qwrqwrqwerq Forum

[Sauer Grapes]

....

[Rand M.]

Turning down WUSTL full-ride for potential sticker at T6.

[Bronte]

Turning down WUSTL full-ride for potential sticker at T6.

Turning down near-full-ride at WUSTL for sticker at T10.

[Gunners87]

Add me to the turning down Baylor full ride group. Also probably turning down Drexel full ride...Probably going to T20-30 school for 7-10k a year...

[Havaianas]

Why do you think your school will be worth the 100k-ish difference between it and a substantial scholarship somewhere lower in the rankings? I'm not being snarky, I really want to know.

It's actually a good question, and one I'm glad to answer.

1) ITE things are sucking badly for everyone, including current 1Ls. The lack of paying law firm jobs for 2Ls is making them grab up unpaid internships that traditionally went to 1Ls. This is making it much harder for 1Ls to even be considered for a lot of public interest internships, which I'm highly interested in. The fact that I'm attending a nationally recognized law school is giving us more options, especially since the Public Service Center is willing to leverage its alumni network to help those of us interested in PI to find jobs in what we're interested in. I'm still looking, but I have a feeling I wouldn't have nearly the same options if I were going to a more regional school.

I've also heard that at some regional schools it's turning out to be hard right now to find jobs no matter how well you do. Folks in the top 10% at ND have been shut out of jobs they wanted from what I've heard, and I've heard worse things from lower-ranked regional schools. If I'm going to take on any real amount of debt to go to law school, I want to do it at a place where I know I'll actually be rewarded if I end up being successful there.

2) Because of the flood of applicants some places aren't even interviewing at lower-ranked schools. One of the Federal Public Defender offices in this state (FPD is the equivalent of the US Attorney's Office, handling defense for federal crimes cases) told me he was only visiting my school because he could fill his internship positions with folks from here easily, so there was no point going to the lower-ranked regional schools in the area. I imagine this kind of thing is also going on elsewhere in the country.

3) IBR will help manage my debt if I go into PI, which is still my intention. Given that, I'll end up paying the same amount every month on my loans if my debt is $60K, $90K, or $150K. Running the numbers, given the salary of typical PI jobs I will likely end up paying the exact same amount over 10 years no matter which of those amounts I borrow, and the rest will be forgiven.

Essentially, what it boils down to is: I'll be much happier as a lawyer if I can get a job doing what I want, where I want, and I can leverage the value of the degree here and the alumni connections and networking I have here to do that. Is the debt manageable enough to manage that? My answer is yes.

There are risks (maybe I won't be able to find the job I want in a place I want anyway when I graduate, maybe IBR will go away and I'll be left shouldering a large amount of debt) but I have decided in my case I'm willing to accept those risks. That combined with other factors (BC would've had an unusually high COL, other schools that gave me full rides were in regions I really wasn't excited to live) influenced me to choose to come here.

Thank you for this response - it feels about 110% applicable to me right now.

[extempore88]

.

[FREEDOM99]

Remember, its not really a full ride if there's a GPA/class rank requirement for keeping the scholarship.

[Bronte]

Remember, its not really a full ride if there's a GPA/class rank requirement for keeping the scholarship.

Can't speak for anyone else, but the scholly I'm referring to is unconditional.

[tintin]

I will be turning down an almost full ride at WUSTL for T6 most likely. I think it's a good decision.

[PDaddy]

Does this scare you guys at all? I turned down a full ride to my local T2, only top 100 school in my state. I can't wait to get out of here, and I have always planned on leaving after UG. I feel really good about where i'm headed so it wasn't a big decision for me to make considering all you can do out of my state school is work in this state. Just curious about who all is turning down a free education, im sure with so many great applicants on TLS many of you are.

So, you live in KS, NE, AR, MS, NV, ID, SC, VT, or HI.

None of the schools that could be on the list would be so compelling as to warrant losing sleep if you got some money at a T1, or even if you got into a high T1 w/o money. If it was strictly about leaving the state, there are some decent schools in those states: Kansas, USC2, Ol' Miss, and Vermont (which is T3 in USNWR), so you just want to make sure you do your homework.

Last year, I walked away from a full ride at Howard (among a couple of others), and I am beginning to think I made a mistake. Howard's OCR/OCI rivals or even exceeds that of T14 schools.

[daddymike]

Howard's OCR/OCI rivals or even exceeds that of T14 schools.

I believe that.






.

[KimmyGibbler]

Turning down free ride at Drexel to go to Temple for about $10k a year plus COL

[thickfreakness]

Turning down a full ride at a T30 for a 2/3 offer at Vanderbilt or $$ at a T14.

[Snickerdoodle]

Turning down a full ride at Cardozo for 2/3 at Vanderbilt.

[Fancy Pants]

Turning down a full ride at Cardozo for 2/3 at Vanderbilt.

Horrible choice.

[JOThompson]

I'm walking away from two full rides (Baylor and Iowa) and might leave substantial scholarship from UMN on the table too. It's a calculated risk.

I'll likely turn down Iowa $$$ and Minnesota $$. I've come around to vanwinkle's logic.

[momentumflux]

I will probably turn down free rides at Iowa, Alabama, Cardozo, and Temple, for a near full ride to Lewis and Clark (for environmental law). I agree, turning down an offer of that much money feels somehow wrong.

[englawyer]

i have kind of an interesting situation in the whole free-ride debate.

i am considering a full-ride at one school vs HLS. however, my GF has a job in Boston, and especially since its her first entry-level job, it is pretty much non-negotiable for her to move (we live together). So I would be moving to a high-COL area where I will be living by myself and she will be living by herself in Boston, which adds about 18k/yr to our finances (assuming $1500/mo). While we are not engaged, that could be in the future, and it is worth considering joint finances. Roughly half the advantage of the full-ride is eliminated.

Thus a potential toss-up situation starts to lean towards HLS, when a full-ride becomes a half-ride or a half-ride becomes worth nothing. This is not even considering the down-sides of a long-distance relationship on a personal level either.

[Bronte]

i have kind of an interesting situation in the whole free-ride debate.

i am considering a full-ride at one school vs HLS. however, my GF has a job in Boston, and especially since its her first entry-level job, it is pretty much non-negotiable for her to move (we live together). So I would be moving to a high-COL area where I will be living by myself and she will be living by herself in Boston, which adds about 18k/yr to our finances (assuming $1500/mo). While we are not engaged, that could be in the future, and it is worth considering joint finances. Roughly half the advantage of the full-ride is eliminated.

Thus a potential toss-up situation starts to lean towards HLS, when a full-ride becomes a half-ride or a half-ride becomes worth nothing. This is not even considering the down-sides of a long-distance relationship on a personal level either.

Yeah... just go to Harvard dude.

[Snickerdoodle]

Turning down a full ride at Cardozo for 2/3 at Vanderbilt.

Horrible choice.

Srsly? Why?!

[ranovr32]

Turning down a full ride for a T6

[Drummingreg]

Turning down a full ride at Cardozo for 2/3 at Vanderbilt.

Horrible choice.

Yeah, wtf were you thinking?

[ranovr32]

Turning down a full ride at Cardozo for 2/3 at Vanderbilt.

Horrible choice.

Yeah, wtf were you thinking?

Yeah what a terrible idea....

[dakatz]

Turning down a full ride at Cardozo for one of my T30 choices, any of which seem to be solid picks. I doubt it will be for Chicago or Cornell at sticker price, and am slightly leaning toward one of either BU or GW, which offered me 75K and 105K respectively.

[vanwinkle]

i have kind of an interesting situation in the whole free-ride debate.

i am considering a full-ride at one school vs HLS. however, my GF has a job in Boston, and especially since its her first entry-level job, it is pretty much non-negotiable for her to move (we live together). So I would be moving to a high-COL area where I will be living by myself and she will be living by herself in Boston, which adds about 18k/yr to our finances (assuming $1500/mo). While we are not engaged, that could be in the future, and it is worth considering joint finances. Roughly half the advantage of the full-ride is eliminated.

Thus a potential toss-up situation starts to lean towards HLS, when a full-ride becomes a half-ride or a half-ride becomes worth nothing. This is not even considering the down-sides of a long-distance relationship on a personal level either.

If anything this should make turning down money easier. You're already getting A JD from HLS out of doing so, but on top of thar you get to live with your GF and not have to suffer through an LDR? This is a no-brainer. Go to Harvard!