St. John's $35k financial aid, worth going?

[zachanson]

St. John's with an annual tuition scholarship $35,000
renewable every year provided that "your cumulative average places you in the top half of your class".

is it worth going? god, the deposit deadline is Apr 1st, and it's $750!

[Kole0019]

I did not know what to tell ..is this your only offer and you really want to go to law school this cycle then yes do it ...if you are waiting to hear back from school and this is only ofer and you want to go to law school then yes.. you do not know if other school will accpeted you because its hard to predict... also is the deposit non refundable??

[ntiger]

the deposit deadline is Apr 1st, and it's $750!

Outrageous.

[zachanson]

seems i should pass this one.

my other options:
Santa Clara $14,000 renewable in top 25% of the class.
the 'class' really means the whole class, not a section, right? i heard some school would put the students with scholarships in one section then many of them would lose their scholarships later.

DePaul $25,000/year newable based on GPA 3.30+. It's more money and the requirement is easier than Santa Clara, right? i guess 3.30 at DePaul might be around top 40%.

both of them have decent IP programs (within top 11?) I'm not 100% sure that I would practice IP law, but it's certainly an option as I have an engineering degree.


and others:
Iowa, Wisconsin, no $. they are the highest ranked schools i got in hand, however i couldn't imagine myself working in either Iowa or Wisc. they might have a shot at Chicago. well... Chicago itself doesn't seem to be a big market compared to NYC, DC, CA. i would hate the feelings of being jobless and stuck in the middle of nowhere if that happens.

Cincinnati, Houston, Case Western Reserve, Chicago-Kent, Pittsburg, Penn State, Northeastern. they all provide some money, say $10k-14k.

my biggest concern is job placement. not necessarily biglaw, but of course i want a decent job with decent pay.
so far since i don't have any top 20 in hand, i reckon that i should go for the location rather than the ranking. anybody share the same thought?
low debt would be a plus but far less important than the job prospect.

[Kole0019]

ok that give better outlook into your sittuion...I think they mean the whole class...and I look like the schools have those requirements because they know some people could lose their scholarships ...if you are worry about job placement Iowa or Wisconsin would be better option than Depaul...law school are ranking three differnt ways...national (1-14) regional(it depends on the numbers) and local...I would rank Depaul as local school meaning you could find a job in IL but hard outisde...if you went to Iowa or Wisconsin there is Chicago but Minnesota markets...I am from Minnesota...and there are some great law firms...I looked at all of your section of schools and you might have hard working in DC and New York ...maybe not if you went to Pittsburg

[Matthies]

DePaul $25,000/year newable based on GPA 3.30+. It's more money and the requirement is easier than Santa Clara, right? i guess 3.30 at DePaul might be around top 40%.

This depends on what DePaul's cruve is, if they curve to 3.0 at 3.3o is going to be about top 20% or so, if they cruve lower it gets worse, curve higher it gets better. Do a search on thier webside for "grade curve"

[zachanson]

DePaul $25,000/year newable based on GPA 3.30+. It's more money and the requirement is easier than Santa Clara, right? i guess 3.30 at DePaul might be around top 40%.

This depends on what DePaul's cruve is, if they curve to 3.0 at 3.3o is going to be about top 20% or so, if they cruve lower it gets worse, curve higher it gets better. Do a search on thier webside for "grade curve"

I looked at LSN earlier:
GPA (Class of 2009)
75th GPA:   3.58
Median GPA:   3.34
GPA:   3.02

so I thought 3.30 is like top 40%


now from DePaul student handbook:
First-Year Grade Curve
The College of Law faculty adopted the following mandatory grade curve that applies to all
first-year courses:
A 10%-15%
B+ 20%-25%
B 25%-30%
C+ 20%-25%
C or below 15%-20%

that looks like 3.30 would be top 25%? now i'm a little confused... 25% or 40%, which is closer?

[zachanson]

ok that give better outlook into your sittuion...I think they mean the whole class...and I look like the schools have those requirements because they know some people could lose their scholarships ...if you are worry about job placement Iowa or Wisconsin would be better option than Depaul...law school are ranking three differnt ways...national (1-14) regional(it depends on the numbers) and local...I would rank Depaul as local school meaning you could find a job in IL but hard outisde...if you went to Iowa or Wisconsin there is Chicago but Minnesota markets...I am from Minnesota...and there are some great law firms...I looked at all of your section of schools and you might have hard working in DC and New York ...maybe not if you went to Pittsburg

Thanks for the input! Any thought on Santa Clara and its job placement?

I actually talked to a 3L at Iowa some days ago, and she sounded a little depressed. It seems all she cares now is 'location, location, location'. She said she cared too much about rankings when she was 0L, and later found not so much difference. Now DePaul and Santa Clara both look good to her.

[Matthies]

DePaul $25,000/year newable based on GPA 3.30+. It's more money and the requirement is easier than Santa Clara, right? i guess 3.30 at DePaul might be around top 40%.

This depends on what DePaul's cruve is, if they curve to 3.0 at 3.3o is going to be about top 20% or so, if they cruve lower it gets worse, curve higher it gets better. Do a search on thier webside for "grade curve"

I looked at LSN earlier:
GPA (Class of 2009)
75th GPA:   3.58
Median GPA:   3.34
GPA:   3.02

so I thought 3.30 is like top 40%


now from DePaul student handbook:
First-Year Grade Curve
The College of Law faculty adopted the following mandatory grade curve that applies to all
first-year courses:
A 10%-15%
B+ 20%-25%
B 25%-30%
C+ 20%-25%
C or below 15%-20%

that looks like 3.30 would be top 25%? now i'm a little confused... 25% or 40%, which is closer?

LSN gives you the UGPA of people applying to the school, it has nothing to do with your law schools cruve. It looks like based on what you posted 3.3 would be top 20-25% of the class, its looking like the have a 3.0 curve so in any given class say trots, half the class will get a B or less, half will get a B or more. Law school curves are mean/median forced curves, they curve down, not up like UG.

[k0em9u]

Personally I would be very reluctant to rely on a scholarship that is contingent on being in top 25% of your class. There is simply no good way of predicting where you'll end up. (No, not even LSAT scores.)