2. Who is your faculty mentor?

That's it. The guaranteed full ride only adjusts for tuition increases which is a negligible boost from your likely original "full ride".

A guaranteed RA position is a joke because RA positions aren't hard to get. Are you above median? Are you capable of emailing your prof to ask? Does your prof need an RA? Congrats you just got an RA.

If your mentor is Lee Epstein, then the fellowship has value. If it's Konig, then demand right now that they change your mentor.

The fellowship should only influence your decision if it's valuable. The value is determined by the identity of your faculty mentor.

ETA: If you're already committed to WUSTL and just happened to get the Fellowship, then congrats . This post is only relevant to 0L's who are still on the fence about attending

I'd say you're underselling this idea.

First, the tuition guarantee isn't "negligible." WashU, just like almost every other school, raises tuition by $1,000-$2,000 each year. This guarantee could mean a difference of over $5k after three years. I know that doesn't seem like a lot to incoming 0Ls who are contemplating six-figure debt at other schools, but as a 3L who is about to start repaying, I can tell you that every penny means something.

Second, claiming that being an RA only has value if you plan to clerk is just short-sighted and misinformed. Cuse, I realize that you're a 1L, but I can't tell you how valuable my various RA positions have been in ways that can't be tied directly to clerking. The intangible benefits of working with really smart people, developing professional references, developing solid writing samples (usually better than what you'll get from legal practice), and even the mentoring--all that stuff will pay dividends for a long time to come, even if you aren't interested in clerking.

Third, you have no way of knowing how "valuable" an RA position with any particular professor will be until you're actually in that relationship. Someone who isn't a great professor can be a wonderful mentor, and vice versa. And don't make the mistake of assuming that a professor's "prestige factor" (or whatever you're trying to go for with Epstein) has any correlation to their willingness/ability to place you in a great clerkship. Lots of things happen behind closed doors that would surprise you. You don't know which professors have which connections.

Finally: you can't seriously be saying that a guaranteed RA position with a professor is meaningless. Some professors are much more selective than others. I'm glad that, for you, it was as easy as emailing your resume to professors. Try that with someone like Sale or Becker and see how that works out for you. A TLS poster I know IRL just got an offer through this program for Badawi, which is really cool, and isn't at all guaranteed for any random 1L.

I'm not saying this program should be the deciding factor for anyone, but it's definitely a good move by Wash U and it's not "negligible."

I agree that it's not as simple as i make it sound, but the 0L's who are getting these fellowships are usually the ones who have upper-T14 options, including HYSCCN. I just don't want one of those 0L's to be persuaded into passing up great alternatives because we promised them a luncheon and a RA position with a history professor who doesn't have a J.D. The fellowship isn't being considered in vacuum, it's being weighed against other excellent options. So in my mind, they needed some way to weigh the options against each other.

I was fine with the fellowship until I found out about potentially stark difference between the faculty members that were assigned. I was just trying to make the point that not all faculty are created equal. You're right that the relative value of a relationship with any one faculty professor is difficult to gauge until you have that relationship. But if an 0L is going to pick WUSTL over HYSCCN because of this fellowship, then they're entitled to have SOME sense of the return on investment. They're forced to make that value calculation whether or not it's actually possible to predict it accurately...

To 0L's, TD is probably like THE authority on this kind of stuff, so take everything I say with a grain of salt.

[cron1834]

Completely late to the party on this whole Dean's Fellowship. Anyone care to elaborate on how we found out about this, how many get this, etc?

We found out about them when some of us were offered them. No idea how many were offered, but I have a feeling it's no more than the number of professors at the school. From what I've seen, no two people were offered the same mentor.

What professors names have been thrown around? Has anyone been assigned to Epstein?

Yes.

[itachiuchiha]

I still don't get why this thread is ridiculously active ahhaha. y'all are too live

[cron1834]

Follow up: I was offered the Dean's Fellowship fully, and Epstein. I let the deposit deadline lapse today. It's of course a flattering offer, and I'm from the Midwest, so I have a high opinion of WashU. However, STL no longer makes sense for me geographically. My family/geographic situation changed, and I'm just not going to be able to swing it. Ya'll are by far the best of the '13/'14 cycle threads I've followed, hands down.