Top 10 schools, merit scholarships? Forum

[runnergirl]

Does anyone know if Top 10 schools give merit-based scholarships, other than those for students intending to enter public interest law? Are any schools within the Top 10 particular prone towards giving merit-based scholarships? Thanks!!

[wheretogo?]

yes, most all of the top 10 schools offer merit scholarships. the exceptions are the top 3, plus maybe Columbia and U Chicago (I don't know about those ones). I can tell you from personal experience that the rest do. Some of them just offer you merit scholarships based on your application, while others, such as Berkeley, have a (quite limited) matching program. What are your numbers?

[runnergirl]

3.99 unweighed GPA, from a college that grades on a numerical 0.0 - 4.0 scale. I'm taking the Sept. LSATs, and studying hard for them cause it scares me that it's worth equal or more than my GPA! Anyways, thanks for the response! Great to hear

[Ken]

Dear Runner Girl,

Several of the top 10 law schools do provide merit scholarships. It is generally those schools that are in the top 5-10 that are the most generous, for they realize it will take money to take away a top applicant such as yourself from Stanford, Yale, & Harvard.

Piggylola, a reader who posted frequently on the forum, provides insight into how she was able to take offers from one top law school and get other top law schools to match her offers. The post is below:

http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... ight=#1756

Note that Northwestern, right on the fringe of being a top 10 law school, is very generous with money. UVA and Penn are as well, but to a lesser degree. Best to apply to all of the top 10 (plus Northwestern) and then seek to politely play the law schools off each other.

With your great GPA, you will do well. Focus on the LSAT, for if you score above a 168 you would be getting great offers from many of the top 10 law schools. Even a 165 with your GPA would get noticed.

Please share your results and insights with the forum if you would.

Cheers,

Ken

[as436]

your LSAT will be everything...

Michigan gives 14 Darrows, which covers full tuition plus a stipend... Columbia gives out several Hamiltons, which also covers full tuition and I believe a stipend.. NYU gives out less money, but a lot of people receive good chunks.. Chicago, along with Michigan is known to throw out 54K scholarships (divided over 3 years)... UVA gives out Dean scholarship pretty much based on your numbers.. Penn has the Levi Scholars, which is a lot of money (I believe full tuition first year, then half tuition second and third).. Like Ken said NU is very very generous, probably only second to Duke out of the top schools, which throws around its 42K scholarship to a lot of applicants.. Cornell and Berkeley are probably the stingiest of the top schools, though both still give merit money.. Georgetown has a competition for the full Dean Scholarship, which covers tuition for 3 years, but is very very hard to receive.. Harvard, Yale, Stanford do not give merit money, but they give a lot more in form of need-based grants...

In case you are wondering, I had a 3.9/168 from Cornell.. I received a mini dean schholarship from Michigan (20K) and a merit scholarship from Duke (42K)

Study for those LSATs.. some schools (like Columbia and UVA) give merit money almost strictly based on your numbers... others like Michigan look more at community service...
hope that helps..

[runnergirl]

Ken - thanks for the response and encouragement!! I think your website is very, very helpful and great for applicants to use as a resource.

As436- thanks to you, too! I shared your response with my mom, who is excited and relieved to hear that Top 10 Schools offer those scholarships, so that I might possibly be able to avoid taking out tons of loans.