How to negotiate scholarships.

Nookular · Apr 8, 2008

I'm lucky enough to have several acceptances at schools I would love to attend, and a big factor in my final decision is money.
I'm choosing between:
-my state school,
-a school that offered $10,000/yr,
-two schools that haven't offered any scholarship (which I like better than the other two places), but I know from either them directly or from current students there that these two schools use scholarships as recruitment.

I'm wondering how I can go about negotiating to see how much these other schools may offer. One friend flat out told one of these schools "I'm not going here unless its the same price or better than my state school," and it worked, but I think thats pretty abrasive and don't want to start my relationship with my future faculty on that tone.

Thank you.

frikarika · Apr 8, 2008

I'm wondering this myself....Do we send a letter, call, email....do we send it to the financial aide office or the dean?😕

BurnEmUpBears · Apr 8, 2008

I... have a similar question. Is is possible to negotiate scholarships with a state school (UCLA) because you have a full-ride at a private school (UChicago)? I'm feeling it'd be a bit ridiculous, and I wouldn't do it unless it's fairly common/accepted. Has anyone heard of this happening?

TheRealMD · Apr 8, 2008

BurnEmUpBears said:
I... have a similar question. Is is possible to negotiate scholarships with a state school (UCLA) because you have a full-ride at a private school (UChicago)? I'm feeling it'd be a bit ridiculous, and I wouldn't do it unless it's fairly common/accepted. Has anyone heard of this happening?

You have to question and see whether you are "expendable" or not. It usually doesn't hurt to try but people accepted early definitely have a better chance than those accepted later.

Though I have to ask because they might be thinking also in their head, who gives up a full scholarship to a school? Again, they might just let you "leave" because especially for a state school, it's hard to match a full scholarship with another unless they REALLY want you. You never know until you try!

dd128 · Apr 8, 2008

The thing is that the schools have so many applicants applying, most of whom would give their left kidney to get in. You are probably more likely to have the schools tell you flat out if you don't want to go to their school don't. I guess you guys don't have anything to lose by asking though, it's not like they can take away an acceptance for asking a question.

TigerSoup · Apr 8, 2008

My premed adviser told me that it would be a good idea to write to my schools and tell them that I had been offered a scholarship somewhere else. I don't expect anything to really come out of it, but I don't think there is much to lose as long as you don't try to strong arm anyone with it. Just tell them that you're interested in their program, but that expenses are also an important consideration and that you would really like to be able to see the financial aid package if any that will be available to you at their school before the May 15th decision date. It's worth a shot, especially if you might be turning down a school you prefer due to financial stuff.

I've seen people on these boards being offered additional money as a result of informing their other schools. There was one person who got like $10k a year at Baylor (already dirt cheap!) when they told them about a full ride at Pritzker.

Nookular · Apr 9, 2008

BurnEmUpBears said:
I... have a similar question. Is is possible to negotiate scholarships with a state school (UCLA) because you have a full-ride at a private school (UChicago)? I'm feeling it'd be a bit ridiculous, and I wouldn't do it unless it's fairly common/accepted. Has anyone heard of this happening?

How did you get informed of this, and how long was it after your acceptance? Was it after you got your financial aid info in?

flaahless · Apr 9, 2008

BurnEmUpBears said:
I... have a similar question. Is is possible to negotiate scholarships with a state school (UCLA) because you have a full-ride at a private school (UChicago)? I'm feeling it'd be a bit ridiculous, and I wouldn't do it unless it's fairly common/accepted. Has anyone heard of this happening?

I know a few people that have done this, however, the UCs don't have a lot of money to give away, and the budget is getting tighter each year. So, I probably wouldn't expect to get a full-tuition scholarship, but rather a combination of grants and small scholarship to mitigate the financial sting. But I don't know anyone with paid full-tuition at a UC.

TheRealMD · Apr 9, 2008

flaahless said:
I know a few people that have done this, however, the UCs don't have a lot of money to give away, and the budget is getting tighter each year. So, I probably wouldn't expect to get a full-tuition scholarship, but rather a combination of grants and small scholarship to mitigate the financial sting. But I don't know anyone with paid full-tuition at a UC.

Yeah, full-scholarships rarely happen at public schools. A med school would have to justify to the state legislature that a full-scholarship for a small few is better than having a decreased tuition bill for all. Usually, that argument fails on the school's part. And with cost being such a HUGE factor in applicant's decisions, you'd have plenty of people clamoring for a seat at their state school anyway.

BurnEmUpBears · Apr 9, 2008

Nookular said:
How did you get informed of this, and how long was it after your acceptance? Was it after you got your financial aid info in?

Nah, it was offered at the same time of the acceptance (December), so quite a while ago.

BurnEmUpBears · Apr 9, 2008

flaahless said:
I know a few people that have done this, however, the UCs don't have a lot of money to give away, and the budget is getting tighter each year. So, I probably wouldn't expect to get a full-tuition scholarship, but rather a combination of grants and small scholarship to mitigate the financial sting. But I don't know anyone with paid full-tuition at a UC.

Yeah I wouldn't expect a full-tuition counter offer, but grants/scholarships in whatever amount would be great for me (I'd much rather stay in CA). I think I'm just going to write a letter informing them of the Pritzker scholarship and just request that they try to send me my fin aid package with enough time to make a decision before May 15.

flaahless · Apr 9, 2008

TheRealMD said:
Yeah, full-scholarships rarely happen at public schools. A med school would have to justify to the state legislature that a full-scholarship for a small few is better than having a decreased tuition bill for all. Usually, that argument fails on the school's part. And with cost being such a HUGE factor in applicant's decisions, you'd have plenty of people clamoring for a seat at their state school anyway.

That was pretty informative. Good post.

lord_jeebus · Apr 9, 2008

BurnEmUpBears said:
I... have a similar question. Is is possible to negotiate scholarships with a state school (UCLA) because you have a full-ride at a private school (UChicago)? I'm feeling it'd be a bit ridiculous, and I wouldn't do it unless it's fairly common/accepted. Has anyone heard of this happening?

I did this with UCSD and a full ride at UPitt and it worked.

It's definitely worth trying. Don't worry about annoying the admissions people, they will probably have no role in your future education, plus they see this all the time and won't care.

BurnEmUpBears · Apr 9, 2008

lord_jeebus said:
I did this with UCSD and a full ride at UPitt and it worked.

It's definitely worth trying. Don't worry about annoying the admissions people, they will probably have no role in your future education, plus they see this all the time and won't care.

Cool, thanks! I'll definitely give it a shot.

Nookular · Apr 9, 2008

lord_jeebus said:
I did this with UCSD and a full ride at UPitt and it worked.

It's definitely worth trying. Don't worry about annoying the admissions people, they will probably have no role in your future education, plus they see this all the time and won't care.

How did you go about doing this?

Nookular · Apr 9, 2008

TheRealMD said:
Yeah, full-scholarships rarely happen at public schools. A med school would have to justify to the state legislature that a full-scholarship for a small few is better than having a decreased tuition bill for all. Usually, that argument fails on the school's part. And with cost being such a HUGE factor in applicant's decisions, you'd have plenty of people clamoring for a seat at their state school anyway.

Michigan is an exception since they have so much money donated by alum. That way its not state money.

Itistime · Apr 9, 2008

Nookular said:
Michigan is an exception since they have so much money donated by alum. That way its not state money.

Unfortunately, Michigan has one of the highest public school tuitions out there =(, so that balances out the mondo scholarships they give out.

TheRealMD · Apr 9, 2008

Itistime said:
Unfortunately, Michigan has one of the highest public school tuitions out there =(, so that balances out the mondo scholarships they give out.

Yep, exact reason why I didn't even bother applying. Who in their right might would pick UMich over any Texas school? I don't care about rank THAT much.

chudog15 · Apr 9, 2008

so who do i exactly address the letter to...the financial aid office? dean/assistant dean of admissions?

lord_jeebus · Apr 9, 2008

Nookular said:
How did you go about doing this?

Write the Dean of Admissions. Keep is short and sweet.

Key points:

-I love your school because _____. It is clearly the best for me.
-Med school is expensive.
-Another school that I don't like as much offered me $$$ and it's hard to say no.
-I was wondering if your school offers scholarships that might make my decision easier. If the gap in cost was less, I would choose your school without a second thought.

j12 · Apr 9, 2008

Email or snail mail?

And if email, should I just email the general admissions email address that is given on the admissions page or should I try to look up the email address for the dean of admissions?

academician2008 · Apr 15, 2008

How to negotiate scholarships.

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