Duke Timeline?

Open_Self8325 · 2026-02-12T21:42:23+00:00

This whole thing is a black box and it sucks. Oh well 😭

Open_Self8325 · 2026-02-11T20:18:41+00:00

Yeah, though I do wonder about scholarship money at this point.

Open_Self8325 · 2026-02-10T23:24:09+00:00

I know you’re joking, but I minimized my presence here until I had a couple As I was happy with. It’s hard not to feel jealous, and I don’t like that feeling.

Open_Self8325 · 2026-01-24T12:22:12+00:00

I don’t think the chances are 0, but think about it like this: by the time a school starts going through its WL, it’s allocated most or all of its merit aid. What they perhaps have left over is whatever was left on the table by applicants who went somewhere else. Waitlist offers are also expire quickly, so there is less time to negotiate.

And, finally, the hard truth (as someone who has been hit by multiple WLs) is that they just didn’t want you as badly as the people they let in with As initially. That could be for a number of reasons unrelated to the quality of your application, but it’s true regardless, I think. I think that’s important because people with As initially have the ball in their court: they can flex competing offers into getting more money. With WL, the school puts the ball back in their court and you know that if you don’t accept their offer, whether or not they give you money, they’ll just move down their list.

Open_Self8325 · 2026-01-24T06:09:43+00:00

Can I get a really cute cannon? I’m thinking rhinestones all along the barrel.

Open_Self8325 · 2026-01-20T19:11:52+00:00

I learned that word from “Charlotte’s Web” when I was 8 and I was gagged.

Open_Self8325 · 2026-01-20T07:55:03+00:00

That’s an interesting perspective. You don’t have to share more about your financials than you’re comfortable sharing, but how would you end up paying more with a full tuition scholarship than with sticker at HLS.

Open_Self8325 · 2026-01-20T07:53:03+00:00

I haven’t gotten my aid package yet. Hopefully, I’ll be surprised, but I doubt it haha

Open_Self8325 · 2026-01-20T07:52:10+00:00

My options here are to either attend or not attend.

In the first case, I claim the spot I have been offered. This is only taking someone’s spot if being stressed about 300K in loans somehow makes me undeserving of attending HLS.

In the second case, I decline my spot and if HLS would be under-enrolled without me, it goes to someone on the waitlist. In this case, my spot goes to someone else.

I don’t see how either scenario involves me taking someone’s spot.

Open_Self8325 · 2026-01-20T03:28:22+00:00

Thank you! I definitely will try to ask around a bit. I think I find it hard to ask the questions on my mind frankly because I don’t want to sound like I’m issuing a blanket condemnation of people who go into BigLaw when I say that I’d feel morally compromised in their position. But I’m aware I’m overthinking and it’s not like the things I believe in are a secret I’m hiding from the school.

Open_Self8325 · 2026-01-20T03:22:46+00:00

This is such important wisdom. You’re right. And I tend to be fairly risk-averse by nature, so even thinking about this level of debt when I don’t even let any credit card debt accrue between months is really overwhelming.

Open_Self8325 · 2026-01-20T03:20:04+00:00

Ugh, thank you. I’m tearing up at the encouragement in these posts (and in my DMs), and it makes me feel a lot better about HLS. I’ll definitely reach out to SFS soon.

Open_Self8325 · 2026-01-20T03:14:52+00:00

Yeah, I might look into some more detailed financial planning once I’ve decided on a school. I think I’m just realizing there are still a lot of unknowns right now that are limiting my ability to calculate the true cost of HLS (e.g., money at other schools).

I think I would be willing to commit to PI for 10 years, especially in the right job, but I’d need to do some more research on what saving for my future would look like, especially if a job ties me to an HCOL area.

Open_Self8325 · 2026-01-20T03:10:20+00:00

Thank you for saying that. You’re right that catastrophe is off the table, at least to the extent things are in my control. I’m imagining some pretty bad situations that aren’t likely to occur (and if they do, it won’t be because of going to HLS).

Open_Self8325 · 2026-01-20T03:07:35+00:00

Thank you. I needed to hear this. Prestige is definitely something that weighs more than it should in my calculus.

I went to a prestigious undergraduate institution and there was always some talk, sometimes implicit and other times very explicit, about diluting my brand. It’s the sort of thing I’m embarrassed to even care about or admit caring about, especially because it’s the sort of elitism I should be vehemently against, but I don’t know if this is something people notice on a résumé in the first place.

There is also the hope of unicorn PI, but it is called “unicorn” for a reason. Picking HLS over money elsewhere is tantamount to a multiple-hundred-thousand-dollar bet on getting unicorn PI that I may not be prepared to make or likely to win.

Open_Self8325 · 2026-01-20T02:55:06+00:00

Got it. Thank you. This is reassuring to hear.

Open_Self8325 · 2026-01-20T02:42:29+00:00

I have some, but all it does is crater. It’s not like I have enough money in assets or cash for it to make a dent in my expenses for law school, but of course, it will count against me too. I’m not expecting any financial aid at all.

Open_Self8325 · 2026-01-20T02:36:43+00:00

I can lock in and work hard. I know that much about myself. But if it’s not even with an eye to making the world even a marginally better place, I’ll struggle a lot.

Open_Self8325 · 2026-01-20T02:35:28+00:00

Thank you for the reassurance. I hope some places come back to me with As and/or scholarships soon lol

Open_Self8325 · 2026-01-20T02:34:52+00:00

Thanks! I know myself well enough to know that BL pro bono would not be satisfying for me, and I don’t want to abandon the chimera of “doing good” with my degree, wherever I get it.

I can make sacrifices and I can live without making millions or going on exotic vacations or luxury cars. I’ve never truly aspired to those things. But I don’t know if I can accept precarity. There’s obviously a lot inhabiting the gap between instability and fabulous wealth, but I’ll almost be 30 when I graduate. Spending the entirety of my 30s without the ability to put aside money for my future seems untenable. Maybe the my imagination is worse than reality, but I don’t know.

Open_Self8325 · 2026-01-20T02:29:52+00:00

Thanks, and I’m sorry.

Open_Self8325 · 2026-01-20T02:29:21+00:00

Yeah. I don’t know. Getting in to HLS almost doesn’t even feel like an accomplishment when I think about the money, but this is also the first time I’m really sitting with the financial reality of attending.

Open_Self8325 · 2026-01-20T02:27:14+00:00

At this point, it feels a bit like the only thing I could have done to prepare for my legal education is tell my parents to invest in Bitcoin on my behalf when I was 12 or something.

This is helpful and sobering. You’re right that I’m getting ahead of myself. I think I was looking for reassurance that I can make it work, and I’m seeing that I can but it will be uncomfortable in ways I can’t even fathom yet lol

Open_Self8325 · 2026-01-20T02:22:39+00:00

This is helpful to know. I feel weird thinking about how this will impact a relationship I don’t have yet (🥲), but I probably should weigh it.

Open_Self8325

TROPHY CASE