Ohio State on Full Ride, or UVA/Duke at Sticker? Forum

[BullShitWithBravado]

I'll echo everyone else and say retake. Also, I wouldn't recommend OSU because the Ohio legal market is pretty weak right now and there isn't a whole lot of hiring happening right now (learned this from a partner I met with when I was considering applying to Ohio firms).

[star fox]

Definitely retake/reapply.

I disagree with everyone's Northwestern ED strategy since OP will likely get an NU full ride anyway or get a better option than NU at a full scholarship with a few extra points on the LSAT.

I don't really know how OP would do much better for IP in Ohio than NU on a full ride. I guess a Ruby at Chicago is in the cards with a REALLY good retake, and a Darrow at Michigan is certainly a possibility (though would still probably take ED NU).

Even if OP went from 120k at Northwestern with no ED up to 150k with, it's still worth it given OP's goals.

You don't need to ED Northwestern to get a scholarship that big. It might have been like that a few years ago but not anymore. I would say just apply regular decision, and accept a spot on wait list if they put you there as it doesn't mean you're out of the running for scholarship money.

[The Dark Shepard]

Yeah, I'd have someone look at your Personal Statement and maybe look into your LORs. You should have gotten money. Or did you apply late?

[cron1834]

OP, we're in a very similar numbers boat. I was offered good money at Mich and Cornell. Berk and NU also have LSAT medians that you tie or surpass. Don't settle for either of these options. Reapply, retake, or both.

[Johann]

This is terrible advice. You have a hard science background and a chance at a free ride at law school. Do not wait a year. Go to law school, collect your payout a year earlier. Patent law is the exception to the rule. Patent law from TTT (which OSU is much better than) still = 90% chance biglaw. Going to a top regional in the area you want to practice for free is better than sticker anywhere frankly, especially if it would set your plans back a year. There is literally 0 risk to this decision and infinite upside.

[cron1834]

This is terrible advice. You have a hard science background and a chance at a free ride at law school. Do not wait a year. Go to law school, collect your payout a year earlier. Patent law is the exception to the rule. Patent law from TTT (which OSU is much better than) still = 90% chance biglaw. Going to a top regional in the area you want to practice for free is better than sticker anywhere frankly, especially if it would set your plans back a year. There is literally 0 risk to this decision and infinite upside.

Do you have a diagnosed cognitive disability? Honest question.

[Johann]

This is terrible advice. You have a hard science background and a chance at a free ride at law school. Do not wait a year. Go to law school, collect your payout a year earlier. Patent law is the exception to the rule. Patent law from TTT (which OSU is much better than) still = 90% chance biglaw. Going to a top regional in the area you want to practice for free is better than sticker anywhere frankly, especially if it would set your plans back a year. There is literally 0 risk to this decision and infinite upside.

Do you have a diagnosed cognitive disability? Honest question.

Persuading someone to wait a year and lose a year of $120k salary at the min to pay over $100k for law school is asinine. Why wont he get biglaw or a damn good local patent firm (which usually escape the bimodal salary FYI)?

[cron1834]

Dude, you're off your nut. You're just looking for a fight, with no reason to start one.

You do realize the average length of a Biglaw career, correct? It's not just so simple as "he's sacrificing $120k!!!11"

And it's hardly asinine to want to triple (quadruple?) your chances of getting Biglaw, without the debt, instead of going to a toilet.

[MistakenGenius]

Post removed.

[Johann]

Not trying to pick a fight. Trying to help OP make a good choice. Ohio St. is not a toilet school. Far from it. His chances of biglaw or a good law school outcome are already damn near 100%. He will barely add to his chances for a good outcome and go in massive debt to do so. Go look at some IP firms and where the associates got their degrees. OP, look around at some local law firms you're interested in and see where the IP attorneys went to law school. Having a BSE is more important than the name of your law school. It is definitely the exception to the rule, but very much the case. Don't make a $200k+ mistake following the advice of a 0L.

[cron1834]

WTF is your deal? No one is telling this bro to pay sticker, except one person at the outset of the thread.

I agree with MG. Just stop, dude.

[Mack.Hambleton]

This is terrible advice. You have a hard science background and a chance at a free ride at law school. Do not wait a year. Go to law school, collect your payout a year earlier. Patent law is the exception to the rule. Patent law from TTT (which OSU is much better than) still = 90% chance biglaw. Going to a top regional in the area you want to practice for free is better than sticker anywhere frankly, especially if it would set your plans back a year. There is literally 0 risk to this decision and infinite upside.

Do you have a diagnosed cognitive disability? Honest question.

lol

[Johann]

OP: here is a list of a biglaw firm and its IP associates. I went through the first 12. One was from a T14. The rest feature the likes of Chicago Kent, University of Arizona, and even University of New Hampshire and a couple John Marshalls. Go to OSU for free, invest in yourself, you're gonna be fine.

--LinkRemoved--

ETA: went through rest of list, much of the same. Check out Greg Weber from OSU. Did not graduate with honors. Graduated still in the depths of the recession in 2012 when way more people were coming out of law school.

Looked through Thomson Hine's Ohio locations. No associate in IP from a law school ranked higher than OSU.

[03152016]

paging rayiner

[norkanite]

.

[jbagelboy]

Johann is correct that EE and in different fields ChemE degrees essentially walk on water, even from regional schools, with large and boutique firms alike ITE. That being said, going to Ohio State with your numbers would be a huge mistake. Mostly just because you are leaving massive untapped opportunity on the table after working incredibly hard to achieve it (4.0). If you are targeting midwest firms, Northwestern ED or with $90k+ is easily in sight. I'd even recommend somewhere like GW full ride over Ohio right now, largely because a lot of employers won't even hit moritz OCI and Ohio is not one of the strong IP markets. In California, you're eligible for full ride at USC/UCLA with a strong shot at Berkeley w/ matching. At least then you'd be positioning yourself in the right market with broad and encompassing recruiting resources.

I think you would ultimately regret not reapplying more than prospective lost year of income (even if you don't retake and score higher, although you should try).

[jingosaur]

Even though there are a lot of IP attorneys from non-T14s at a lot of these firms, there are also a lot of them who struck out and are unemployed or doing doc review right now. Unfortunately, there's no website for them to post their names on.