UT Austin vs. Alabama - The Final Showdown Forum

[BruceWayne]

This is a simple decision. Tell Bama to remove the rank stipulation and if they do go there; of they don't remove it go to Texas. Neither school will give you problems getting a Birmingham law firm job ASSUMING you get good grades, and Texas opens up Dalllas and Houston if you're interested. Normally that would cause me to lean UT but going to school for free in the market you are interested in (plus a stipend) is a great situation to be in.

[sunynp]

1. What? People make this calculation all the time.

2. You don't know what the commitment from Alabama will actually be, if OP loses the scholarship (which is a real possibility) then you have to consider Alabama at full sticker for two years. Don't assume the scholarship will continue. This is a mistake many students make to their regret.

3. We can know some information about the employment outcomes from each school. It isn't perfect but it is a basis to work from.

Using your general analysis, people would always go to the lower ranked school for free. For the majority of people that would be a terrible mistake.

1. It's true that people make this calculation all the time. I didn't want to assume that the OP had or had not considered it.

2. If you would kindly refer to my original post, I clearly qualified my statement concerning the Bama choice being contingent upon a re-negotiation on the OP's part. I wasn't assuming anything.

3. The employment stats put forth by the universities are a rough basis, far less telling than the actual costs.

Than you misinterpreted my general analysis. It isn't to say that ALL people should ALWAYS take the road of the lesser school with more money. But in the OP's situation, IF they are able to re-negotiate those terms, I believe that they should take a full ride at Bama over what their current deal is from UT, nothing more than that.

I would be interested to read why you think it would be a terrible mistake for the majority of people. Also, to which people are you referring? All people? All law school applicants? Or, all TLS frequenters?

Sorry if I misread your post. I started to write out an explanation, but I don't really feel like it - I'm going swimming before it rains. And more importantly I don't want to derail OP's thread looking for advice.

I think that OP should go to UT.