Hi Japeel,
Thanks for the question! First, congrats to you on an excellent run of offers and scholarships! Those are some great offers, and obviously that eases the pressure here. The key now is to make the best choice for you, and it may be that there is more than one "right" decision.
Second, if you feel unclear about the terms of any offer, then immediately seek clarification. Under no circumstances accept an offer without knowing the exact conditions for scholarship renewal. If, for some amazing reason, a school won't clarify (and I can't see that occurring and have never heard of it happening), then
walk run away as fast as possible
Next, whenever I make comments on this topic, I like to be upfront that I am debt averse. I certainly understand the dynamics of rankings and name brands when it comes to hiring (and will address that in the next section), but law school debt is
non-dischargeable and will be with you until it is paid off. Thus, high percentage scholarships are very attractive and for me at least are weighted more heavily in my opinions. As for a specific percentage, I strongly prefer schools that are 75% or above. Graduating with some debt isn't the end of the world, and thus an offer of "only" 80% package isn't a dealbreaker.
Let's look at the schools again, and re-order them using their
ATL rank and USNews rank (
using the new 2018 rankings!). I'm doing this because the rankings do matter, and they serve as a reflection of how the schools are viewed by the general public and employers (and the ATL rankings emphasize employability, and thus I personally prefer them to the USNews rankings, and used them as for the order below):
- Georgetown — Unknown — USN = 15, ATL = 21
William and Mary (25%) — USN = 41, ATL = 23
Seton Hall Law (80%) — USN = 57, ATL = 35
Temple Law (80%) — USN = 53, ATL = 46
Fordham — Unknown — USN = 36, ATL = > 50 (ATL does not rank past 50)
George Mason (80%) — USN = 41, ATL = > 50
St. John's (100%) — USN = 72, ATL = > 50
American (100%) — USN = 86, ATL = > 50
Catholic (100% ) — USN = 106, ATL = > 50
Reviewing the list, I'd pull William & Mary at this stage simply because the aid offer is so low compared to other schools. I'd also personally drop American and Catholic off your list, because St. Johns is a better choice for the schools with similar packages, and George Mason is a better DC-area option imho (despite offering less than 100% aid, and despite the law school not being located in the District itself).
You obviously don't have all the responses yet, but this is the point when your personal preferences come in as well as actual debt load. Looking at the percentages offered is helpful, but the next step I'd take would be to look at exact costs for each school and determine what your final debt figure would be for each. As we talked about above you should also examine the details of aid renewal and satisfy yourself about each offer. In other words, examine every aspect of each school and slowly whittle the list down based on what you know about yourself and the school. That is the most important part of this process, and it's one that has to be done by you since it will ultimately be your preferences that determine the best fit and thus your happiness while in school.
Last, don't forget that you can go back to a school and make a counteroffer if needed. There's nothing wrong with telling a school that you will attend if they can increase your aid offer to a certain figure, but be honest if you make such a statement. And, when negotiating, you can cite offers from other schools to increase the strength of your position. The rule in counteroffers is that if you are going to cite another school's offer, it should be a school in a similar or better rankings range. In other words, telling Georgetown that Catholic offered you 100% will have absolutely no effect (but, if the situation were reversed, it would have a huge impact).
Please let me know if that helps. Thanks!
