Boulder vs. Denver vs. Arizona Forum

[acm4]

I'm already lucky to have some amazing offers early on in the admissions cycle, but its making this decision way harder than I thought!

I go to undergrad in state at Indiana, but having lived here my whole life I'm ready for a change in scenery and my goal is to start a career out West (preferably Colorado area, but I'm open to many states out there!). I'm also figuring out what type of career I want to have, but working in the government/public interest law appeals to me the most and I want to concentrate in environmental law while in law school.

Now that I've given a background, I'm seriously considering between Denver, CU Boulder, Arizona and IU Maurer for law school. Denver and Arizona have both given me full rides and IU has given me a full ride plus a $3k/year stipend. I'm still waiting to hear back from Boulder, but when I called the admissions office they said scholarship decisions should be sent out sometime this week or very soon after. I haven't heard great things about their generosity with scholarships, but even so I have some great options, but I need help regarding which one would be the best fit (especially since I won't have to worry so much about tuition costs) ! (and to go about negotiating scholarships if need be)

[UVA2B]

What will your debt look like at Sturm, UA, and Maurer, respectively? Are you using student loans to pay COA? These questions don't change much besides establishing a baseline for understanding what your cost of attendance will be with those full rides.

When you say government, do you mean federal government, state, local? What sort of government jobs are you imagining with your JD? And if you're considering public interest, what would that look like within the environmental law sphere? Sierra? NRDC? Something else? Nothing specific?

What are your LSAT/GPA?

I'm asking a lot of questions that don't necessarily decide the advice I think you should give, but it should definitely inform it. You've picked entirely different regions and sort of said you'd be happy with any of them (although Indiana is not ideal it seems). If you don't have a preference among those markets, you should probably spend some time figuring out your preference. Ending up in Phoenix is very different than ending up in Denver, professionally and personally. And CU or Sturm aren't putting you in Phoenix, while UA isn't putting you in Denver. Take the time to figure out those sorts of questions, because these regional schools have the best chance of putting you in their primary markets, and if you don't want that primary market above others, you shouldn't attend that regional school.

[ikelley]

Hi acm4,

Congratulations on your amazing offers! It sounds like any of those schools would be lucky to have you.

Have you visited any of the schools or at least the regions they are in? That can help give some perspective - sometimes you're at a school and you just know.

It sounds like IU might also be a great option, especially with that stipend. Do you love your friends there? Would you like to stick around to hang out with them? They might miss you. Just speculation though.

Congrats again, hopefully you hear about $$ from Boulder soon!

[MBernard]

Wow, sounds like you have some great offers. I graduated from Maurer in J-2017 and I’m licensed as an attorney in both Ca + TX.

Can’t say I’m a huge proponent of Maurer. If you’re looking to stay in Indie or want to practice in Illinois then it’ll probably serve that purpose. If you’re looking at traveling beyond the mid-west, be prepared to explain Maurer’s merits to employers. Outside of Indie and Illinois, nobody has ever heard of it.

Also, one important thing to know about the grading at Maurer is that professors are permitted to lower your class grade even despite satisfactory performance on your final (based on the professors subjective belief that you underperformed during the semester). I mention this because there is at least one prof that is well-known to abuse this.

Also, the ideological orientation of the Maurer faculty is extremely left wing. Most lawyers are liberals and there is nothing wrong with that. Mentioning this only because some of the professors there are very mercurial and don’t take kindly to diversity of thought.

Make sure that you understand the requirements that are tied to your scholarship at Maurer (if there are any strings attached).

If you do end up choosing Maurer, feel free to PM me and I can give you advice once you know who your 1L profs are.

[acm4]

Wow, sounds like you have some great offers. I graduated from Maurer in J-2017 and I’m licensed as an attorney in both Ca + TX.

Can’t say I’m a huge proponent of Maurer. If you’re looking to stay in Indie or want to practice in Illinois then it’ll probably serve that purpose. If you’re looking at traveling beyond the mid-west, be prepared to explain Maurer’s merits to employers. Outside of Indie and Illinois, nobody has ever heard of it.

Also, one important thing to know about the grading at Maurer is that professors are permitted to lower your class grade even despite satisfactory performance on your final (based on the professors subjective belief that you underperformed during the semester). I mention this because there is at least one prof that is well-known to abuse this.

Also, the ideological orientation of the Maurer faculty is extremely left wing. Most lawyers are liberals and there is nothing wrong with that. Mentioning this only because some of the professors there are very mercurial and don’t take kindly to diversity of thought.

Make sure that you understand the requirements that are tied to your scholarship at Maurer (if there are any strings attached).

If you do end up choosing Maurer, feel free to PM me and I can give you advice once you know who your 1L profs are.

were you able to get a job in legal markets outside of the Midwest? If so how difficult was it? I'm beginning to realize that Maurer is one of the highest ranked schools that has given me this great of an offer, but I don't want to completely ruin my chances of moving out of region once I graduate

[MBernard]

were you able to get a job in legal markets outside of the Midwest? If so how difficult was it? I'm beginning to realize that Maurer is one of the highest ranked schools that has given me this great of an offer, but I don't want to completely ruin my chances of moving out of region once I graduate

I’ve received offers in TX and CA. As I mentioned, typically no one has heard of Maurer so you definitely need to know how to sell it. Talking points include: 7th oldest law school in the country, Sherman Minton was an alum (overruled Plessy in Brown and wrote the opinion in Youngstown V. Steel), and the school’s rank is 32 (I think?).

Most Firms were more impressed by the fact I had two bar licenses than by Maurer’s prestige. If it’s a no strings attached full ride plus additional stipend that’s a great deal. You’ll be able to leave the Midwest if you put the work in; just focus on getting the grades and passing your boards the first try when the time comes.