amaria wrote:Hi All - I am a long time lurker of the thread and was hoping I could pick everyone's brain about scholarship negotiation.
Got an initial low ball offer, and today a second low ball offer. I wonder if there is anything wrong with going back and asking again, if I receive a revised offer from USC. I think they'll go up a little (hopefully) and can go back to UCLA with another round.
Any thoughts?
Thanks!
I guess it depends on how low the "low ball offers" are and how much the cost of attendance is vs USC's package (comparing $ for $ what the actual numbers are of the scholarships is fruitless as UCLA is cheaper to attend and you'd need to actually look at what your out of pocket cost would be). It sounds like USC didn't send in a large enough package initially to make UCLA change their minds significantly. I guess it would also depend on what leverage you'd have on USC to revise their offer (it doesn't seem like UCLA's offer will change USC's).... If you could never live with yourself for not giving it another shot I'd say go for it, but I have a feeling you'd be doing a lot of work/worrying without getting much in return. UCLA gave me a solid/fair first offer and I could try to bargain/squeeze every last penny from them, but I'm 99% sure I won't (the only scenarios to change it would be if I got a full ride to USC or UC Berkeley and in both cases I'd ask UCLA to match and cover the full cost of tuition). If you are hesitant to ask because you feel like you are being too greedy then I'd say be happy you were accepted and received some $ to help with tuition/costs of law school (a lot of people here would kill to just be admitted without any $) and move forward with the cards that have been dealt to you. If you are groveling over a couple thousand dollars just know that in the big picture it won't make any difference (and yes this is coming from someone that will be taking out loans to cover the rest of tuition/food/housing etc.)
Full disclosure I am stoked to attend UCLA in the fall. It is my #1 school which is very different than the arbitrary US News etc (as it might not be the highest rated per those rankings or the most money offered to me from them). The location, alumni, professors, and overall campus vibe in my opinion can't be beat. Southern California is where I see myself living the rest of my life and I can't wait to start classes and hanging out with everyone!
