T6 at 50% scholarship or lower14 at full scholarship? Forum

[firstworldproblems]

ETA: After thinking about it I decided my "No" point was 90k. (i.e. extra 60k in debt).
My "yes" point was 120k (i.e. 30k in debt).
I think Chicago is worth the extra 30k debt and I likely will only get a few, if any, (i.e. under 10k) over the Stafford loans into the scary 7.9% interest of the GradPlus loans while at school.
However, I wasn't sure about 100-120k.
And that's where I'm at-that they can offer 90k, but maybe 105.
So updated poll. Any new opinions?

BTW, I won't be graduating from NU fully debt free. Their tuition is over 50k this year and I'm sure increasing every year, plus cost of living. I've already signed a lease north side so transportation fees would be added to a Chicago education, since there's no UPASS.
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I get this is a first world problem (hence the screen name), but here is my question:

At what price do you give up your first choice T6 for your second choice, a lower T14?
Here are the facts:

Price: T6 at 50% scholarship, T14 at full scholarship

Employment: I am not concerned about location/where the schools feed into-I like both locations and could see myself there during school and afterward.
T6 has better employment into law firms overall (even 25%ile is near the median at T14, but Median at T14 still gets top dollar.
In terms of PI/Government, T6 outperforms salary-wise
T6 is better with clerkship placement and has the slightest of edges in salary.
For those seeking and still unemployed, T14 has double the %ile that T6 does, but both are small numbers.
FWIW, I do NOT commit myself for any particular field, but I think I'd end up into law firm. I AM interested in clerking for a bit.

LRAP: T6's LRAP program outperforms T14 in terms of max salary allowed, what is included i.e. clerkships.

Fit: I feel as if I fit better with the students at T14 but I know I am better academically for T6. It just fits how I've liked learning. T6 is known to have better professors, but T14 still has good professors. I'm less motivated the worse my professor is.

Misc: T6 has always been my dream school. But I realize the value of a full scholarship and I am very debt-adverse. I think I would pick T14 as all things stand, but if T6 offered more-I don't know. I don't know what price it would take for me to turn down a full ride and was wondering what your thoughts were.

[rad lulz]

Do you actually have these choices right now?

[firstworldproblems]

Do you actually have these choices right now?

At the risk of outing myself-yes, yes I do.
I would be happy at either place and was more than happy with my initial offers anyway.

[BruceWayne]

What do you mean by Top 6? If you're talking CCN then there's no way in hell you should go there with a half scholly over full ride top 14--PERIOD.

[No13baby]

What are the schools? This is a very different question if your T14 option is something like Penn/NU as opposed to, say Georgetown.

[Nova]

T6 is known to have better professors, but T14 still has good professors. I'm less motivated the worse my professor is.

Thats silly.

If I were you, I would take the full ride.

Try to negotiate for sure though.

[dissonance1848]

Yeah. Sorry, but name the schools. You are on tls, no one is going to try to out you.

[Hutz_and_Goodman]

I'm kind of amazed you have the schools waiting this late for a decision. I think it would be insane not to take a full ride in this situation.

what are your numbers?

[Nova]

Yeah. Sorry, but name the schools. You are on tls, no one is going to try to out you.

This. You are already posting anonymously with a brand new screen name.

[bobbyh1919]

Do you actually have these choices right now?

At the risk of outing myself-yes, yes I do.
I would be happy at either place and was more than happy with my initial offers anyway.

How might you be outing yourself by saying you have a half scholly at (Columbia) and a full ride at (Michigan)? The schools do matter here. Penn at a full scholly is way better for most people than NYU at a half scholly, but Columbia at a half scholly is better for most people than GTown at a full scholly.

[Bildungsroman]

Depends on the schools. I'd take half-ride at UChicago over full-ride at Georgetown, for the same reason I'd take half-tuition at Georgetown over, say, full ride at Wustl. I think UChicago is worth $75,000 more than Georgetown. But over Penn? Probably not.

Although make sure you recognize some of the numbers aren't meaningful, e.g. clerkship salary.

[firstworldproblems]

Okay schools are Chicago and NU.
I wasn't sure if it was the tactful thing to post that as I know people know who I am based on my friends on other social media.
I'm shocked myself that it's happening this late. Getting off the wait list was enough but with the scholarship was unbelievable.

And, yes I know not everything I posted might mean something, but I posted as many facts as I could to try to get a balanced input.

[St.Remy]

Obviously if you haven't finished negotiating up with the T6 (as your poll suggests) then you should do that. CCN tends not to give $ above 50% unless they're giving out a full ride, but there's no harm in trying. You seem to be leaning towards the T14 after having done a solid job of weighing your options, so unless something changes I think that's your answer.

[Hutz_and_Goodman]

not taking NU in this situation would be absolute madness.

[dissonance1848]

For fucks sake. If its Chicago and NU, go for NU. / thread. My vote is going for fullride T14. As should everyone else here.


Repeat folks: Its half at Chicago, and fullride at NU.

[Nova]

I would still go with the full ride in your situation.

[Bildungsroman]

not taking NU in this situation would be absolute madness.

That's probably overstating it, as UChicago does have better employment outcomes.

Try negotiating before anything else, OP.

[2014]

I'd do NU but I wouldn't call you an idiot to do Chicago. Hyde Park has lower COL and UChi's COA is lower so the difference is less than you might think.

Also worth considering is what your WE is that you are bringing into NU. If you are one of the few K-JD's they let in I would probably feel more confident coming out of UChi than competing with your NU classmates with better resumes than you, but if you have 2+ years of normal WE I really think NU is the right call.

[IAFG]

I'd do NU but I wouldn't call you an idiot to do Chicago. Hyde Park has lower COL and UChi's COA is lower so the difference is less than you might think.

Also worth considering is what your WE is that you are bringing into NU. If you are one of the few K-JD's they let in I would probably feel more confident coming out of UChi than competing with your NU classmates with better resumes than you, but if you have 2+ years of normal WE I really think NU is the right call.

Essentially this, but I would even take it a step further and hesitate if your WE isn't particularly good or is particularly irrelevant to biglaw (e.g. TFA).

[bobbyh1919]

I'd go NU here, but the WE factor that others have mentioned is definitely worth considering.

[rickgrimes69]

NU with a full ride and it's not even close. Even with a half scholly, UChi is still $130k - that's not chump change, and you'll still need Biglaw to pay it off. NU might not have as much national reach but your employment prospects aren't significantly worse if you're cool with staying in Chicago, and the beauty of having no debt is that you can do literally whatever you want after graduation. That sort of job freedom cannot be overstated, and it's an incredibly rare and special position to find yourself in.

[BruceWayne]

This is an incredibly easy decision. The extra degree of latitude employers give to Chicago grads over NU ones is small enough that even 50K vs. 100K would still be worth picking NU. But at full versus half there's just no sense in picking UChi. Go look at the UChi profiles for Kirkland Chicago--RUN don't walk to NU here.

[StrictlyBusiness]

I'd do NU but I wouldn't call you an idiot to do Chicago. Hyde Park has lower COL and UChi's COA is lower so the difference is less than you might think.

Also worth considering is what your WE is that you are bringing into NU. If you are one of the few K-JD's they let in I would probably feel more confident coming out of UChi than competing with your NU classmates with better resumes than you, but if you have 2+ years of normal WE I really think NU is the right call.

Made this same decision a few months ago, though the numbers were a little closer together. If it were 150k vs. 75k, I'd have probably done NU. And that's with zero WE on my resume.

Others withdrew from Chi and were given a better offer as a result. Tell Chicago you're going to Northwestern and see if they'll give you a boost. Otherwise, have fun up North.

[Doorkeeper]

If interested in clerking/academia/PI, go Chicago.

If you just want biglaw, go Northwestern.

[Aberzombie1892]

A full ride at NU is a pretty good option to have. Both NU and Chicago feed into Chicago, do decently in NY, and do well in secondary markets. Thus, I would say take the full ride at NU.

This advice would have been different if the lower T14 wasn't NU, Penn, or Berkeley.