BU ($$) vs. GW ($$$) Forum

[aclang24]

At the moment, I am mainly deciding between two schools:

1) BU - CoA ~$30,000/yr (received $40,000/yr in scholarships)

2) GW - CoA ~$50,000/yr (received $30,000/yr in scholarships)

I would be taking out loans to pay for law school. In addition, finances are even more important for me, I would like to work in public interest law after graduating, preferably somewhere in the Northeast between DC and Boston (I am from the New York area).

I have already taken the LSAT twice, increasing my score from a 158 to a 169.

I'm also curious as to how easy it would be to stay in good standing at each of these schools in order to keep the scholarships. How actively do BU and GW try to screw their students out of the money?

Given my current career interests and each school's location and reputation, as well as financial considerations, I would love your input as to which (if either school) seems to provide the best value. Thanks in advance for all the help.

[BigZuck]

I'm guessing no one or virtually no one loses their scholarships from those schools. That usually only happens at bad schools.

Before we can help you though you need to answer all of these questions:

-The schools you are considering
-The total Cost of Attendance (COA) of each. COA = cost of tuition + fees + books + cost of living (COL) + accumulated interest - scholarships.
-How you will be financing your COA, i.e. loans, family, or savings
-Where you are from and where you want to work, and other places where you have significant ties (if any)
-Your general career goals
-Your LSAT/GPA numbers
-How many times you have taken the LSAT

[aclang24]

BU: CoA ~$90,000 (Total CoA ~$70,000/yr minus scholarship of $40,000/yr)

GW: CoA ~$150,000 (Total CoA ~$80,000/yr minus scholarship of $30,000/yr)

Paying with loans

East Coast (Between New England and DC)

Public Interest Law

LSAT 169/ GPA 3.69 (Tufts University)

I have taken the LSAT twice

[BigZuck]

You'll be in more debt than that. It's not "School provided cost of attendance" minus "Scholarship"= "Debt"

There's interest, loan origination fees, tuition increases, etc. For someone concerned with debt I'd recommend doing a proper calculation.

I'm not loving the debt load from either, I would really press BU to give you more money. What is your offer at BC?

Where do you want to end up? If you say you don't care, then focus on where you are from. Are you from Boston or DC? If not, go to a regional school on a full ride in the state that you're from.

[FSK]

I'd go to BU if you can't get either to raise the scholarship. I feel like you're underperforming your numbers with your current scholarships. I had a lower LSAT and marginally better GPA, and got more $$$ from GW.

[Rigo]

What are your T14 offers?

[aclang24]

I only applied to BU, not BC.

I went to Tufts but am originally from New York and have received a generous offer from Cardozo, but I am not seriously considering this offer since their employment rates are not particularly promising.

I think I may have received less from GW due to the fact that I had to take the LSAT twice and didn't do so well the first time, but I will probably email both schools and try to get more money out of them.

As for T14 schools, I've been waitlisted by Penn, UVA, and Georgetown, and am still waiting to hear anything from NYU. Georgetown actually put me on the "special" preferred waiting list (yes, it does exist!), but I will probably not hear from them until May at the earliest. In the meantime, other schools' deadlines are coming up in the next two weeks.

[Rigo]

As for T14 schools, I've been waitlisted by Penn, UVA, and Georgetown, and am still waiting to hear anything from NYU. Georgetown actually put me on the "special" preferred waiting list (yes, it does exist!), but I will probably not hear from them until May at the earliest. In the meantime, other schools' deadlines are coming up in the next two weeks.

Did you apply super late in the cycle? Any other reason you may have underperformed?

[chuckbass]

If we're only talking BU v. GW, I'd take BU in your case and shoot for Boston. Boston's not much easier to crack than DC, but your ties will help to some extent and you will have less debt. While the schools have similar biglaw placement, I've always been skeptical of GW's actual placement power for non-IP students, considering IP students at GW are making up a larger portion of the class that gets biglaw compared with other schools.

[aclang24]

I applied in December so I don't think that's the problem. I think it came down to the fact that there is a large difference between my first LSAT score (158) and my second (169). Even though schools say they don't average multiple scores, they probably did, and this made them uncertain as to which of these scores is the "real" me. But I don't think there's much point in worrying over how they came to decide how much money to give me. The best thing would probably be to just keep pushing for more money.

[Rigo]

I don't think that's it, tbh.
Ah well. I vote BU, but I really think you should consider applying early next cycle instead. You have numbers that should get you decent money from T14.
You need to blanket the (lower) T14. Did you not apply to Cornell, Northwestern, Michigan, and Duke?

[chuckbass]

I don't think that's it, tbh.
Ah well. I vote BU, but I really think you should consider applying early next cycle instead. You have numbers that should get you decent money from T14.
You need to blanket the (lower) T14. Did you not apply to Cornell, Northwestern, Michigan, and Duke?

Also if you're considering BU, it was dumb not to apply to BC for scholarship negotiations, regardless of your feelings toward the school.

[Clemenceau]

What about cornell. Those numbers are right around their sweet spot I think

[Rigo]

I don't think that's it, tbh.
Ah well. I vote BU, but I really think you should consider applying early next cycle instead. You have numbers that should get you decent money from T14.
You need to blanket the (lower) T14. Did you not apply to Cornell, Northwestern, Michigan, and Duke?

Also if you're considering BU, it was dumb not to apply to BC for scholarship negotiations, regardless of your feelings toward the school.

BC has been really shitty with money this cycle, so while your theory is correct, it probably wouldn't have mattered.

[aclang24]

I considered applying to Cornell but didn't feel like the idea of living up in Ithaca for three years.

I know that many high-ranking law schools cater to private practice to some degree in terms of curriculum, experiential learning, career connections, etc. Which of these schools do you think does that the least?

[Rigo]

I considered applying to Cornell but didn't feel like the idea of living up in Ithaca for three years.

Yikes. You really lost the forest for the trees on that one.

[middlebear]

I considered applying to Cornell but didn't feel like the idea of living up in Ithaca for three years.

I know that many high-ranking law schools cater to private practice to some degree in terms of curriculum, experiential learning, career connections, etc. Which of these schools do you think does that the least?

1 - Even if you didn't want to live in Ithaca, you should have applied there for negotiation purposes. You probably would have gotten decent money from them that you could use at other schools.

2 - The curriculum is the same everywhere, and schools are ultimately mostly measured in terms of their private practice placement. Schools that don't focus on that typically are schools where you're not going to get a good education and not going to get a job. And I say that as someone that is avoiding BigLaw like the plague.

3 - I really feel like you should have better offers than these; December isn't even that late to apply. My stats are super close to yours (3.7/170, so only a tiny bump up) and it looks... completely different.

Are you the rare poster that's willing to consider waiting a year and reapplying?