Scholarships101

Welcome back. This is the final episode of the first season of Applying Yourself, a law school admissions podcast out of Washington University School of Law in St. Louis. My name is Anna Donovan, and I’m the communications program manager. And today I have with me Claire O’Brien, who is our director of admissions, joining the podcast to talk about scholarships.

Claire, would you like to introduce yourself, tell us about your background, and maybe very quickly what you do in the office?

Oh my gosh, sure. I’m so happy to be here. Thanks for having me. As Anna said, my name is Claire O’Brien. And I work in the admissions office. I talk about Wash U a lot, a lot. A little bit of everything. I meet with candidates, do a lot of interviewing. We, yeah, we welcome, essentially, candidates to campus and tell everybody about Wash U.

Excellent. So this is essentially a re-record of a podcast we did earlier and I definitely did not say what our topic was today, but today we’re going to talk about scholarships and scholarship awards. You know, I think in general, a lot of our podcasts have been applicable to candidates applying to all different law schools. A lot, I think, of the information today is going to be probably specific to WashU Law, but always our advice is when you’re looking into law schools, like look into how, you know, how they do scholarships. Every school does things a little bit differently, but let’s jump right in.

Claire, so can you tell us a little bit about, you know, sort of our process this year and sort of what candidates do and to, I guess, be awarded a scholarship? That’s, that’s, I did not say that correctly, but how they either apply for a scholarship or are considered for a scholarship specifically at WashU Law.

Sure. So simply put, all admitted candidates are reviewed for both need and merit-based scholarship by the scholarship committee. It is a very kind of holistic review, so some candidates will include statements of need in their application. The scholarship committee reviews personal statements, diversity statements, every piece of the application, so they’re really looking at a mix of things. There are a few outside scholarships that you apply separately for in addition to your application, and I know we’re gonna kind of go through those as well, but it’s a very small percentage. So, if you apply to WashU Law and you are admitted, you will be considered for need- and merit-based scholarship.

Yeah, and something new that we are doing this year is every admitted student, after they’re admitted, is doing a scholarship call with someone from our office. Can you talk a little bit about why we decided to do that and sort of what, I guess, what information we might be gathering to aid the scholarship committee?

Sure, so we really recognize that everyone who comes to WashU Law is coming from a different place in their life. They’re coming from a different stage. Some people are coming straight through. Some people are coming in with work experience. And people bring their authentic selves, you know, to their law school. So rather than just, you know, say, here is, you know, an award that you can apply to tuition, we’re able to customize the award based on the individual’s background and kind of experience.

So, for example, if someone is coming to school and they have children, the committee can earmark funds for childcare. You know, if someone’s worried about… I looked at this recently. Bar prep courses are really getting expensive. They’ve always been expensive, but they’re really getting expensive. So you’re like, how am I gonna pay for a bar review course the summer after I graduate law school and I’m not working, I’ll just be studying. So the committee can earmark funds, you know, for a bar review course.

Some people come in and they know exactly which market they wanna be in. They’re like, I wanna be in New York or Boston or California or, you know, insert any city. We can earmark funds for networking over 1L or 2L winter break. So there’s a lot of ways that we can customize a scholarship based on the individual’s kind of preferences and goals.

Excellent. They’re very exciting as we have started sending some of those out already and getting some great response. I think it definitely points to how much we care to get to know our students and our admitted students and really think about their three years in law school and even beyond and really get to the heart of what’s gonna set them up for success in law school.

One of the biggest questions we get, honestly, from sometimes the day that people apply is the timeline for hearing back about scholarships. Can you talk? Can you talk about that?

Yes, absolutely. And one thing I also wanted to mention too is a lot of people will be like, well, how, what should I do to prepare for this scholarship call? So here’s kind of general timeline. You apply to WashU. The committee, the admissions committee will review your file and then you will hear back from the admissions committee. We always want to underpromise and overdeliver on timelines.

Yes.

So it could be a long, you know, a long wait. I know the committee is moving much more slowly this cycle, but if you are admitted, you will then, our office will, you will receive an email from the office and we’ll set up a scholarship call with you. The scholarship call is really 15 minutes or so, sometimes less, because at that point, you’ve had the interview, so we’ve learned about you and your background from your interview and your application. So we take those two pieces and then we kind of fill in gaps during the scholarship call, kind of get even a more holistic view of who you are, any concerns or worries or, you know, kind of things you’re going to be bringing with you to law school.

And to prepare, people will ask and I always say really kind of think through what you want the committee to know about you, what you want the committee to consider and think about as they’re designing a financial award for you. So, you know, be as open, open as, as possible. It is obviously like everything in the process, a confidential, you know, a confidential setting. You’ve already been admitted. So there’s no need to worry about saying the right or, you know, a wrong thing.

Yeah.

So, and then in terms of after you have your call. I know the committee’s working as quickly as they can, but because every single letter, literally, no joke, is custom to the candidates. These letters are like not mail merge, they are hand written.

Right, for sure.

And so it can take a while. It can take a while, but certainly you should know about scholarship well in advance of our April 15th deposit deadline, so you have all the information you need.

Absolutely, for sure. And I do think that our scholarships are worth the wait. They are so impressive. I don’t know other schools that are doing things like this. It’s a new kind of initiative for us, so it is very, very exciting.

Tagging off of that, and I would say the reason we are re-recording this episode, we have recently announced, kind of in addition to our very generous scholarship awards and the fact that, I don’t think I said this before, but for our current 1L class, 100% of the class received some sort of scholarship award, this year, we have recently announced full tuition scholarship awards for students that come from low-income households, and I am always thinking really diligently about saying this correctly, but it’s below 200% of the poverty line. And so we have just rolled that out. We have already some admitted students that we think could qualify, but it’s really, really awesome. Could you hype up that opportunity for us, Claire?

Oh yes. It is such an amazing opportunity, and I am so just like proud of WashU Law, for kind of responding to such a huge need. I mean, yeah, if you apply to WashU and think you may qualify, and really, like, there’s no harm in filling out a FAFSA, filling out our form, and just seeing if you may qualify. And then the scholarship committee will review and then let you know. And if you do qualify, you receive full tuition for three years, including increases in tuition. It’s just a really amazing opportunity where we really are doing all the things that we can to make law school attainable for people. I mean, I don’t know anybody who can afford $66,000 out of pocket.

Right.

And that is not including cost of living.

Not including cost of living. I mean, just like everything. So it’s just like, and we really want, right? We need good lawyers in the world we’re living in today. We need really, really good lawyers, people who want to do this work. And so I think this is a great way to make law school attainable for people.

Yeah, absolutely. And I think, you know, in general, just any scholarship that any student receives anywhere, like, can take a little bit of stress off of the experience and thinking about the possibility and the openness of postgraduate and what you can do with that law degree when you don’t have a huge amount of debt. You know, we always think it’s worth investing in yourself and looking at, you know, how much debt you’re willing to take on. But, you know, being able to take a degree from WashU Law anywhere and have, you know, have very little debt and, you know, have that confidence that we’re, you know, instilling in some of our admitted students and the class of 2026, which is crazy to think about.

I know.

Wow. Yeah, awesome. So, you know, we’ll, you know, touch on a few more things, but so you’d mentioned at some point, you know, aside from, you know, this new initiative, but also our customized awards, we do have some sort of like, you know, what we call outside scholarships that may be, you know, require a difference, you know, addendum, or, you know, application, that sort of thing. Do you want to maybe run through a few of those really quickly? And, you know, certainly always, you know, if anyone, our millions of listeners, have questions about these, they should follow up with us and we can send them more information. But there are just also a lot of, you know, other scholarship opportunities as well.

Absolutely. The first one I want to mention is the Olin Chancellor’s Graduate Fellowship. This scholarship is the most kind of highest, highest award that the university offers, and when I say university, I mean every graduate program. So med school, law school, school of engineering, the business school, and there is a cohort of people, if you are selected for this scholarship, from law, med, engineering, Olin, business school, that you will be with, and you’ll get full tuition. It is a crazy stipend. It’s $45,000 a year stipend. It’s a committee that reviews all applicants from every different graduate program, and so apply, apply, apply.

You’ll find on the website, though, I do want to put this out there. It says you must apply at the time you submit your application for law. It’s different because we use LSAC as our platform, our application platform. So you are not late. If you have submitted an application, you can still apply for the Olin Chancellor’s Graduate Fellowship. It’s rolling, so the earlier you can apply, the better. But a really amazing opportunity. You’ll get to meet a lot of amazing people if you’re selected. So definitely throw your hat in the ring for that one.

The other scholarship, the highest scholarship that the law school gives, is called the Dean’s Fellowship. You do not have to apply separately for the Dean’s Fellowship. The committee will look at personal statement, resume, including any work experience, internship experience, academic success, let’s see, diversity statements, agenda, a lot of factors go into the Dean’s Fellowship Award. Dean’s Fellowship is full tuition. And really, it was kind of the impetus for the custom scholarship because for Dean’s Fellows, we’ve been customizing since we’ve had the Dean’s Fellowship Award, I think since 2019, maybe before.

Yeah, maybe before that.

Yeah.

Maybe before that.

And so Dean’s Fellowship is you just apply, and you will be, the committee will consider you for a Dean’s Fellowship in reviewing your application.

And then a couple others. So we have an amazing opportunity that started last year called Mound City Bar Foundation’s Equity Scholars Program. To apply for this, and I should say, Mound City is the oldest African American bar association, in one of the oldest in the country, if not the oldest in the country. But I know that they just celebrated their centennial kind of their hundred years. I would say their first hundred years.

Yeah, hopefully they have multi more.

So they’ve been around a very long time. And they are giving full tuition scholarships plus, so their awards are also custom. They can include living stipends, they can include mentorship opportunities, all sorts of amazing things. Very easy to apply in 500 words or less. Indicate the reasons for your interest in Mound City Bar Foundation’s equity scholars program. Including how your background and life experiences have influenced your decision to pursue a career in law and or what you hope to accomplish with your law degree, and you just email that to our office to apply.

And then, oh, one more, and then I’ll take a breather. I’m like, I’m like, we have so many amazing scholarship opportunities. I’m just talking like a mile a minute.

So the Webster Society Scholarship is for students who are public interest-oriented. So you either have significant kind of public service experience coming into law school, and or you want to do public service work with your law degree. And to apply for Webster, all you do is submit an outside statement. It’s like, I’ve seen effective Webster statements at a page double-spaced. I’d say not more than three pages, probably.

Yeah, one to two, probably.

Yeah, just saying interest in public service work and how you hope to, yeah, do public service during law school and after law school. That is full tuition and a $5,000 living stipend. We’re also 100% participants in the Yellow Ribbon program.

And then I’m gonna do a quick plug to, I do not get paid by Access Lex, but they are amazing. They have such an amazing kind of scholarship platform. If you’re an incoming law student, look at Access Lex Institute. They have a compilation of private outside scholarships, grants, fellowships. Like, if you’re a current law student, they have a category for you if you’re thinking about law school. But I think a lot of these opportunities exist and some people don’t apply because they’re like, they kind of self-select out. Like, I’m not gonna apply and then no one.

Yeah, absolutely.

Right. Your chances of getting some of these outside smaller scholarships that can like really add up, that can go towards your books, that can chip away at cost of living, could be a month or two rent. I know we get emails from local law firms. The Eagleton is a huge one that is awarded by a law firm, Thompson Coburn, to law students at local Missouri and Illinois schools. And that also includes a guaranteed 1L firm summer position. So really, you know, I know for all candidates, the application cycle and then you’re admitted and scholarships and it’s so overwhelming. But I think also over the summer, you know, once you’ve deposited or you’ve decided where you’re going, like starting to look into these other scholarship opportunities that can just add on to, you know, specifically for WashU, what you’ve already received, can mean so, so much.

You know, you should care about schools and scholarships and you know, schools wanting to put you out into the world with as little debt as possible. You know, it’s something we care deeply about and it’s why we are instituting so many new initiatives.

Claire, do you have any last parting words before we wrap up here?

Is it that quote from Wayne Gretzky as we’re talking about this? You miss 100% of the shots that you don’t take. So throw your name in the ring for scholarships. Look on our website. We have a list of the outside scholarships that you do need to apply separately for. And you, if you apply, there’s a very good chance that you will be selected for a lot of these. So I just, I just love, I have a dream job that I get to talk to excited candidates, excited future lawyers. And I just, I think my parting words is, would be WashU is here to, to answer any questions that you have. We try to be, our office tries to be available, accessible. So reach out. Come visit us, and if you have any questions, let us know.

Yeah, absolutely. We, you know, had originally tossed around some titles for this podcast, which include Money, Money, Money. Money, money, money, money. Apply, apply, apply. You know, we’ve touched on this in previous episodes, and I’m gonna keep this brief, but you can apply completely fee-free to WashU Law directly on our website, and then, you know, if admitted, be considered for scholarships automatically and, you know, have opportunities with so many of these other kind of outside scholarships and things that we can push out to our admitted students to apply for, but you have to apply. So apply.

Thank you for joining us, Claire. I’m sure we will have you back next season.

Please. It was so wonderful. Wait, this is the last season, or this is our last episode of this season.

Last episode of this season.

Of this season, rounding out on a, I think, a very, very positive message about scholarships. So yeah, so thank you everyone. Great season. Very sorry to not have Naomi here today, but yeah, we’ll be back, you know, month or two. Not too, too long of a wait. Thank you again.

Thanks, Claire.

All right. Thanks so much, Anna. Bye.