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From what I understand about this process, you can show law school A your scholarship offer from school B in the hopes of coaxing A to match the offer. Obviously, this makes most sense if B is ranked higher than A. What happens in the more common scenario of receiving a scholarship offer from a lower school say 15-30, and showing to a school in the T14 who did not give you any money? I mean i know im sure there are various outcomes in this situation, but im just trying to get a general sense of what normally happens here.

Depends on the scholarship. If it's full, they might decide to give you a little something, but may very well not. If it's half or less, they'll probably laugh in your face. Keep in mind that timing plays a huge part with scholarships as well. Some schools schools are historically stingy/low with money, and if you apply or ask too late they could very well already have run out. I personally know of at least one case last year where someone with a full ride at a T25 couldn't negotiate anything from a T30-40 because that T30-40 had already run out of money...

About how long does the scholarship negotiation process take? Like if I email school A and request more (for those that have done this) how long til they get back to you?

You can also cite the region or something specific about the school you're requesting more aid from, but note that you unfortunately are forced to consider financial offers carefully. You just want to be sure that both offers are final before you have to make your final decision.

When do you usually get the scholarship information? After your acceptance letter right?

inuitsoar wrote:From what I understand about this process, you can show law school A your scholarship offer from school B in the hopes of coaxing A to match the offer. Obviously, this makes most sense if B is ranked higher than A. What happens in the more common scenario of receiving a scholarship offer from a lower school say 15-30, and showing to a school in the T14 who did not give you any money? I mean i know im sure there are various outcomes in this situation, but im just trying to get a general sense of what normally happens here.

If we're talking T14, some of them (like Boalt) will give you a list of schools they'll consider matching scholarships from. Typically, they will be schools in the T14.

I have received a full tuition scholarship from a school (School A) that is 20 spots lower in the rankings than school I recently got admitted to (School B). The second school did not give me a full-tuition offer but was very generous with a 25k/yr offer. I don't want to sound ungrateful but even after that 25k/yr I would still end up with ~100k of debt upon graduation. If I took the full tuition offer I would come out with ~60k in debt.

I know that there have been various discussions about the ability to negotiate scholarship offers -- especially in regards to matching an existing offer. Has anyone tried this? Were you successful? Would you mind PMing me a draft of your communication to the school? I have some things I want to say but i'm not sure how appropriate they are for a first email.

Thanks in advance!

It usually takes a lot of time to get the Scholarship u need to be patient untill u recieve it........

do i need to wait until school "a" presents its initial offer before showing it school "b's" offer? i don't want to wait too long and risk school a running out of money. (i'm already admitted). also, is it ok to show them more than one offer? one is a full scholarship and the other is a half. both are similarly ranked to school "a." tia

I'm convinced that showing a T14 school a number of half-to-full scholarships from T20-30 schools is what convinced them to offer me a small scholarship, especially since most folks with my stats got nothing last cycle.

natalie123 wrote:do i need to wait until school "a" presents its initial offer before showing it school "b's" offer? i don't want to wait too long and risk school a running out of money. (i'm already admitted). also, is it ok to show them more than one offer? one is a full scholarship and the other is a half. both are similarly ranked to school "a." tia

I would wait a nominal amount. For instance, I wouldn't call up the school the day I got my packet and ask to negotiate. But after a week or two, I think it's fine to inquire about scholarships. If they haven't made a decision on you yet, your other offer would give them something to think about...

JayCole wrote:I have received a full tuition scholarship from a school (School A) that is 20 spots lower in the rankings than school I recently got admitted to (School B). The second school did not give me a full-tuition offer but was very generous with a 25k/yr offer. I don't want to sound ungrateful but even after that 25k/yr I would still end up with ~100k of debt upon graduation. If I took the full tuition offer I would come out with ~60k in debt.

I know that there have been various discussions about the ability to negotiate scholarship offers -- especially in regards to matching an existing offer. Has anyone tried this? Were you successful? Would you mind PMing me a draft of your communication to the school? I have some things I want to say but i'm not sure how appropriate they are for a first email.

Thanks in advance!

I'd be happy to look at a draft of what you have, if you want. I really don't think there's anything wrong with saying you're debt averse, especially in this economy, and asking them to consider matching the offer of a peer or near-peer school. If you're polite, the worst they can say is no, and then you can go on with making your decision...

inuitsoar wrote:From what I understand about this process, you can show law school A your scholarship offer from school B in the hopes of coaxing A to match the offer. Obviously, this makes most sense if B is ranked higher than A. What happens in the more common scenario of receiving a scholarship offer from a lower school say 15-30, and showing to a school in the T14 who did not give you any money? I mean i know im sure there are various outcomes in this situation, but im just trying to get a general sense of what normally happens here.

if you applied something close to straight down the rankings, you can negotiate your way up to the t14 starting with offers from lower schools.