Wash U v. Iowa

[staylor21]

Hey guys, I have about 10 days left to decide on a full-tuition scholarship I just received over the weekend from Iowa. I was set on going to Wash U (20k/year), but this shook things up for me. I know Wash U is the more respected school, and I have done 4 years of undergrad at Iowa alerady. I have dropped the other schools that have accepted me and the only school I joined the reserve list on is Cornell.

I am from the Chicago area, and would prefer to work in the Midwest (Chicago, St. Louis, Minneapolis, etc) or Texas (Dallas). Finances are important but going into debt likely wouldn't kill me.

Any advice?

Hope everyone is well!

[Devin the Dude]

I think they have similar reputations in the Midwest. If you want to live in the surrounding area, Iowa for free would be better. T14 might be necessary for Chicago/Mpls, and UT might be necessary for Dallas.

I really have no idea about this--I'm an extreme splitter, so Iowa had no reason to give me money--but I think their scholarships have a top 1/3 requirement or some such thing. Assume related caveats about stacked sections, etc. I could be wrong here, but I'd be very wary of this.

A couple minor things might sway your decision to Iowa here. First, although WUSTL is in St. Louis, it's not the only law school in town and it's no better than SLU for getting small law or local government jobs. In fact, based on purely second-hand anecdotal evidence I've heard, you could have a tough time finding a job in St. Louis unless you're from there. Take that for what it's worth. Second, students at WUSTL have much better numbers than those at Iowa, so they're probably more difficult competitors. I suppose this assumes that Iowa won't stick you in a death-match section with everyone else who got a scholarship, but still, WUSTL is known for buying a lot of T14-caliber students. If you really want to go there for some reason, maybe they'll match Iowa.