Hi,

I am looking for some information regarding Univs asking for Financial Statements during the application process. I am planning to take a study loan to fund my LLM, which I can take only upon getting an acceptance from a Univ.

(a) I would like to know if its generally mandatory to provide this financial statement at the time of submitting your application. Does the non-submission in any way effect the chances of being accepted by the Univ?

(b) Can one submit this financial statement after receiving acceptance confirmation so that the Univ can then dispatch the I-20 form?

(c) I have heard that its possible to request for a waiver on tuition fees. Should it be requested at the time of submitting your application? Does this effect your acceptance chances?

(d) Generally what are the reasons that are considered by the Univs when considering to grant a waiver on tuition fees?

Any responses for the above would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Radhae

(a) If your candidature is very strong, you will most likely receive a full tuition remission offer from good law schools in USA.

(b) Irrespective of what the school web site mentions, you should apply for a tuition waiver;

(c) if you consider yourself a highly deserving candidate, you may also request for additional funding/merit scholarship;

(d) It is not mandatory to provide financial statements alongwith application for admission; in fact most of the schools usually ask applicants to submit this statement after admission is confirmed and before issuing I-20

(e) The non-submission of financial statement at the initial stage alongwith admission application does not usually affect admission result;

(f) IF a law school requires financial statement at the very intial stage and the candidate has not supplied the same, AND if otherwise the file is complete, the schools usually inform the candidate that application is incomplete and shall be considered "complete" only after financial documents are received. However, the application is not straightway rejected for want of financial document, if otherwise the file is completed before the due date.

You should concentrate on carefully drafting your SoP, essays, writing samples and letters of recommendations which consitute very important part of admission process.

Hi nriattorney,

Thanks a lot for your answers. The application process seems much clearer now. Basically, I have to make my candidature very strong for the Univs I am applying. I am presently working as a legal counsel in US based IT major company in India and I am involved in software licensing and technology laws. My experience is reasonably good (almost five years of solid IT legal work) but I was an average student in college. So, I am not sure how strong my candidature would be to a Univ. Well, as per your advise, I shall concentrate on the SoP, essays and other things you mentioned and lets hope for best. Thank you once again.