Public Law Choices? GWU, ND, BU, WUSTL Forum

[Grizzlyman5]

Hello All,

I've got a question about which school may be better for public law, or just in general. Here's the stats first of all:

GPA/LSAT: 3.69/165
Tested 2 times
Career Goals: Likely Public Law. Was thinking Big Law, b/c debt it is frightening, but that's not an option at those schools, and really not what I would enjoy doing. Pub Law salary is just frightening as well.
Scholly Info: Not back from all, but $25k/year from two, less from others, and I'll negotiate the others up to that amount at least, or just not go. I'm also literally below the poverty line and get foodstamps, so is there any chance of genuine financial aid? Which means...
Payment: Loan-city.
From: From IN originally, (ND for college), and lived in CT for the last two years. Not necessarily any career ties that would be overly helpful, unless my current non-profit employers could try to put in a good word for somewhere around CT.


So, my question. Which would be a better place for public law given my situation? GWU has better LST numbers, but that 20% school funded rate makes me wary, and it also has a higher cost of living than some of the others. In terms of pub interest/gove numbers, the others seem to be a bit of a wash. Does it really depend on which market I'd like to stay around? I REALLY don't want to be in Indiana for the rest of my life, but I would enjoy Chicago if I could make it up there. And does the fact that I'm a native Midwesterner help my chances around CHI? And does it hinder my chances in other markets, if I attend the other schools? Does living and working for a non-profit in CT for the last 2 years mean anything in terms of how I would be viewed for East Coast opportunities, or is that just wishful thinking?

Anyway, sorry for the blitz of questions, I just need some guidance. Any thoughts would be helpful!

[twenty]

Considering that none of these schools have exceptionally good LRAPs, I wouldn't attend any of them for more than 40k total. When you're including cost of living, that means more or less a full ride.

[worldtraveler]

What is public law? Government?

[Grizzlyman5]

Yes, by that I meant Government or Pub. Interest. I'm sorry if that was unclear. I'm also trying to get a handle on different LRAPs, IBR, and federal loan forgiveness, so I'm a bit overwhelmed, and probably unclear. Any thoughts?

The other option I might have (which I'm not eager about, as I have the opportunity to move out of IN someday, and I have a serious girlfriend of the past 2 years who is east coast oriented), is resident status at IU-B, likely with the $25k scholly equivalent. I'd have to negotiate with it though, as they're only giving me $15k as of now.

[Grizzlyman5]

And I've started reading this topic (http://top-law-schools.com/forums/viewt ... 1&t=220431) to get more of an idea of what I may be getting into, but I was wondering if anyone had any opinions pertinent to my particular situation.

[Pablo]

only 15k? Is that a year? Or total for the three years? Because I feel like I've seen IUB give out some huge scholarships to people with your numbers on Law School by the Numbers website.

[worldtraveler]

Yes, by that I meant Government or Pub. Interest. I'm sorry if that was unclear. I'm also trying to get a handle on different LRAPs, IBR, and federal loan forgiveness, so I'm a bit overwhelmed, and probably unclear. Any thoughts?

The other option I might have (which I'm not eager about, as I have the opportunity to move out of IN someday, and I have a serious girlfriend of the past 2 years who is east coast oriented), is resident status at IU-B, likely with the $25k scholly equivalent. I'd have to negotiate with it though, as they're only giving me $15k as of now.

What do you want to do exactly, and where?

[Grizzlyman5]

It's 15k/year at IU-B, and I'd obviously want to get more.

And in terms of what I want to do, I don't really know. Currently I work for an inner-city, tuition free school so education is something that I really am passionate about and would like to stay with (though I'm not committed to that). In terms of legal employment, I'm not sure what that translates to.

Location: also flexible. That's why I posted about these 4 schools, as they're in roughly 4 different areas/markets. If Indiana is really my best option, I can live with that. I just was hoping for the flexibility to move somewhere else 5-8ish years down the line if I needed/wanted to. Like I insinuated, luring my serious girlfriend to Indiana (when she herself is considering grad school in a year's time) may be difficult.

[Nelson]

Given your total lack of goals, retake and go to a better school.

[worldtraveler]

It's 15k/year at IU-B, and I'd obviously want to get more.

And in terms of what I want to do, I don't really know. Currently I work for an inner-city, tuition free school so education is something that I really am passionate about and would like to stay with (though I'm not committed to that). In terms of legal employment, I'm not sure what that translates to.

Location: also flexible. That's why I posted about these 4 schools, as they're in roughly 4 different areas/markets. If Indiana is really my best option, I can live with that. I just was hoping for the flexibility to move somewhere else 5-8ish years down the line if I needed/wanted to. Like I insinuated, luring my serious girlfriend to Indiana (when she herself is considering grad school in a year's time) may be difficult.

You don't know what you want to do. You don't know where you want to live. DO NOT GO TO LAW SCHOOL UNTIL YOU FIGURE THIS OUT.

[Grizzlyman5]

It's 15k/year at IU-B, and I'd obviously want to get more.

And in terms of what I want to do, I don't really know. Currently I work for an inner-city, tuition free school so education is something that I really am passionate about and would like to stay with (though I'm not committed to that). In terms of legal employment, I'm not sure what that translates to.

Location: also flexible. That's why I posted about these 4 schools, as they're in roughly 4 different areas/markets. If Indiana is really my best option, I can live with that. I just was hoping for the flexibility to move somewhere else 5-8ish years down the line if I needed/wanted to. Like I insinuated, luring my serious girlfriend to Indiana (when she herself is considering grad school in a year's time) may be difficult.

You don't know what you want to do. You don't know where you want to live. DO NOT GO TO LAW SCHOOL UNTIL YOU FIGURE THIS OUT.

Fair enough advice. In terms of "I don't know", I meant I don't know specifically what types of public interest work in education are reasonable career opportunities for me (if I'd rather be gov or non-profit). Not that I literally have no direction. Gov and non-profit work is something that I'd like to do, that I know. I'm not going to wander my way into tax or corporate law.

And, my best options for law school are in Indiana, and if I don't go to law school, I'll almost certainly be returning there to look for some other type of employment. So, that's always been the base plan, but I just didn't know if another school would be so much of a better option that it would make more sense to go there. If I'm in Indiana, and not Chicago, I want to be in Indianapolis.

After that, is your advice still the same?

[worldtraveler]

It's 15k/year at IU-B, and I'd obviously want to get more.

And in terms of what I want to do, I don't really know. Currently I work for an inner-city, tuition free school so education is something that I really am passionate about and would like to stay with (though I'm not committed to that). In terms of legal employment, I'm not sure what that translates to.

Location: also flexible. That's why I posted about these 4 schools, as they're in roughly 4 different areas/markets. If Indiana is really my best option, I can live with that. I just was hoping for the flexibility to move somewhere else 5-8ish years down the line if I needed/wanted to. Like I insinuated, luring my serious girlfriend to Indiana (when she herself is considering grad school in a year's time) may be difficult.

You don't know what you want to do. You don't know where you want to live. DO NOT GO TO LAW SCHOOL UNTIL YOU FIGURE THIS OUT.

Fair enough advice. In terms of "I don't know", I meant I don't know specifically what types of public interest work in education are reasonable career opportunities for me (if I'd rather be gov or non-profit). Not that I literally have no direction. Gov and non-profit work is something that I'd like to do, that I know. I'm not going to wander my way into tax or corporate law.

And, my best options for law school are in Indiana, and if I don't go to law school, I'll almost certainly be returning there to look for some other type of employment. So, that's always been the base plan, but I just didn't know if another school would be so much of a better option that it would make more sense to go there. If I'm in Indiana, and not Chicago, I want to be in Indianapolis.

After that, is your advice still the same?

Education law is an incredibly small field. If you really want to get into it, you'll have to do a lot more research into whether there are even jobs in Indiana in that field.

On the other hand, just wanting a job in gov or PI is incredibly vague. You have to have a focus of some sort, and you don't seem to know what you want.

You also don't know if you want to be in Indiana or not.

Picking a school will for the most part determine your career and at minimum the next 5-10 years of your life. You have too many unknowns to do that yet.

[Grizzlyman5]

Well, you're certainly right about all of those. I'll need to do some more thinking/researching to come to any sort of a more informed decision. And I certainly don't want to cripple myself with debt on a whim. Thanks for hearing me out!

[0913djp]

With your stats you might be able to swing Georgetown which would be good for you as far as LRAP goes but otherwise of all of these BU or WUSTL may end up giving you the most money and therefore I would go with one of those with BU slightly better since there are more public law jobs in Boston. Like twenty said though, don't go if none are under $50K total (or so) over the three years.

[Grizzlyman5]

Yeah, well I got WL'd at Georgetown, and there's no way I'm going to be getting off of that. Really, I don't think I'll have a debt load that small unless I go to IU-B, or get a good amount from ND.

I've also gotten into Fordham, and invited to apply for their Stein Scholars Program. Sounds helpful, but I really doubt going to Fordham makes any sense for me financially. There's no way my debt load in NYC would be a reasonable amount.