Notre Dame (no schol.) vs USanDiego(60k) vs Loyola L.A (58k) Forum

[Mistah Bojangles]

Hello everyone,

I have dreamed of attending law school in hopes of entering the non-profit sector or academia. With this in mind, when I was graduating from my undergraduate and masters program in 2010, I was hesitant to apply to law school because, like many 20 year olds, I was dead broke. I did not want to take out debt because I probably would end up like the thousands of JD graduates who can't pay their debts back after graduation. So, I started my own business after graduation in 2010, which has allowed me to save enough to cover all three years of law school tuition and living expenses.

I was surprised to learn I was admitted to Notre Dame Law, despite a GPA and LSAT score that were both below 25%. However, I received no money. On the other hand, I have a situation where lower ranked schools (U. of San Diego Law and Loyola Law Los Angeles) are offering me a substantial scholarship.

One side of me is thinking that I pay, from my savings, the full price for Notre Dame because I initially began saving money two years ago with the intent to attend law school with no debt.

On the other side, I worked my tail off to save the amount to cover three years of law school tuition and living expenses. Thus, having the opportunity to save $58K-60K is very tempting.

My fiance wants me to attend USD or Loyola law because she says non-profit orgs do not care about law school prestige, and the savings can be used for other purposes. But... Notre Dame sounds awesome.

Is Notre Dame worth the cost for my goals?

[Mick Haller]

those scholarships at USD and Loyola are too low to be worthwhile. try to push them up to 90-100k, then they are worth considering. what kind of LRAP do those schools have?

Notre Dame is obviously a no go, unless you can self-finance.

[Dmini7]

Hello everyone,

I have dreamed of attending law school in hopes of entering the non-profit sector or academia. With this in mind, when I was graduating from my undergraduate and masters program in 2010, I was hesitant to apply to law school because, like many 20 year olds, I was dead broke. I did not want to take out debt because I probably would end up like the thousands of JD graduates who can't pay their debts back after graduation. So, I started my own business after graduation in 2010, which has allowed me to save enough to cover all three years of law school tuition and living expenses.

I was surprised to learn I was admitted to Notre Dame Law, despite a GPA and LSAT score that were both below 25%. However, I received no money. On the other hand, I have a situation where lower ranked schools (U. of San Diego Law and Loyola Law Los Angeles) are offering me a substantial scholarship.

One side of me is thinking that I pay, from my savings, the full price for Notre Dame because I initially began saving money two years ago with the intent to attend law school with no debt.

On the other side, I worked my tail off to save the amount to cover three years of law school tuition and living expenses. Thus, having the opportunity to save $58K-60K is very tempting.

My fiance wants me to attend USD or Loyola law because she says non-profit orgs do not care about law school prestige, and the savings can be used for other purposes. But... Notre Dame sounds awesome.

Is Notre Dame worth the cost for my goals?

Unfortunately, none will get you academia, and you will have to be a stellar student to get some kind of non-profit sector job. They are very very competitive. With that said, my first question would really be why go to law school? Especially in this economy, and with what seems to be a successful business. The next advice would be to retake the LSAT and apply to NU AJD. Since those are probably unwarranted things and you are uninterested in them... I would suggest you choose the school in the area you want to be. USD may raise their scholarship offer if you tell them Loyola offered 58k. Also, I agree with the Fiance; if these are your choices and your deadset on going, choose the cheapest one.

[twenty]

I would HIGHLY recommend retaking the LSAT, even if you feel like your GPA is terrible. A 171 even with a 3.1~ GPA will get you into UVA through early decision, or through the accelerated JD program at NU. If you're interested in the non-profit sector, both those schools have substantially superior PI options than Notre Dame, and both their LRAP programs are much better.

You're not getting legal academia unless you go to Yale, or maybe H/S.

Alternatively, even if you don't want to end up at UVA/NU for personal reasons, you'll have significantly better full-ride options in the T1 than you have right now.

[cinephile]

No way should you go to ND w/o significant aid. Even the aid you have at the other two schools don't qualify as significant. You know what you need to do, retake and reapply.

[PRgradBYU]

No way should you go to ND w/o significant aid. Even the aid you have at the other two schools don't qualify as significant. You know what you need to do, retake and reapply.

[Tiago Splitter]

You saved over 200K in less than three years. Don't quit your day job.

[Dmini7]

You saved over 200K in less than three years. Don't quit your day job.

+1.

I need to learn to be more forward with my answers and just provide a succinct statement saying the truth instead of trying to be nice and long-winded.

[timbs4339]

You saved over 200K in less than three years. Don't quit your day job.

+1

Your fiance is wrong. PI is competitive and the higher end policy and impact lit organizations are extremely prestige focused. Whatever you're doing now, ride that train.

[ndirish2010]

Retake. NDLS at sticker is AWFUL.