Would you take a full ride at a T20 (give or take +/- 3) ranked schools or a 10k or less scholly at T14/T15

bump

I took the full (actually 2/3rds) ride and I would do it again in a heartbeat. UNLESS, I could go to Stanford or Yale - I would pay sticker for those two.
p.s. i want to do public interest

ask me in a few years.. though the full ride would be coming from a low T1-high T2 lol.

I'd definitely take the full ride, and I'd go lower than t-20.

The only schools that I would even consider taking a full-ride over sticker at a T14 (minus Cornell and GULC) would be Texas, UCLA, and Vanderbilt.

I'd take a full ride at any decent university in T1.

Doing it now, and not regretting taking the $$$$ at all

Will get back to you after OCI but I think I'll end up happily employed...somewhere.

edit: T2, though. T20-T14 doesn't seem like a huge jump for that much money unless it's also a market you strongly prefer

This. If you're gunning for biglaw T17 is pretty much necessary.

Not always. A friend of mine took a full ride at a mid T2 (was accepted at a T20), and as of today has a V10, V20, and 2 V100 offers.

"pretty much."

98% of people will not do we enough at a T2 to get a V100 offer.

Agreed.

I would still go to UT. I did pass up full rides, as did a lot of my classmates. Very happy with my decision.

full ride all the way. having little debt coming out of law school gives a great amount of flexibility if BigLaw doesn't work out.

This.

T18, USC is doing almost, if not just as well as UCLA in Big Law placement and actually out performed them, by a wide margin, in NLJ 250 placement for the 2010 rankings (although these are based on a different hiring environment)

Very few law schools offer a "full ride". If you can get a true full ride to a Tier One law school, then it deserves strong consideration against all but some of the Top 12 law schools.
Many law schools do, however, offer "full tuition & fees" scholarships which still make them strong considerations if that school and/or location fits into one's long-range plans. Several law schools may also offer a book allowance of about $1,500 in addition to a full tuition & fees scholarships, but those adding in living expenses/housing/ stipends are somewhat rare.

I'd take a full ride from a school in the top 30(in a market i want to practice) than any T14 save HYSCC

the rest of the t14, 50 percent or more of the students wont get biglaw, no sense in a coin toss for that debt, i'd rather have little to no debt from the GWs and WUSTLs of the world and no big law then 200k from Georgetown and no biglaw

Looking back, I would not go to any school outside of the T25.

Even if you were dead-set on practicing in syracuse, New York or in Phoenix, Arizona ?

I wouldn't bother with any school outside the top 20 or so. The only schools I'd pay sticker for are Yale and Stanford. I honestly wouldn't even pay sticker at Harvard because the class is so big.

I still wouldn't go to a school that is ranked outside of the T20 (plus maybe GW, ND, and UIUC). Then again, I worked for 5 years prior to making the leap to law school and a left a very successful occupation. For me, the cost-benefit just isn't there.

If I had the choice, I think I would've opted for T10-14 instead of T30 with free tuition. I feel like a more elite school would open up extra PI/govt. career doors. I want public interest and could've always fallen back on IBR anyways, so the full ride is a little less enticing than it might be for other students.

I agree. I attend Fordham and heard that only 2 people got full rides. I took a half ride over nothing at a T14 and am sooo glad. I'm c/o 2012 though, and have enough hindsight to say this after accepting a biglaw SA position. Sure, it was rough and I had to get the grades, but I met a lot of people over the summer that came from T14s (including the one I turned down) and worked for free as 2Ls, so I feel validated about my choice.

SMU awards six (6), I believe, but they are limited to residents of Texas & a few neighboring states.
It would be interesting to read of any other law schools that offer "full ride" (tuition & fees plus books & living stipend/expenses) scholarships.