W&L (40K) vs. UW (in-state) vs. IU - Bloomington (15K)

[opifer]

I am a Chinese-speaking Seattle resident who loves the Asian Law program at UW and wants to practice corporate transactional law in Shanghai. My family lives in OR. My wife is moving to Chicago for a better job and I have not yet heard back from Notre Dame, my current top choice in her region (rejected by U Chicago and Northwestern, waitlisted by Columbia and still waiting on University of Illinois, Harvard, BU and BC). I just got into Indiana - Bloomington with 15K per year and have been staring at my offer of 40K per year at W&L for a while now.

My thoughts on the schools I'm in at currently:

W&L (40K): They seem to have some degree of luck with placement in NYC and DC and do quite well in the South, where I have never lived before or even visited. It's a million miles away from my wife and I can't see myself wanting to stay there. It's essentially free, but my chances of transferring are as good as anyone else's (maybe 10%) ...

UW (in-state): The tuition is affordable. My brother is Portland a short drive away. I love it here. My wife did too but the offer in Chicago was too good for her to pass up. She might move back eventually, who knows? Placement in East Asia seems good and I would be happy working in the Pacific Northwest for the rest of my life.

IU - Bloomington (15K): Even with the scholly, the out-of-state tuition makes this an expensive option for me. From what I can tell, there is little to no biglaw placement and only biglaw firms have offices in Shanghai, where I really want to work one day. On the other hand, it's *only* a 4 hour drive from my wife in Chicago.

Obviously, Notre Dame would be ideal given my remaining applications but I haven't heard back yet. I applied to ND last minute when she told me she was taking the job.

[Borhas]

what?


so you plan on going to law school in a different part of the country than your wife? Did you apply to Loyola Chicago?

[opifer]

Yeah, that's what I'm planning at the moment. We couldn't live together even if I attended IU - Bloomington, although I'm still seriously considering it. I didn't apply to Loyola Chicago, but got in at DePaul and Kent with $$.