YOU GOT ACCEPTED TO LAW SCHOOL! YAY!

Then you open your acceptance letter and see your scholarship award. Amazing…right?

Maybe.

This depends if your scholarship says something like “on the condition that…” or requires you to maintain a certain GPA or class rank. If it does, then you may have just received a conditional scholarship.

Conditional scholarships can require you to meet additional academic benchmarks and if you don’t, for whatever reason, your scholarship may be reduced or disappear altogether.

If you were successful in undergrad, it’s easy to think maintaining a GPA won’t be a problem. I thought the same thing, but law school is not undergrad.

Most law schools are graded on a curve, meaning your grades are determined relative to your classmates rather than everyone simply earning the grade they deserve independently. This means that only a limited number of A’s, B’s and C’s can be awarded with majority of the students falling in the middle of the curve. Suddenly, maintaining a scholarship GPA becomes much more challenging than it looks on paper.

That doesn’t mean you can’t succeed. It simply means that earning the GPA attached to your scholarship may be be more challenging than it appears. Understanding this reality before you start law school allows you to prepare for it instead of being surprised by it.

NOT ALL CURVES ARE CREATED EQUAL

Every law school has its own grading curve. One of the biggest mistakes you can make is comparing scholarship amounts and acceptance packages.

Imagine two schools each offer you $20,000.00 a year on the condition that you maintain a 3.0 GPA. At first glance, they seem identical, but one school curves first year students at a 2.5 gpa, while another curves at a 2.9 GPA. Now, one may be significantly more difficult to keep than the other. The difference matters.

If your scholarship requires you to maintain a GPA above the school’s grading curve, statistically, not everyone receiving that scholarship will be able to keep it. That’s why understanding your school’s grading policy is just as important as understanding the scholarship itself. So what now?

Read the law school’s Standard ABA 509 report, if you have not already. This is one of the most valuable public documents available to law school applicants. Every ABA-accredited law school is required to publish one, and it contains information such as:

  • Tuition fees and cost of attendance

  • Living expenses

  • Incoming class metrics

  • Admissions statistics

  • J.D. degrees awarded

  • Enrollment and academic attrition

  • Transfers

  • Class size

  • Scholarship information

  • Faculty resources

  • Conditional scholarship data

Pay attention to all of this information and if you receive a conditional scholarship, focus on the conditional scholarship data. It tells you (1) how many students received conditional scholarships and (2) how many of those students had their scholarships reduced or eliminated.

Numbers don’t say the whole story, but they do provide context. If a significant percentage of the students who received a conditional scholarships are losing them every year, that’s information you deserve to know before making one of the biggest financial decisions of your life.

NEGOTIATE

Did you know that you can negotiate your scholarship? Well if you didn’t, now you know, that yes…you can. Many applicants don’t realize that scholarship offers, like many offers, are often negotiable.

I negotiated mine, and you may be able to negotiate yours too. Common reasons a school may reconsider your scholarship include:

  • A higher LSAT score

  • A higher GPA

  • A competing scholarship offer from another law school

When negotiating, don’t be afraid to advocate for yourself. You can ask the school to increase the scholarship amount or remove the condition. Will every school say yes? No, probably not, but you’ll never know unless you ask.

THEY SAID NO, NOW WHAT?

If the law school responds back and says no, don’t automatically cross it off your list. Instead, take a step back and evaluate your circumstances.

Maybe it’s your dream law school. Maybe it’s the best financial option even with the condition. Maybe it’s the school where you genuinely believe you’ll thrive. The circumstances are endless, but they are yours nonetheless.

A conditional scholarship IS NOT an automatic red-flag, but it is something you should make sure you understand 100%. Life can throw unexpected challenges your way during law school. Family emergencies happen. Health issues happen. Burnout happens. At the same time, thousands of students successfully keep their scholarships every single year.

There is hope. It is absolutely possible, but it takes intention.

Go to office hours before you think you need them. Ask questions and surround yourself with people that push you to be better. Meet with your academic advisors if this is offered to you. Take practice exams and when you think you’ve had enough take more.

Stay disciplined even when motivation fades.

Most importantly, don’t spend your time constantly worrying about losing your scholarship. Focus on becoming the best law student, person, and advocate you can be.

The grades will follow far more naturally when your energy is spent learning and growing rather than fearing the outcome.

CLOSING THOUGHTS

Read your ENTIRE acceptance letter and understand it. Review the ABA 509 report if you didn’t during your application process. Ask questions and negotiate the scholarship offer if your circumstances allow you to. Then make the decision that’s right for you.

A conditional scholarship shouldn’t scare you away, but it should encourage you to dive deeper. If you understand what the scholarship and acceptance letter means for you, put in the work. There’s no reason you can’t be the student who keeps their conditional scholarship.