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Pretty stuck here. Things to take into consideration:

I'm 24 and from Miami. I went to undergrad at UF and hated Gainesville. My husband is English and will need to find work wherever I go. He's spent the last 10 years in the snowboard industry, but is now interested in green building and clean technology. I have no desire to ever live or work in NYC or Chicago. I see myself in DC, California, or London. I would like to work overseas at some point, and potentially settle there. I have a German Shepherd and we will probably buy a small house with a yard. I plan on taking business courses and potentially pursuing a dual degree.

UVa - 90k is a lot of money. But will I hate C-Ville? I have heard that there is no comparison between it and Gainesville, which is good. Another plus is being close to DC for summer work. Worried about my husband finding a job, but he's willing to commute to Richmond. Would buy a house so would most likely be able to establish residency for 2nd/3rd year.

Penn - 68k, STILL disappointed with this, it's combined need based grant and small merit scholarship. I even presented my UVa offer. I like the idea of being in a city, and also being close to NYC where I have friends. I've spent the last 4 years in Aspen and miss big city living a bit. Would live in the suburbs, somewhere on the mainline. Would love the chance to take classes at Wharton.

Your thoughts?

Edit: Duke could only up the $ to 72k, so I had to withdraw.

Assuming that your husband will be able to find work and / or is comfortable living in C-Ville, then I advocate UVA for the money.

I largely made the decision to go to NU myself over Duke and Penn so that my wife could work in Chicago. Needless to say, she is now working in Japan for another couple of years. Looking back, I regret not taking Penn.

UVA is the clear choice here, unless your husband can't find a job in C'ville.

Is UVa the clear choice even considering my desire to work abroad and potentially pursue an MBA?

Wow those are some solid options.

If the money is even between UVa and Duke I'd give my usual chat regarding personal preferences/goals.

UVa seems like a great deal though, unless you significantly prefer the program/lifestyle/options at Duke (or Penn?).

I don't see a really bad decision in the bunch though, to tell you the truth (to defend Penn, Wharton is right there and even without going for an MBA, they let you take a few classes to get a Wharton certificate or something).

But still, try to negotiate that Duke money as much as possible if you like it here.

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For everyone who is voting, can you please take a minute to let me know the reasoning behind your vote?

If you can decide a) big town or small town, and b) are you more likely to want to work in the north or south, this decision will be much easier.

I am a New Yorker and love my city, but C'ville is such a quality of life win that I have to vote UVA, if your husband can find work there. A single weekend in C'ville was enough to make me positively enchanted with the place, though of course I am not a UVA student and can only rave about how sweet, friendly, and generally awesome the students are, even to people they don't know well.

UVA with the 90k, that's a great amount of $ from an awesome school.
C-ville is very nice and UVA will prepare you and give you great opportunities for jobs in Cali and especially DC.

Your husband may not have an easy time getting a Job in C-ville, and would probably be better off at Duke, with the larger cities near by.
(If Penn matches....go there!)

You have great options but choose UVA. UVA and Penn are law school peers and either could place you in your target markets depending on how well you do in law school. UVA is a much much better money choice for you. It's not just about the grant. Philly is a more expensive place for a family (I'm including your good sized four legged member) to live and visit than C'Ville. It is true that Wharton is one of the best business schools in the nation and it is literally only a few city blocks from Penn Law but you said your primary focus was on law not business (not sure if you were admitted to Wharton). If you simply want to add busines courses to your law studies you can still do that at UVA. UVa has a Business and Law program. Darden grounds are right next to UVA Law grounds. Perhaps another poster will comment on Duke. Since I don't know Duke and the job market near there I won't say anything but this; less $$ would make it less attractive in my playbook.

I'm bumping this, and I know that's annoying, but I'd really like some more input from you guys, please.

Did you visit UVA? I've always hated Charlottesville with a passion. . .pretty much everything about it. UVA is a great school, but there is no way I could live there. . and I'm a Virginia person!

If you like the style of Charlottesville though, then UVA with that kind of scholarship is a clear winner! Have you been looking up jobs in your husband's field?

The signs seem to point towards Virginia considering the money and international law program (which is equal to or better than Duke's program) but are you sure your husband can find a job? As far as I can tell, cville doesn't have a ton of job openings and so maybe Penn is a better choice. If you can afford to wait, try and see if your husband can find a job in cville. If yes, go there.

I voted UVA. UVA and Penn are better schools than Duke, in my opinion. MVP > DCNG. It's pretty difficult to justify spending 45k more to go to Penn when you don't really want NYC biglaw, which is where Penn places best.

Also, if you want a house to keep a dog in, C-ville will be a lot cheaper than Penn.

As for business school courses, it doesn't sound like you actually applied/were accepted to Wharton for an MBA. You can take a few courses there, but you'd have to apply separately for the MBA (and it is quite possibly difficult to be accepted). I think Penn and UVA will both be just as likely to place well in Cali or London, while UVA does a bit better in DC (and Penn better in NYC).

Forgot to add, husband is willing to commute for work a bit, and is open to working in Richmond.

Has your husband started looking into jobs in each of those areas? Scholarship differences matter, but so does your husband's ability to make a decent living. For example, could he get a much higher-paying job in Philly than in Raleigh or Richmond? Would it be enough to roughly make up for the 15k/year difference between Penn and UVa? Or make it insignificant? Assuming you two operate like a family unit in terms of finances, your husband's earning ability could make the 90k vs. 45k choice less obvious.

And what about your personal preferences? Those are fairly different places to live for three years. All have decent business schools, will do OK internationally... you're choosing between peer schools, so it should come down to money and personal preference.

Duke got back to me, and could only raise the scholarship a very small amount, so it's still below the Virginia offer. Penn ended up raising the money to 53k. I guess I'm still leaning towards UVa, although I think I could be happy at any of the schools (they all have a Whole Foods in close proximity). I'm going to buy a house wherever I go, so I think that if I do that in C-Ville I could most likely get in-state tuition for 2nd and 3rd year.

Any new thoughts?

If UVA is still at 90K and Duke didn't come close to that I think UVA could be your best option.

BUMP