Winning Law School Scholarships
Position Yourself to "Overpay" in Terms of LSAT, GPA, and Personal Accomplishments
Who wins top law school scholarship offers? In general, nothing excites law schools more than an applicant's LSAT above the 75th percentile of its currently enrolled students. So, developing your ability to achieve excellence on the LSAT is enormously important to earning an admission offer with a proposed tuition discount (a scholarship or grant). If you can combine that with an undergraduate GPA above the 75th percentile of their currently enrolled students, then your target law schools will become extremely interested. Add to that a knockout story in your personal statement, a solid, interesting resume, recommendations from individuals who will be greatly respected by law school admissions officials...and the right timing, which is early in the application cycle, and you maximize the probability of a deeply discounted offer. And don't underestimate the power of bringing a diversity factor like race, first-generation college graduate status, immigrant status, military service, a background of heroically overcoming challenges, or conquering of a challenge related to a disability to the table. Law schools do genuinely want to provide opportunities to a wide group of applicants. Show them that you can add something exceptional to the mix of students they are seeking. And position yourself so that they think they can win you away from a higher-ranked competitor...if their financial offer is attractive enough. Law school admission officials love to beat their competition.
Some examples:
An applicant with 3.8 GPA from a respected public university--known to have low grade inflation--and a 168 LSAT earned a $90,000 scholarship offer (a $30,000 tuition reduction each year for three years) from a Top 15 private law school.
An applicant with a 3.8 GPA from a respected New England private college and a 162 LSAT earned a full-scholarship offer, plus a monthly stipend, free housing, and a tuition-free LL.M (a post-JD graduate law degree) from a private southern law school ranked in the 80s by US News & World Report.
A minority applicant with a 3.6 GPA from a respected New York City-area university and a 167 LSAT earned a full-scholarship offer from a private New York City law school ranked in the 50s by US News & World Report.
A minority applicant with a 165 and a undergraduate degree from a Top 25 private university with a 3.5 GPA earned admission offers and generous consideration for financial aid from two Top 5 law schools.
Let's discuss your ideas. Are they enough to win a major scholarship offer? Please feel free to contact me.