All Scholarship data is listed over three years.
LGBT Individual
Update 2/27
Figure I would give a little update. Decided to apply a little late to Marquette and Valparaiso. Marquette has a great sports law program and I may get some good scholarship money from Valpo. Fee waivers from both, so I figured it was worth it. At this point, I am pretty satisfied with my cycle thus far. Accepted into some schools that I thought would be difficult. However, finding it difficult to narrow down choices. Ideally, I want to have it narrowed down to 3-4 choices in the next 2 weeks and make my decision by the end of March. DO NOT WANT TO MAKE MULTIPLE DEPOSITS! Last thing, pretty disappointed in the financial aid process from Suffolk. I probably would not have received scholarship aid, but the school does itself a disservice by having good students wait for information several weeks later. More than likely, they will lose students because of this. Received a random e-mail from them about scholarship aid and asking me to be patient. They must have been getting some impatient e-mails from students. Really liked their ADR program, but do not want to make a decision on them at the last minute and would not go to a T3 for T4 without significant aid since I got into some pretty good schools above. Anyways, this is really long! Comments and questions are welcome!
3/2
App went complete at Marquette, will have decision within 8 weeks. Valpo app should be complete early next week when they get a hard copy. I expect to have fairly quick decision from them. Getting a little impatient with IU-Bloomington and San Fran...both reach schools for me, but it has been over 6 weeks now. Not expecting to get into those schools, but u never know. Lastly, recently withdrew from Kansas and will start scheduling visits to some of these schools. Getting pretty excited!
3/5
Decided to withdraw from Cal Western. Received a pretty nice scholarship and have a good sports law program, but scholarship retention rates are barely above 50% and it would be tough to compete against better schools in California (as they have many good schools). Down to 9 schools and shrinking!
3/14
Withdrew from William Mitchell today. Felt like I would be comfortable there, but the new 2014 rankings just came out and they dropped behind the other law schools in Minnesota. Attending there was contigent on remaining #2 in the state. With that said, Nebraska had a huge leap in the rankings 89 to 61 and consequently is rising on my list. I am down to 8 schools and coming closer to a decision everyday. Lastly, still no info from IU-Bloomington or San Fran. IU has updated my status numerous times and recently so I expect a decision soon, while San Fran I have no idea. Valpo app is in review and has been updated twice so decision should be pretty quick (at least I hope). Still waiting on Marquette...could be awhile.
3/18
Withdrew from San Fran and MSU. Really cannot see myself at USF or MSU, especially USF, since they fell so far in the 2014 law school rankings. Little irritated with USF since my app has been in review over 9 weeks and no decision yet. Difficult to withdraw from MSU since they have made great strides over the past few years and am a MSU fan. Down to 6 schools and hopefully will be attending Nebraska April 8!
3/27
Well, things got a little more interesting. I recieved a non-resident scholarship of $22,000 annually from IU-Indianapolis. I honestly was ready to withdraw, but since I received the scholarship, I will certainly consider the school once again. Withdrew from IU-Bloomington today, not willing to wait any longer and since I would not receive any scholarship money, it would not be worth the nearly $70,000 price tag. Also, very excited about being accepted to Marquette, best sports law program in the nation. This is the program I want, so I am happy. Still waiting to hear back from Nebraska about visiting April 8. Down to 4 schools!
4/11
Well, I am down to the last few days and making a choice by April 15th is proving quite difficult. I withdrew from IU-Indy even though I received a pretty nice institutional scholarship and an additional outside scholarship, but the school really does not offer many opportunities for those wishing to work in sports. Thus, it is down to 3 schools, Valpo, Marquette and Nebraska. I planned on visiting Nebraska April 8, but I had to cancel because of a death in the close family. Since Marquette and Nebraska have deposit deadlines on April 15th, I will make a deposit on one of these schools and make a firm choice by May 1 when Valpo has their deadline. I am leaning toward Marquette because of a plethora of opportunities to work in sports and I will not have to take the bar exam, but I am not sure I want to live in Milwaukee for the next 3 years. Really tough decision to make in the next few days, but I will continue to think very hard about it.
4/12
I withdrew from Nebraska today and made my deposit at Marquette. It was a really difficult decision that could have gone either way, but I felt that Marquette offered more opportunities to work in sports since it has such a great sports law program. However, I have not totally ruled out Valpo since they gave me a nice scholarship and have a sports program, which is hard to find. On the other hand, employment prospects at Valpo are not good (almost 25% unemployed). In fact, I may take a visit April 26 to ensure that I made the right decision in securing my seat at Marquette.
4/16
Although I paid my deposit for Marquette, I will still be visiting Valpo April 26 for one of their group visit days. I may not change my mind, but Valpo could be the right "fit" for me. Just never know until you visit. However, I scheduled a personal visit to Marquette April 30 before the May 1 deposit deadline for Valpo so I can make the best decision. I am really looking forward to both visits and hope I will enjoy both schools!
4/28
I just got back from my visit from Valpo on Friday and it was a pretty good day. The school seems nice, but I felt there was not very much information on the curriculum or career opportunities. In addition, there was no discussion on student organizations. I have until May 1st to make my final decision, but it is really difficult, which comes to my last point. I am really having trouble finding any information about the environment for LGBT students on both the Marquette and Valpo campuses. As an LGBT student, this is a very big consideration. Does anyone have any information they can give me? Please help! Schools publish information about racial and ethnic demographics, it would be nice to be able to find LGBT demographics on these campuses.
5/21
So it has been a long time since my last update. If you have not noticed already, I will be attending Marquette and will be heading to Milwaukee next weekend to search for housing. I am relieved to have made my decision and am excited to spend the next few years in Milwaukee. Not really much to say beyond this, but the next few posts will update on my housing situation (anyone know of good places to live in Milwaukee or metro area?).
6/3
Just came back from Milwaukee and loved it! It was incredibly fun! I was pleasantly surprised about how nice Milwaukee was. Up to this point, I have heard mostly negative things about the city, but it was great! In addition, I received a tour of the law school and was impressed. Eckstein Hall is very nice and new (I think it opened in 2010) building with great technological and classroom features as well as several other great amenities. I was able to schedule 3 apartment showings over the weekend and liked them all. However, it is pretty hard to find a nice place that is relatively inexpensive that will fit into a student loan budget. I will probably make one last trip to view a few more places next week and make my final decision. I would rather get my apartment situation settled sooner rather than later! Even more excited for the next 3 years!
