3.86/178/Military Officer/FLEP/HYS Forum

[rendlelaw]

Hey guys, Long time lurker, first time poster.
Alright, don't yell at me yet. I'm a pilot in the Army, still in the service, fresh back from Afghanistan, and looking to drop a FLEP packet. GPA is from a top 25 school in Mathematics and History. As some of you probably know, FLEP pays your tuition up to ~$30,000 and forbids you from paying any of it yourself/getting any loans. You can take no need-based financial aid. I think my odds of acceptance at HYS are not terrible. Given my unique financial restriction, has anyone heard of H,Y, or S being willing to work with someone like me. I would need them to give some form of an academic scholarship/lower my tuition cost. Odds of that happening?
Barring that, what are my odds of money (half-tuition or more) at Chicago, UVA, or Penn?

Anybody's thoughts or opinions are much appreciated. Thanks guys.

[NYstate]

Hey guys, Long time lurker, first time poster.
Alright, don't yell at me yet. I'm a pilot in the Army, still in the service, fresh back from Afghanistan, and looking to drop a FLEP packet. GPA is from a top 25 school in Mathematics and History. As some of you probably know, FLEP pays your tuition up to ~$30,000 and forbids you from paying any of it yourself/getting any loans. You can take no need-based financial aid. I think my odds of acceptance at HYS are not terrible. Given my unique financial restriction, has anyone heard of H,Y, or S being willing to work with someone like me. I would need them to give some form of an academic scholarship/lower my tuition cost. Odds of that happening?
Barring that, what are my odds of money (half-tuition or more) at Chicago, UVA, or Penn?

Anybody's thoughts or opinions are much appreciated. Thanks guys.

Dude- I hope Harvard will work with you. Some HLS students will contribute I'm sure.

It might be worth it at the end of the day to not restrict yourself to FLEP, maybe let it go if it limits you so much. Law school is freaking expensive but there are other ways to finance it. And the very top schools will provide some backup for loan repayment.

Mostly I just wanted to say that you are one of the more impressive applicants. You should have an awesome cycle. Aim very high. Don't let money concerns stop you from applying.

Also...I hope you don't mind hearing this from an Internet stranger, but thank you for serving our country

There are threads too for military applicants and they seem very friendly and supportive.

Good luck.

[Lavitz]

Hey guys, Long time lurker, first time poster.
Alright, don't yell at me yet. I'm a pilot in the Army, still in the service, fresh back from Afghanistan, and looking to drop a FLEP packet. GPA is from a top 25 school in Mathematics and History. As some of you probably know, FLEP pays your tuition up to ~$30,000 and forbids you from paying any of it yourself/getting any loans. You can take no need-based financial aid. I think my odds of acceptance at HYS are not terrible. Given my unique financial restriction, has anyone heard of H,Y, or S being willing to work with someone like me. I would need them to give some form of an academic scholarship/lower my tuition cost. Odds of that happening?
Barring that, what are my odds of money (half-tuition or more) at Chicago, UVA, or Penn?

Anybody's thoughts or opinions are much appreciated. Thanks guys.

I have no idea about FLEP or whether HYS will grant a scholarship and not call it need-based. I've never heard of them doing that, though. I do agree you have great odds at all three, especially H.


For Chicago, UVA and Penn, it seems you picked the three schools that just happen to have a GPA median literally hundredths above yours. Penn's and UVA's were both 3.87, and Chicago was 3.9. Based on your numbers, this is what I'm getting:



It's possible their GPA medians will drop after this cycle, in which case you'd be above both medians and they would be more likely throw money at you. They may admit you and throw money at you anyway because your app is impressive. It's hard to predict exactly what they'd do in your case, but you should definitely apply to all three and see what happens. Chicago threw around a lot of money this cycle, although I'm not sure if that will continue now that the Rubenstein scholarship has been discontinued. UVA did so as well, so you have a chance for $$ at both.

You'd also have a great chance for $$$ at schools where you're above both medians, like Columbia, NYU, Duke, Northwestern and Cornell.

[rendlelaw]

Hey guys,

Thanks for the informative answers. I appreciate your input.

[Redfactor]

.

[twenty]

I don't know about YS, but I know Harvard does participate in yellow ribbon up to 20k. (i.e, 40k/yr in benefits. Combined with your 30k from FLEP, I think you'll come out just fine if that's the path you want to go for.)

That said, this is one of those incredibly unique situations where it doesn't really matter as much where you go to school, since your first concern isn't getting a job on the way out. Harvard might give you slightly better options down the road than Northwestern, but after your first job (guaranteed JAG), it doesn't matter nearly as much.

Can you use FLEP to cover cost of living?

[MT Cicero]

I don't know about YS, but I know Harvard does participate in yellow ribbon up to 20k. (i.e, 40k/yr in benefits. Combined with your 30k from FLEP, I think you'll come out just fine if that's the path you want to go for.)

That said, this is one of those incredibly unique situations where it doesn't really matter as much where you go to school, since your first concern isn't getting a job on the way out. Harvard might give you slightly better options down the road than Northwestern, but after your first job (guaranteed JAG), it doesn't matter nearly as much.

Can you use FLEP to cover cost of living?

I'm pretty sure FLEP is tuition only, but OP will get a housing allowance in addition to tuition money. And yellow ribbon only applies after GI Bill funds have been exhausted. I'm thinking using GI Bill money would be paying for school yourself and not allowed under FLEP.

OP, are you trying to keep the GI Bill for a family transfer or something? If you can get ~$22K/year scholarship, you'll obviously be good to go. However, if you can't but you do get into Harvard or Stanford, you can use the GI Bill + YR and have 100% covered. Then, go for a direct commission if it's still your desire to be in the military.

Possibly your commitment isn't up for a while longer and a FLEP packet will get you to your new career choice sooner. I don't know if the Army has ELP as well as FLEP (like the AF). If you have ELP as an option, you can get credit towards retirement for your time in school, pay for school yourself (GI Bill + YR) and come out the other side as a JAG. Again, that's unless you're trying to save your GI Bill benefits for a transfer or for later.

I doubt I gave you any new info, so good luck getting a top school to complete your FLEP tuition puzzle for you! Well done, by the way (for a rotary wing guy).

[rendlelaw]

I cannot use the GI Bill, Craigsan is right. This also keeps me out of Yellow Ribbon money. And I will receive an allowance for housing (in fact, my whole salary). With the FLEP money, I'd probably be able to pay for school outright if the Army would just allow it.
My commitment doesn't end for another four years, so our non-FLEP plan would have to be finish out the next four, leave, and go to school as a civilian without any real chance of doing JAG later. This is definitely viable, but if the choice is Yale where I pay half out of pocket in four years vs Chicago right now for free with my salary on top and a pension eleven years out of law school, we'd probably have to head to the Windy City. I've got a couple kids running around, and I wouldn't be surprised if we picked up a couple more.

Thanks again everybody for the discussion.