Law school is expensive. There’s no sugarcoating that. Unless you have a treasure trove of hidden cash stashed away somewhere, you are probably going to rely on some combination of scholarships, financial aid, and student loans to finance your legal education. This post is about the first of those financing options—scholarships—and how to find scholarships for law school.
In general, students either receive scholarships from their schools or from outside organizations.
1. Law School Scholarships
With a few notable exceptions, most law schools are willing to award potentially significant amounts of merit aid to qualified candidates. There are a few ways you can try to improve your chances of receiving a large law school scholarship.
First, sign up for an LSAT prep course. The higher your LSAT score, the more money a school might offer you. In fact, most full-ride scholarships to law schools are awarded based on LSAT scores. Aim to score higher than the average LSAT scores of entering students. If you’ve taken an LSAT diagnostic or already taken an actual LSAT but aren’t too happy with your score, we can help; Blueprint students see an average score increase of 11 points from their first practice exam. Schedule a free consultation with an LSAT Advisor to discuss your goals and how we can get you there!
Second, you should apply early. Merit-aid awards—like offers of admission—are given out on a first-come-first-served basis. Consequently, the sooner you apply, the better chance you have of receiving aid. As a result, I would recommend applying no later than Thanksgiving, and preferably sooner, in order to put yourself in the best position.
Third, don’t be afraid to negotiate. When I was applying, I sent out applications to twenty schools. I knew going in that I was very unlikely to attend a school outside of the top fourteen, but I planned to use the larger merit aid awards from lower-ranked schools to persuade the higher ranked schools to up the ante. I would recommend following a similar approach for whatever range of schools you’re targeting. As long as you’re polite, sincere, and forthcoming, most financial aid officers and admission counselors will have at least have a conversation with you regarding increasing your offer.
Finally, you should be aware of any strings that are attached to your award. For example, some schools will require you to stay above a certain GPA cut-off in order to remain eligible for your scholarship. I would be cautious with an offer of that kind. Having gone through 1L, I can tell you with firsthand knowledge that it is very hard to predict your performance in law school classes based on your past academic record. Law school is a different beast, and you don’t want to lose a significant portion of your funding because you don’t perform quite as well as you would’ve hoped.
2. Scholarship Organizations
In addition to school scholarships, there are a variety of outside scholarships available to students. Yale Law School provides a list of some such scholarships, as does U.S. News and World Report. I would recommend that you run a Google search, either on the basis of some trait or on your geographical location (e.g. “law school scholarships for [state],” or “law school scholarship for [affinity group, personal attribute]”). The key here is to be proactive—there are a lot of scholarship opportunities available, and you should try to seek them out.
3. Law Firm Scholarships
You don’t have to wait until you graduate law school to start building relationships with law firms. Some law firms have scholarships for law students that meet certain requirements. To apply, some firms may require recipients to write an essay, submit transcripts or letters of recommendation, or meet other criteria. In any case, don’t pass up this opportunity for free money!
I distinctly remember getting extremely burned out by the application process. The last thing I wanted to do was seek out extra scholarship options or write additional essays. As you go through the process, you might feel the same way. Some students don’t worry about it because they expect to make so much money in Big Law that their paltry amount of law school debt will just vanish in no time. I wish that were the case. Take the time now to seek out ways that will help you avoid paying off student loans (and interest on those loans) for years to come.
Don’t forget an important factor in getting scholarships — the LSAT! Get started with boosting your score with our free LSAT prep resources, including a personalizable study planner and free practice test.
4. Blueprint Prep!
For the past three years, we have done a $20,000 Law School Scholarship Giveaway, and you don’t even have to write an essay. Take two minutes to apply, and you could be our next winner!
