newb questions regarding financial aid

[ilove]

I am looking to apply to schools in the top 20.

I have questions regarding financial aid,as I am very confused

do schools accept Financial aid applications only after you're admitted?
or do some schools accept financial applications at the time of application (or the time in between application and acceptance?)

when do the schools start admitting regular applicants (non-ED), and what happens if I get admitted after the financial aid application deadline? does that mean I won't be eligible for financial assistance at that school?

and would you ever be in a scenario where you accept admission to one school only later to find out that another school has offered you (more) money and had you known, you probably would have gone to that another school?

please don't laugh at my utter newb questions.  I'm so confused and law school websites aren't very concise. 

[Ender Wiggin]

I am looking to apply to schools in the top 20.

I have questions regarding financial aid,as I am very confused

do schools accept Financial aid applications only after you're admitted?
or do some schools accept financial applications at the time of application (or the time in between application and acceptance?)

when do the schools start admitting regular applicants (non-ED), and what happens if I get admitted after the financial aid application deadline? does that mean I won't be eligible for financial assistance at that school?

and would you ever be in a scenario where you accept admission to one school only later to find out that another school has offered you (more) money and had you known, you probably would have gone to that another school?

please don't laugh at my utter newb questions.  I'm so confused and law school websites aren't very concise. 

I'm gonna assume you are talking about need-based aid, but I will mention merit aid as well.  When I did my FAFSA and NeedAccess, I included all of the schools to which I was applying in the list of schools that should receive my info.  At least one school asked me to apply for scholarships before I was even accepted (I think--I wasn't paying that much attention).  I found out about need-based aid at Michigan well before I sent in my seat deposit, but I don't remember which other schools notified me about it (I really was mostly paying attention to Michigan at that point).

You should apply right when schools start accepting applications, especially if you are applying to the top 20.  You should have many decisions well before the deadlines, except if you are deferred, and if you are still waiting on a school you really want to attend when the deadline is approaching, you should be in contact with them about what they want you to do.  The schools at which I was waitlisted said that, if I was accepted, I would get whatever aid I would have gotten if I had been accepted earlier.

If you send in a seat deposit somewhere, and then decide you want to go somewhere else that offered you more money, you will just lose your seat deposit money (I think--someone else can correct me if I'm wrong about that).

[ilove]

thanks so much Ender! cleared things up a lot.

I guess I should just get the NeedAccess thing (no need for FAFSA, as I'm international) done asap once I am complete everywhere.

thanks.

[Ender Wiggin]

thanks so much Ender! cleared things up a lot.

I guess I should just get the NeedAccess thing (no need for FAFSA, as I'm international) done asap once I am complete everywhere.

thanks.

Yeah--some schools don't even require that, but some of the top schools will.  Good luck!