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So I decided it would be a better idea to party my entire first year and I have been building my GPA back up ever since. I am very involved with several student groups and have been my entire undergrad. I got a 164 the first time I took the LSAT. I am looking to go into adoption law and child advocacy so I can't afford to just take loans out for my entire law school. I'm comfortable with about 100k total debt after law school, so I don't need a full ride but some money is necessary.

I'm applying to DePaul, Rutgers-Newark, Suffolk, Hofstra, Albany, John Marshall, Syracuse, Toledo, Akron, & Capital.

Any direction on the amount I could expect and and the stipulations these schools are known for would be much appreciated.

what state are you from? if you're looking to save money and you're not looking for biglaw, I would suggest going to your local state law school. As for the ones you listed, I think you should probably have no problem getting accepted and will probably get some money to all of them, except maybe Rutgers.

I'm from Michigan and I'm looking to leave this dying state. I might consider applying to some instate schools, but only if they wave the application fee because I would consider the application a waste of money. I want to be near more urban areas and the only cities in Michigan (Lansing and Detroit) have horrible job markets. I would like to be in the midwest or east coast, but I wouldn't mind heading down south, so long as it's near a city.

DanielGarb wrote:I'm from Michigan and I'm looking to leave this dying state. I might consider applying to some instate schools, but only if they wave the application fee because I would consider the application a waste of money. I want to be near more urban areas and the only cities in Michigan (Lansing and Detroit) have horrible job markets. I would like to be in the midwest or east coast, but I wouldn't mind heading down south, so long as it's near a city.

you wont apply because of an app fee to save thousands because of instate tuition...interesting. Your numbers are not that impressive do not be picky, but i would try all options you have.

It's not the app cost that's keeping me from applying. I just don't want to stay in the state, so in that sense it's kind of a waste of money. Basically, I would like 15k a year in scholarships in a city that I would eventually like to work and live, so despite the possible money (and only some schools give instate in Michigan, T4s) it doesn't interest me.

Bump to let you know my DH applied to Toledo and got in w/a full ride. He has very similar numbers to yours. Actually your LSAT is higher. Good luck to you!

Scholarships are tough to predict with splitters. Scholarships/debt was a big concern for me when I applied a few years ago, and I ended up deciding between Arizona, Iowa, and Mercer. All the schools are generous with scholarships, and at both Arizona and Iowa you can get resident tuition after the first year. Arizona has about 12% of the class with full ride or more scholarships and 50/75 percentile LSAT of 161/164. Resident tuition seemed fairly easy to get after the first year so long as you work in Arizona your 1L summer. Iowa has about 18% full ride or more scholarships and 50/75 percentile LSAT of 161/164. Upperclassmen get resident tuition if they work as a research assistant (and it's apparently pretty easy to get these gigs). Mercer has about 13% of the class with full ride or more scholarships (about half of which include living stipends) and 50/75 percentile LSAT of 156/157. Mercer also gives out four Woodruff scholarships every year, which includes tuition, laptop, and a $5,000 annual stipend. http://www.law.mercer.edu/admissions/scholarships.cfm. FWIW, I ended up at Mercer.

I had worse number than yours ( 162, 2.88 ) and got a full ride to Toledo. My softs were very, very strong, but I think your LSAT would equalize that.

DanielGarb wrote:So I decided it would be a better idea to party my entire first year and I have been building my GPA back up ever since. I am very involved with several student groups and have been my entire undergrad. I got a 164 the first time I took the LSAT. I am looking to go into adoption law and child advocacy so I can't afford to just take loans out for my entire law school. I'm comfortable with about 100k total debt after law school, so I don't need a full ride but some money is necessary.

I'm applying to DePaul, Rutgers-Newark, Suffolk, Hofstra, Albany, John Marshall, Syracuse, Toledo, Akron, & Capital.

Any direction on the amount I could expect and and the stipulations these schools are known for would be much appreciated.

Isn't it interesting to think how much, over the course of a lifetime, a year of freshman partying/grade indifference can cost you once you factor lost potential scholarship monies, higher salary post better school, etc, etc? 100k? 200k? A mill?

Even using 100k or 50k/semester - that was some expensive solo-cup beer, wasn't it?

Anyways... per LSN it looks like you'd still be up for some $$ from several of those schools. Not a lot though.