Which is the best choice?

[1239152]

I ultimately want to practice in California, but am in love with Penn, UVA, and UCB...

Any/all advice is much appreciated.

[jvincent11]

If you want to practice in Cali it seems like UCB is the obvious choice. Congrats on all of the fantastic options.

[Ramius]

Good options, but UCB has the noticeable advantage in California if that's where you want to go in the end. Assuming you get that scholarship, probably worth it unless location is less important than debt to you. If debt scares you as much as it probably should, UVA isn't a bad option at this price.

[romothesavior]

60k really isn't that much at UC-B considering it can reach 275k+ at sticker. It's one of the most (maybe the most?) expensive law schools in the country. I'd probably go to UVA, gun for California, and be content with winding up elsewhere. UVA is cheaper, has similar job prospects, and can probably get you back to California if you do well enough.

[jbagelboy]

I voted Penn, top school for top dollar, with most portability back to cali. Although it is a close call, good luck with the berkeley matching. Not sure you picked right with 60K from penn I think you could have maybe gotten more using UVA.

also I don't by the $275K COA at Cal. Is this with 10 yrs interest of something? in-state is $47,000, apartment probably $1K/month for 9 months out of the year, books another $1K, food and gas another $5K. Seems like around $200K w/ interest from where I'm standing assuming you live at home/make enough money to pay for the summer months thru work.