Help me decide! BU ($) or NU ---- MUST DECIDE TODAY! Forum

[bk1]

BU's webpage provides the information itself...notice the footprint.

http://www.bu.edu/law/prospective/careers/jd/work.html

Good scoop.

It's also clear here: --LinkRemoved--

Notice the "Credentials Breakdown" has 90% bar required employment whereas the "Credentials + FT/PT Breakdown" has 73% Ft, bar required. That 17% is the part time "academia" jobs alumniguy is referring to. However my earlier point was that BU's full time, bar required placement is 73% whereas BC's is 80%. Yes there is a difference but I wouldn't go around slamming BU for being drastically worse than BC because it is not.

[bk1]

OP - can't you just plop down the deposit and think about it for a few more days...I understand that $500 or whatever it must be is a decent chunk of money, but in the long run it really isn't that much. You definitely want piece of mind thinking about this. Moreover, I find it hard to believe that BU won't give you a few more days...they obviously want you to matriculate and are even offering money.

This might be possible, it might not, but I would definitely not count on it. The schools tend to take a hard line on cross depositors, especially this late in the cycle (and I think NU has said something to this effect that they will withdraw their offers to those who are cross deposited).

[CanadianWolf]

Ask BU for more money. Without more scholarship money, NU is the safer choice in my opinion. I agree with duckmoney's posts above.

[Horsefeathers]

Ask BU for more money. Without more scholarship money, NU is the safer choice in my opinion. I agree with duckmoney's posts above.

Asked. They wouldn't give me anything more.

[Horsefeathers]

OP - can't you just plop down the deposit and think about it for a few more days...I understand that $500 or whatever it must be is a decent chunk of money, but in the long run it really isn't that much. You definitely want piece of mind thinking about this. Moreover, I find it hard to believe that BU won't give you a few more days...they obviously want you to matriculate and are even offering money.

This might be possible, it might not, but I would definitely not count on it. The schools tend to take a hard line on cross depositors, especially this late in the cycle (and I think NU has said something to this effect that they will withdraw their offers to those who are cross deposited).

Not sure about NU revoking the offer - though this would suck... I am sure that I'm indecisive and broke, and paying $500 for a couple more weeks of rumination probably would not be a good investment for me.

[bk1]

Not sure about NU revoking the offer - though this would suck... I am sure that I'm indecisive and broke, and paying $500 for a couple more weeks of rumination probably would not be a good investment for me.

Ah I found it. They didn't say they would revoke but Dean Johann did have a snarky tweet about it:

fwiw- we participate in the LSAC commitment overlap process.
16 May

I'd imagine they might contact you once they see you've cross deposited and ask you to make a decision but that is just my guess.

[Z3RO]

One thing that I never understand when people are talking about <100k difference in debt:

You are talking about the rest of your career. If you make even 9k more a year over the course of the next 10 to 15 years coming out of Northwestern, that pays for the debt difference. I'm willing to f'ing bet that median/mean salary difference over the 15 years out of law school is much greater than 9k between these schools...

The only thing that gives me any pause at all about choosing NU in this case is OP's tie to Boston.

Everybody looks at the debt like they expect to pay it off/get ROI in one year or something. If OP takes out 130k from BU and gets a job making 65k, he's solidly fucked.

[alumniguy]

BU's webpage provides the information itself...notice the footprint.

http://www.bu.edu/law/prospective/careers/jd/work.html

Good scoop.

It's also clear here: --LinkRemoved--

Notice the "Credentials Breakdown" has 90% bar required employment whereas the "Credentials + FT/PT Breakdown" has 73% Ft, bar required. That 17% is the part time "academia" jobs alumniguy is referring to. However my earlier point was that BU's full time, bar required placement is 73% whereas BC's is 80%. Yes there is a difference but I wouldn't go around slamming BU for being drastically worse than BC because it is not.

When did this become a BU/BC thread? My point remains that you look at comparable schools and BU failed to place its bottom students in good jobs to the tune of about ~8-10% worse.

Regardless, when looking at these stats in comparison to the T14 schools, it really shows the difference in placement quality between the T14s and top regional schools. If this was 5 years ago, I would be more inclined to choose BU, but the hiring environment has changed and reverted back to employers having the upper hand. In my opinion, 0Ls need to attending schools that do the best job of placing their graduates, irrespective of regional preference and even job preferences. Clearly, NU is superior to BU and given that BU won't increase its scholarship offer to OP, I don't think this is even a close call. And yes, it would be the same for any other T20 school.

[bk1]

When did this become a BU/BC thread? My point remains that you look at comparable schools and BU failed to place its bottom students in good jobs to the tune of about ~8-10% worse.

Regardless, when looking at these stats in comparison to the T14 schools, it really shows the difference in placement quality between the T14s and top regional schools. If this was 5 years ago, I would be more inclined to choose BU, but the hiring environment has changed and reverted back to employers having the upper hand. In my opinion, 0Ls need to attending schools that do the best job of placing their graduates, irrespective of regional preference and even job preferences. Clearly, NU is superior to BU and given that BU won't increase its scholarship offer to OP, I don't think this is even a close call. And yes, it would be the same for any other T20 school.

I was using BC as a point of comparison because it is also in Boston, but I could have chosen WUSTL/Fordham/Emory/GW/UCD/etc to point out that BU is fairly average, and not awful as you stated, for a strong regional in that regard.

I do agree with you that the placement for T14 vs strong regional is pretty stark. Ironically enough NU is probably one of the worst in this regard (at least T14wise) considering they are only at 85% or so full time lawyer placement on LST (which probably has a lot to do with NU students aiming for Chicago).

[alumniguy]

When did this become a BU/BC thread? My point remains that you look at comparable schools and BU failed to place its bottom students in good jobs to the tune of about ~8-10% worse.

Regardless, when looking at these stats in comparison to the T14 schools, it really shows the difference in placement quality between the T14s and top regional schools. If this was 5 years ago, I would be more inclined to choose BU, but the hiring environment has changed and reverted back to employers having the upper hand. In my opinion, 0Ls need to attending schools that do the best job of placing their graduates, irrespective of regional preference and even job preferences. Clearly, NU is superior to BU and given that BU won't increase its scholarship offer to OP, I don't think this is even a close call. And yes, it would be the same for any other T20 school.

I was using BC as a point of comparison because it is also in Boston, but I could have chosen WUSTL/Fordham/Emory/GW/UCD/etc to point out that BU is fairly average, and not awful as you stated, for a strong regional in that regard.

I do agree with you that the placement for T14 vs strong regional is pretty stark. Ironically enough NU is probably one of the worst in this regard (at least T14wise) considering they are only at 85% or so full time lawyer placement on LST (which probably has a lot to do with NU students aiming for Chicago).

Agree re: NU and rest of T14...but either way, these are both pretty good options to be considering between.

[Horsefeathers]

Sincere thanks for the contribution everybody. This was really helpful.

Thinking that NU is the better choice for me. Huge debt is huge debt, NU overall employment prospects and presumably reasonable Boston reach outweigh BU's particular biglaw in Boston advantage, and the economy sucks...Icing on the cake is NU's LRAP - and either I'll be working in biglaw (debt difference don't matter), PI/Gov (Northwestern takes that same cake), or I'll be fucked. Fucked at 130 and fucked at 210 looks about the same.

Cheers!

[CanadianWolf]

Good luck ! Call BU & let them know of your decision to attend Northwestern. Maybe BU will increase its offer. I encourage this approach because my instinct is that, even though NU is the better option, you really want to remain in Boston.

[Horsefeathers]

Good luck ! Call BU & let them know of your decision to attend Northwestern. Maybe BU will increase its offer. I encourage this approach because my instinct is that, even though NU is the better option, you really want to remain in Boston.

Thanks. You're correct about Boston. I think it's probably a long shot with BU, since they told me today that they won't increase my scholarship...but who knows.

[duckmoney]

Sincere thanks for the contribution everybody. This was really helpful.

Thinking that NU is the better choice for me. Huge debt is huge debt, NU overall employment prospects and presumably reasonable Boston reach outweigh BU's particular biglaw in Boston advantage, and the economy sucks...Icing on the cake is NU's LRAP - and either I'll be working in biglaw (debt difference don't matter), PI/Gov (Northwestern takes that same cake), or I'll be fucked. Fucked at 130 and fucked at 210 looks about the same.

Cheers!

Good call.

[fingersxd]

Good luck ! Call BU & let them know of your decision to attend Northwestern. Maybe BU will increase its offer. I encourage this approach because my instinct is that, even though NU is the better option, you really want to remain in Boston.

I second this approach. And if not, go to NW.

[Cupidity]

Alright, that's good to know. I believe that BU is placing about 30% in big law at this point. Not sure about other employment info though (I really need to know more about this!)

Are you getting that from people there, or from NLJ data. Because NLJ data is severally outdated because it lags the market by almost three years.

30% sound about right, (realistically top 20% + diversity hires + the connected)