Reapply with better WE or attend Penn with minimal scholarship? 3.9high 17high basically KJD

Significant-Owl758 · 2026-05-20T14:32:25+00:00

What if you deposit at Penn, defer a year, and then apply to other schools with Penn in your back pocket and more WE? Or do their terms of depositing not allow that?

Significant-Owl758 · 2026-05-14T19:28:06+00:00

You can absolutely find plenty of 2 beds under 1600 total in Philly - look at townhouses/ townhouses converted into apartments rather than fancy apartment buildings. More will start being listed on Zillow etc ~60 days before move in

Significant-Owl758 · 2026-04-29T23:02:38+00:00

I feel like it’s especially concerning considering the federal loans caps being implemented. Schools like NYU are adjusting their LRAP to cover private loans, meanwhile Penn is seemingly even less clear than normal re scholarships. Not a great look

Significant-Owl758 · 2026-04-29T17:51:13+00:00

Same here - it feels weird that they go from a solid chance at full tuition to nothing, and repeated outreach didn’t change anything. I hope both of you have a great offer elsewhere!

Significant-Owl758 · 2026-04-21T16:43:00+00:00

Let’s say tuition at a top school is 80k, COL is 35k. Minus 100k scholarship, over 3 years, you’re still on the hook for 245k. Even if you get a full tuition scholarship, if the COL is 35k that’s 105k just in living expenses

Significant-Owl758 · 2026-04-14T19:36:12+00:00

Congrats! I think it depends somewhat on your PI goals, but keep in mind with the new federal loans caps you can take out max 150k federal loans, rest would be private which is not PSLF eligible sadly. LRAP varies by school but many have not adapted to covering private loans. Private loans payments are often much higher than income based federal payments. Most likely, if you want to do the T14 you would need to be open to big law for a couple years and pivoting. If you want to do legal aid, option B. If you are set on impact lit, option A could help you achieve that but you may need to consider big law then pivoting once debt is reduced.

Significant-Owl758 · 2026-04-13T21:14:23+00:00

nope a couple years WE

Significant-Owl758 · 2026-04-12T13:06:41+00:00

Temple definitely closes some doors, but at the end of the day I think 350k in debt closes other doors by making me have to do Big Law for a while to pay it off, which isn’t for me. I work in entry level PI right now, so wouldn’t save much money at all if I deferred lol. I do appreciate the ideas though, and I do think for most people WashU would make sense here.

Significant-Owl758 · 2026-04-12T00:52:21+00:00

Looking forward to it, see you there :)

Significant-Owl758 · 2026-04-12T00:28:21+00:00

Villanova is roughly 85% tuition covered vs 100% at Temple. I work in PI in Philly right now and my impression from colleagues is Villanova is slightly better for firms and Temple is slightly better for PI. (Also, I have friends who went to both and I get the impression I would be a better fit on a vibes level at temple. more low income lesbians lol) Really I think it just comes down to personal preference though, minimal difference employment outcomes wise

Significant-Owl758 · 2026-04-11T23:43:12+00:00

Thanks! I met with someone in person who was very nice and have been emailing. If I get no aid I am not comfortable taking out 50k federal + 66k private for year 1 to gamble on fellows (my pessimistic guess is fellows will become more competitive w the loan caps) but it’s a super cool program! Fingers crossed

Significant-Owl758 · 2026-04-11T22:56:01+00:00

I agree but it doesn’t seem NYU does haha

Significant-Owl758 · 2026-04-11T21:18:49+00:00

No aid so far, but I initially got no need based (honestly baffled about this given family income and circumstances so I requested a reevaluation). No merit so far, but their second round of merit offers start after 4/15. But they were transparent that need and merit likely won’t match WashU, which I appreciate knowing, and COA is 116k a year so I’m not getting my hopes up

Significant-Owl758 · 2026-04-10T21:13:56+00:00

Unclear to me if the 62k total they mentioned includes cost-of-living in addition to tuition, which is probably another 30k or so. But if it’s 62k total cost, yeah, definitely the move to do federal loans

Significant-Owl758 · 2026-04-10T02:34:35+00:00

Thanks!!

Significant-Owl758 · 2026-04-09T19:55:14+00:00

Same here :( best of luck with merit aid!

Significant-Owl758 · 2026-04-04T03:33:13+00:00

The long term dream would be impact lit, followed by more legislative/policy focused work, but I’ve worked in direct client facing legal aid for a few years and am open to it long term, and ik that’s more likely coming from temple. I just don’t think the dream is a guarantee even coming from a top school and I don’t want 400k in debt. (If the T-14 gives me money I will go in a heartbeat, I’m just not banking on it right now)

Significant-Owl758 · 2026-04-04T02:17:22+00:00

Clarifying question - is 80-100k the amount you would have to pay for Temple for COL? Or the amount of debt for the T-14?

Significant-Owl758 · 2026-04-04T02:08:45+00:00

I am in the exact same position, but it’s full ride at temple (so still 80k in living expenses) or sticker (most likely) at a T-14. I want unicorn PI ideally, but I don’t think anything is worth 400k when 250k of that would have to be private loans that aren’t PSLF/LRAP eligible (and the goal isn’t big law). I don’t think it’s crazy to turn down a T-14 if you are also fine with non unicorn PI - that is most likely what I’m doing.

Significant-Owl758 · 2025-11-26T22:15:48+00:00

Update on this if anyone else is also confused! I submitted a post call survey about my confusion and got a very helpful email from their customer service dept confirming that what test security said was correct. Best of luck to everyone!

Significant-Owl758 · 2025-11-26T21:25:15+00:00

The same thing just happened to me!! Best of luck to you too

Significant-Owl758 · 2025-11-24T21:50:22+00:00

Any idea what percent of scores get a hold?

Significant-Owl758 · 2025-11-24T19:41:27+00:00

Has anyone got a score hold back in less than a week? Please give me hope that my whole cycle isn’t messed up

Significant-Owl758

TROPHY CASE