Colorado Law ($$$) vs Boston College ($$) Forum

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lhudbal4p

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Colorado Law ($$$) vs Boston College ($$)

Post by lhudbal4p » Sun Apr 14, 2019 12:55 pm

Hello friends

I have two offers (and multiple waitlists) I am considering:

CU @ ~25% (cost of attendance for tuition ~$40k)
BC @ ~50% (cost of attendance for tuition ~100k)

I am also waitlisted at BU/UVA/Berkeley/Columbia.

My goal is BigLaw with a geographical preference for Colorado, ironically, although it really wouldn't bother me too much to practice elsewhere.

The question is whether CU's regional reputation is sufficient to make it worth more than BC's better stats and additional cost.

Thanks bros

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cavalier1138

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Re: Colorado Law ($$$) vs Boston College ($$)

Post by cavalier1138 » Sun Apr 14, 2019 2:19 pm

If you want biglaw, neither. BC has ok biglaw placement, but you're paying too much. Colorado doesn't place well in biglaw at all (although it better fits your desired region).

What are your stats? Assuming you have a decent GPA (which seems like a reasonable assumption given your WL performance), retaking the LSAT could put top schools in play. And if your only goal is biglaw, that's all you should be shooting for.

lhudbal4p

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Re: Colorado Law ($$$) vs Boston College ($$)

Post by lhudbal4p » Sun Apr 14, 2019 3:17 pm

3.6 / 166

I have put a lot of thought into retaking and reapplying next year but I've decided not to for two main reasons: I'm old (almost 31) and I've recently come to hate my current job (~8 years) so much that I can't imagine staying in engineering. Cost for BC isn't an issue - the payout from my company ownership will more than cover full tuition at any school.

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Re: Colorado Law ($$$) vs Boston College ($$)

Post by objctnyrhnr » Sun Apr 14, 2019 3:54 pm

Tls is likely to come down on you for valuing starting a law career one year earlier over going to a much better school with much better outcomes (ie they will try to convince you to study for some time, do better on Lsat, apply early in cycle). But I’ll let somebody else do that. I’ll also concur that this would be TCR.

Anyway, Assuming there’s a guy with a gun to your head saying go to one of these schools, and assuming you’re happy enough in boston, and given your goals, Bc seems the obvious choice. In spite of what usnwr might demonstrate, it is just a much much stronger school. The only way I’d recommend the other option is if you were set on CO practice. Given that you’re not and you want BL, Bc is the better of these options.

lhudbal4p

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Re: Colorado Law ($$$) vs Boston College ($$)

Post by lhudbal4p » Sun Apr 14, 2019 4:03 pm

objctnyrhnr wrote:Tls is likely to come down on you for valuing starting a law career one year earlier over going to a much better school with much better outcomes (ie they will try to convince you to study for some time, do better on Lsat, apply early in cycle). But I’ll let somebody else do that. I’ll also concur that this would be TCR.

Anyway, Assuming there’s a guy with a gun to your head saying go to one of these schools, and assuming you’re happy enough in boston, and given your goals, Bc seems the obvious choice. In spite of what usnwr might demonstrate, it is just a much much stronger school. The only way I’d recommend the other option is if you were set on CO practice. Given that you’re not and you want BL, Bc is the better of these options.
Totally understand the overall disposition of the forum regarding retaking and I wouldn’t disagree at all in general when it comes to maximizing post graduation outcomes for folks staring down the barrel of 200k in debt and who have no fallback besides law (where salaries are either 50k or 150k), but ultimately I can always slot back into engineering at 6 figures if BigLaw doesn’t pan out.

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cavalier1138

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Re: Colorado Law ($$$) vs Boston College ($$)

Post by cavalier1138 » Sun Apr 14, 2019 4:29 pm

Ok, retake is clearly the right choice here. But let's assume you go to BC: what are you going to do if you don't get biglaw?

QContinuum

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Re: Colorado Law ($$$) vs Boston College ($$)

Post by QContinuum » Sun Apr 14, 2019 4:35 pm

cavalier1138 wrote:Ok, retake is clearly the right choice here. But let's assume you go to BC: what are you going to do if you don't get biglaw?
Per OP:
lhudbal4p wrote:I can always slot back into engineering at 6 figures if BigLaw doesn't pan out
Of course, this is the same OP who also said:
lhudbal4p wrote:I've recently come to hate my current job (~8 years) so much that I can't imagine staying in engineering.
I'm not sure how these two posts are consistent with each other, but then again that's why I'm not a quantum physicist.

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Re: Colorado Law ($$$) vs Boston College ($$)

Post by objctnyrhnr » Sun Apr 14, 2019 4:37 pm

QContinuum wrote:
cavalier1138 wrote:Ok, retake is clearly the right choice here. But let's assume you go to BC: what are you going to do if you don't get biglaw?
Per OP:
lhudbal4p wrote:I can always slot back into engineering at 6 figures if BigLaw doesn't pan out
Sorry I should have specified that I “allowed” this post that was written before cav’s Post after cav posted. So it looks like cav ignored or missed this info, but it wouldn’t have shown up for him—on a non-mod view of the convo.

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Re: Colorado Law ($$$) vs Boston College ($$)

Post by lhudbal4p » Sun Apr 14, 2019 4:53 pm

QContinuum wrote:
cavalier1138 wrote:Ok, retake is clearly the right choice here. But let's assume you go to BC: what are you going to do if you don't get biglaw?
Per OP:
lhudbal4p wrote:I can always slot back into engineering at 6 figures if BigLaw doesn't pan out
Of course, this is the same OP who also said:
lhudbal4p wrote:I've recently come to hate my current job (~8 years) so much that I can't imagine staying in engineering.
I'm not sure how these two posts are consistent with each other, but then again that's why I'm not a quantum physicist.
They're only consistent when you consider that what I can imagine now (when I have options to do something else that I find interesting and negligible debt) is not the same as what I can imagine in the future (when I've failed at law and have to pay rent). Having a law degree in general from a T1 school also opens up a lot of options for me within my current industry (construction) working for firms as in-house claims support/analysis with my previous experience, which would let me get away from what I hate in the field currently.

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LSATWiz.com

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Re: Colorado Law ($$$) vs Boston College ($$)

Post by LSATWiz.com » Sun Apr 14, 2019 9:51 pm

I don't think your ability to slide back into engineering is a relevant factor. It's either a good decision or a bad one. The fact your worst case scenario won't destroy your quality of life does not make it a good decision.

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Re: Colorado Law ($$$) vs Boston College ($$)

Post by QContinuum » Sun Apr 14, 2019 10:06 pm

lhudbal4p wrote:They're only consistent when you consider that what I can imagine now (when I have options to do something else that I find interesting and negligible debt) is not the same as what I can imagine in the future (when I've failed at law and have to pay rent).
But why do you want to cavalierly accept the risk of "failing at law" and being forced to return to engineering? You can very easily eliminate that risk by squeezing a few extra points out of the LSAT and attending a T13/T20. You're so close, as your WLs at Virginia/Berkeley/Columbia indicate. You'd likely get in if you were to get as few as 3 or 4 extra questions right on the LSAT.
lhudbal4p wrote:Having a law degree in general from a T1 school also opens up a lot of options for me within my current industry (construction) working for firms as in-house claims support/analysis with my previous experience, which would let me get away from what I hate in the field currently.
Do these in-house positions hire new graduates? How much do they pay?

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Re: Colorado Law ($$$) vs Boston College ($$)

Post by icansortofmath » Thu Apr 18, 2019 9:11 am

I'd email the schools and scour LinkedIn to look at their IP placement. I have strong suspicions BC does a lot better than Colorado.

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