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I am 1 year out of school. My stats are 167/3.44 and I am pretty much clueless as to which school to attend. I am from the Mid-Atlantic region and would like to stay in the MA or be located in the NE. I applied to a plethora of school but I am only considering schools that gave me a substantial scholarship. I have some money to spend on school and the only schools that would cause me to go into substantial debt would be W&L and Emory (each would case me around 50-60K in debt). I really am at a loss as to which school to choose so any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks guys

If you want to stay on the east coast, you shouldn't go to any of the midwest schools you've got - they won't really take you to the east coast. Otherwise, you have some fairly similar options and I'd almost lean towards the cheapest. Is UGA in-state your cheapest east coast option?

edit: I feel guilty and must provide the disclaimer that I am a 0L who has no real first hand knowledge of what schools in the midwest will help someone get a job on the east coast, and am only providing messageboard groupthink in my answer.

I voted for Wake. None of these schools are super awesome for the Mid-Atlantic / Northeast. Wake has OK placement in the Mid-Atlantic from what I can tell. I think you may have a bit of a better shot from W&L but that doesn't make it worth the debt.

IMO, I think you need to think seriously about the home markets of these schools. If the Northeast/Mid Atlantic is shut off entirely from you (which I know it won't be 100%, but just think of that way) would you rather be in Minneapolis, Dallas, North Carolina, Georgia, Indiana or Pittsburgh?

(also are you still thinking of an MBA??)

SrLaw wrote:I am 1 year out of school. My stats are 167/3.44 and I am pretty much clueless as to which school to attend. I am from the Mid-Atlantic region and would like to stay in the MA or be located in the NE. I applied to a plethora of school but I am only considering schools that gave me a substantial scholarship. I have some money to spend on school and the only schools that would cause me to go into substantial debt would be W&L and Emory (each would case me around 50-60K in debt). I really am at a loss as to which school to choose so any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks guys

Eek dude, none of those schools are especially good for placing where you want. I'd go with Indiana and the money, so at least you don't have to worry about debt when trying to float back to the coast.

I know. I actually highly dislike most every option I have.

go to W&L or Emory. 50-60k of debt is reasonable, IMO, coming out of those. And they give you a *better* shot of East coast employment than IUB or w/e

Indiana or W&L. Look at your choices and go with the highest ranking and/or Top 30ish ranking (at least) with the best money. And don't be afraid to negotiate scholarship offers.

Think about where you want to live for 3 years and where you can do well. Look at the websites & see what firms recruit at your top choice schools (and where these firms are located).

I haven't heard stellar things about Wake, just as a side note. Also, I'm strongly considering UGA; going to ASD this weekend. I know some alum and it's a great school as well. 5 Supreme Court Clerks in 7 years. Top 5 Public for placing Supreme Court clerks, if you're into that kind of thing. And they place better in ATL than Emory.

HTH!

SrLaw wrote:I know. I actually highly dislike most every option I have.

I hate to invoke the TLS mantra, but have you considered retaking? 3.44 is not too shabby, you could, with a higher LSAT, maybe be looking BU/BC/GW/Fordham/Vandy (I'm kind of surprised you didn't get into BC/BU this go-around actually).

Given geographic preference, I think it is a toss-up between Wake and Emory. Probably would go with wake.

SrLaw wrote:I know. I actually highly dislike most every option I have.

Did you get into BU or BC? Sticker is a tough swallow, but if you want to stay in MA that may be your best choice even at $$$. Or at least try negotiating and see if they'll take a little off.

Seriously, if you don't like your options (and if I were in your shoes, I wouldn't either), don't go to law school and re-take until you can get the schools you want at the $$ you want.

I just cannot pay sticker at GW,BC, or BU. I am in at all 3 but sticker at these schools is the last thing I want. Whether my parents will pay some of it or not, 200K is just absurd.

If you don't like your options, then I second the advice that you retake and reapply next cycle. Law school isn't going anywhere, you don't need to settle for your options you have now.

SrLaw wrote:I just cannot pay sticker at GW,BC, or BU. I am in at all 3 but sticker at these schools is the last thing I want. Whether my parents will pay some of it or not, 200K is just absurd.

I think your best option is Indiana then. None of these are going to place great into the East Coast, and given that, your priority should be minimizing debt so you have some breathing room when you're pounding the ground trying to get something in NE. Minnesota and Emory are the best two schools, but there'll be nil advantage in your target markets,.

INDIANA. Bloomington is the biznis and it's got quite a solid reputation. Plus with that massive endowment they just got (and consequentially the insane number of scholarships they are throwing around) they are bound to jump leaps and bounds numbers-wise in the next USNWR.

Plus it's free dude!!

I am not a troll. I've only been to Bloomington, and I found the city to be fantastic fun. I'm from the SE and surprisingly I know more than a few Bloomington Law grads working in ATL/MIA.

Plus it's free dude!!

SrLaw wrote:I know. I actually highly dislike most every option I have.

then dont go to one of them

If you truly dislike all your options, then sit out this cycle and either 1) retake and reapply or 2) reapply as soon as applications are available with your current numbers. Maybe you can put a stronger focus on the schools in your target market or shoot for T14 to be less regional.

Are you absolutely set on attending this cycle? If so, I would go with Indiana. They have a good reputation and you won't be worrying about debt if things don't go quite the way you planned.

Best of luck to you!

Indiana is tempting. I think this is between Emory and W&L though.

Not to pick on Indiana (which I'm obviously about to do--all caveats, of course, that it has a great faculty and a sound vision), I think these kinds of "look at that scholarship!" cries are singularly unhelpful.

Look at Indiana's nonresident tuition costs.

2006-2007: $30,311
2007-2008: $34,486
2008-2009: $37,373
2009-2010: $39,800
2010-2011: $42,800

I don't see the tuition listed for 2011-2012.

That's slightly over 40% tuition increase in 5 years.

Taking the 2010-2011 totals, add to it $904 for "fees," $1800 for "books," and $11,376 for nine months of living expenses (as IUB indicates is "comfortable). Add to that another $2,000 for student health insurance, and another $3792 for living for three months during the summer.

Cost of attendance for 2010-2011? $62,672.

Assume a 5% increase in that total for each of the next three years (and given the tuition hikes at public schools, and the past hikes at Indiana).

That would put cost of attendance in 2011-2012 at $65,805, 2012-2013 at $69,095, and 2013-2014 at $72,550. Excluding costs like bar loans and the interest on unsubsidized loans at that time, the grand total from those three years is in the area of...

$207,452

Having a $120K in scholarships looks extraordinarily impressive. Doing some math and figuring out what it would actually cost... looks a little different.

You could perform this exact same analysis on any school listed above.

And at the end of the day, it may be well worth it to attend Indiana, or any of these schools. But just listing a scholarship amount isn't close to figuring out the "value" that scholarship provides.

And I won't even attempt to weigh in on the choices above. I'm sure there are a number of 0Ls willing to do that for you.

I honestly wouldn't touch any of these schools considering your numbers and geographic preference.

SrLaw wrote:I am 1 year out of school. My stats are 167/3.44 and I am pretty much clueless as to which school to attend. I am from the Mid-Atlantic region and would like to stay in the MA or be located in the NE. I applied to a plethora of school but I am only considering schools that gave me a substantial scholarship. I have some money to spend on school and the only schools that would cause me to go into substantial debt would be W&L and Emory (each would case me around 50-60K in debt). I really am at a loss as to which school to choose so any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks guys

please put in the total cost of attendance minus the scholarships of each instead of scholly info

FuManChusco wrote:I honestly wouldn't touch any of these schools considering your numbers and geographic preference.

Care to elaborate?

SrLaw wrote:

FuManChusco wrote:I honestly wouldn't touch any of these schools considering your numbers and geographic preference.

Care to elaborate?

you have good numbers. you could even retake. none of these schools are in your preferred market and you are unsatisfied. you can easily resolve this issue by reapplying.

The problem is that I have taken the exam 3 times already.

SrLaw wrote:The problem is that I have taken the exam 3 times already.

I think even without a retake, a 3.4.167 should be good for at least one school in your preferred market.

FuManChusco wrote:

SrLaw wrote:The problem is that I have taken the exam 3 times already.

I think even without a retake, a 3.4.167 should be good for at least one school in your preferred market.

It did. However, my 3.4 is killing my chances of $$$. I cannot take out 200K + in loans for BC or BU. Too much risk and a stupid investment, imo.