Would you go to WUSTL/GW/BU at full CoA all paid with loans? Forum

[androstan]

no. thats a huge amount of debt.

If you arent sure, pick a region, and blanket the schools in the one you want. See how it plays out.

If you are dead set on those 3, then perhaps a re-take , re-apply next cycle with better numbers would help?

Did I mention I have COL taken care of and strongly suspect I'll get ~10k/year in need-based aid from GW? COA~90k in that case.

[northwood]

no. or i didnt read that closely:
well if you are only in the hole 90K, if thats what you want, do it

[fatduck]

I think Bodie said it best: "Do what you feel, but be ready to finish what you start."

[Flips88]

Wow, my acceptance at GW just lost a lot of its shine.

why? cause of the NLJ250 stats?

More from the general attitude ITT that going w/o scholly is a terrible decision.

The problem with GW is that it's the second best school in its market, plus the DC market is a target of basically all the T-14 except maybe Stanford, Boalt, Chicago, Northwestern, but there will still be grads from those schools that want DC because it's the epicenter of public policy, the supreme court, etc. It's just a hard decision to swallow $200k in debt when competition in your market will be ridiculous.

[2011Law]

no. thats a huge amount of debt.

If you arent sure, pick a region, and blanket the schools in the one you want. See how it plays out.

If you are dead set on those 3, then perhaps a re-take , re-apply next cycle with better numbers would help?

Did I mention I have COL taken care of and strongly suspect I'll get ~10k/year in need-based aid from GW? COA~90k in that case.

wow, in that case to me it'd be a no brainer to go, depending on your other options. I'm talking about if it would be worth it to go at the full CoA, which is about 200k.

[CanadianWolf]

No.

[RPK34]

no. thats a huge amount of debt.

If you arent sure, pick a region, and blanket the schools in the one you want. See how it plays out.

If you are dead set on those 3, then perhaps a re-take , re-apply next cycle with better numbers would help?

Did I mention I have COL taken care of and strongly suspect I'll get ~10k/year in need-based aid from GW? COA~90k in that case.

wow, in that case to me it'd be a no brainer to go, depending on your other options. I'm talking about if it would be worth it to go at the full CoA, which is about 200k.

No, no, no, no. Absolutely not worth it. There's probably 75% of GW kids not getting big law.

Do yourself and go here: http://www.finaid.org/calculators/scrip ... yments.cgi

Put 200000k in, at about 7.0% interest (when you factor in GradPlus loan interest rates), and toy around with how much that "200k" loan which actually cost you. Gonna take 10 years to pay off? Turns into about 300k you're sinking into an education. Play around with the numbers, and realize how much money this is, and then tell me if it's a good decision.

[Kswizzie]

Sticker doesn't necessarily mean that you are taking the whole thing out in loans... some of us have savings

[fatduck]

no. thats a huge amount of debt.

If you arent sure, pick a region, and blanket the schools in the one you want. See how it plays out.

If you are dead set on those 3, then perhaps a re-take , re-apply next cycle with better numbers would help?

Did I mention I have COL taken care of and strongly suspect I'll get ~10k/year in need-based aid from GW? COA~90k in that case.

wow, in that case to me it'd be a no brainer to go, depending on your other options. I'm talking about if it would be worth it to go at the full CoA, which is about 200k.

No, no, no, no. Absolutely not worth it. There's probably 75% of GW kids not getting big law.

Do yourself and go here: http://www.finaid.org/calculators/scrip ... yments.cgi

Put 200000k in, at about 7.0% interest (when you factor in GradPlus loan interest rates), and toy around with how much that "200k" loan which actually cost you. Gonna take 10 years to pay off? Turns into about 300k you're sinking into an education. Play around with the numbers, and realize how much money this is, and then tell me if it's a good decision.

it's worse, actually. remember you're paying interest on the vast majority of your loan money as soon as it gets disbursed, not just starting when you graduate. so add another 1-3 years of interest to that, plus any undergrad loans you may still be paying interest on. the interest is really what kills you.

personally, i will probably be attending gw with no scholarship, but i have a somewhat unique financial situation and won't be taking many loans. i think taking 200k in straight up loan money is pretty risky.

[2011Law]

Sticker doesn't necessarily mean that you are taking the whole thing out in loans... some of us have savings

I don't have a significant amount of savings. Maybe I should change the title to "at full CoA with loans"

[RPK34]

Sticker doesn't necessarily mean that you are taking the whole thing out in loans... some of us have savings

Regardless, even if you can pay the whole thing, 200k for GW is still a very bad investment. It would be nice to know you could end up with a 50-60k midlaw and not end up crushed by loan debt, but still bad.

[2011Law]

it's worse, actually. remember you're paying interest on the vast majority of your loan money as soon as it gets disbursed, not just starting when you graduate. so add another 1-3 years of interest to that, plus any undergrad loans you may still be paying interest on. the interest is really what kills you.

personally, i will probably be attending gw with no scholarship, but i have a somewhat unique financial situation and won't be taking many loans. i think taking 200k in straight up loan money is pretty risky.

for UG I went to a cheap state school with scholly, so no loans there to worry about. but for law school I'd like to go to a higher ranked school, at least one significantly better than my UG school.

[dakatz]

The only types of jobs that justify that kind of debt are the truly high-paying big firm jobs. And it is very difficult to guarantee that you will finish in the top 1/3 of your class, which is essentially a requirement for being in the running for such jobs (based on anecdotal evidence from last year's OCI). I'd be pretty wary about paying full sticker price for those odds.

[Cupidity]

BU/BC are worth it.

[quadsixm]

How rich are you or your parents?

[beachbum]

How big of a gambler are you? Will you bet your financial livelihood on a 25% chance of success?

[2011Law]

How rich are you or your parents?

changed the title to better reflect what I was asking in the first place.

[2011Law]

How big of a gambler are you? Will you bet your financial livelihood on a 25% chance of success?

I think I'll probably do it, though its not like I'm flipping a coin on it, I think I have what it takes to get into the top 1/4 of the class, though I know how ignorant that must sound coming from a 0L.

[beachbum]

How big of a gambler are you? Will you bet your financial livelihood on a 25% chance of success?

I think I'll probably do it, though its not like I'm flipping a coin on it, I think I have what it takes to get into the top 1/4 of the class, though I know how ignorant that must sound coming from a 0L.

Not to be a dick, but 100% of the class thinks they have what it takes to get into the top 25%.

[dakatz]

How big of a gambler are you? Will you bet your financial livelihood on a 25% chance of success?

I think I'll probably do it, though its not like I'm flipping a coin on it, I think I have what it takes to get into the top 1/4 of the class, though I know how ignorant that must sound coming from a 0L.

You might certainly think you have what it takes to get into the top 1/4 of the class, but so does everyone else in your class. So by default, 3/4 are wrong in their assessment. Don't make these assumptions.

[thecilent]

As long as you're not going for the modelz n bottlez, these schools would be good options to set you up for practicing law.

Don't forget the importance of networking. It gets wayy overlooked on tls sometimes

[r6_philly]

If $ is not possible outside of T14, I would go look at my state schools. I would go to Temple with in-state (and/or some cholly) over non-T14 @ sticker/full cost.

[cowgirl_bebop]

So the overall consensus is to NOT pay sticker at GW? Even if it is the best school a person has been accepted to?

[r6_philly]

So the overall consensus is to NOT pay sticker at GW? Even if it is the best school a person has been accepted to?

You should have some mid range options where the cost is substantially less. $200k debt is biglaw territory. Unless you do PI and IBR/LRAP can support you. But still, no biglaw and no big debt is probably the safest way to go.

[cowgirl_bebop]

So the overall consensus is to NOT pay sticker at GW? Even if it is the best school a person has been accepted to?

You should have some mid range options where the cost is substantially less. $200k debt is biglaw territory. Unless you do PI and IBR/LRAP can support you. But still, no biglaw and no big debt is probably the safest way to go.

So far my other option is a full-ride at SJU, but I feel that is almost too much of a downgrade. Im holding out for IUB, but frankly I hate the midwest and dont want to to there at all. My target markets are NYC or DC.