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166/3.96

Up to this week I was pretty certain UT was my destination in the fall, however, I just received news from Baylor that I have received their Full-Tuition Scholarship.

Now I have a decision to make...I would not graduate from Baylor debt free, as there is still books, and living expenses to deal with, but I would imagine Baylor has little to no big-law market if I decide to go that route.

b/c of my lsat score I doubt, even with the leverage of this scholly that i could get any money from UT whatsoever.

Perfectly happy staying in TX btw

Thoughts/opinions please

Edit: Tipping the scales in Baylor's favor is that I currently work for a mid-sized firm as a litigation assistant (130+ attorneys). Two partners who are somewhat high profile baylor grads are flying me down in one of their private planes to go visit a class and 'meet some people.' (Them offering to do this back around Christmas if I would 'send in my application,' is that main reason I even applied) It seems somewhat likely that I may very well have a very decent job opportunity coming out of law school regardless of where i attend (although i doubt they are paying 160k...still) in which case Baylor may make more sense...

If big law then UT sticker. Not even a question.
If public interest then it comes down to how averse you are to debt.

Zojirushi wrote:If big law then UT sticker. Not even a question.
If public interest then it comes down to how averse you are to debt.

Well said.

....

Thank you all so far, still would like some more opinions, however =-)

And i'm perfectly happy in Texas/the south fwiw

poorly worded topic

ughOSU wrote:poorly worded topic

yeah....thanks for the help

Anyways, edited topic (for clarity of course) and body to add info about staying in TX

ughOSU wrote:poorly worded topic

Makes perfect sense to me.
OP, another idea is to use your acceptance at UT to leverage $$ at SMU or UH. They will offer you better chances at big law than Baylor and, with scholarship funds, the cost would be between UT and Baylor. With that said, Baylor is a well renowned school in Texas. UT is simply king.

bmontminy wrote:Anyways, edited topic (for clarity of course) and body to add info about staying in TX

Zojirushi wrote:

ughOSU wrote:poorly worded topic

Makes perfect sense to me.

e: yea sorry I had nothing productive to add...

What about schools in between? With those stats, I would've expected half tuition scholarships from T20 through T30. If a third option were, let's say, Notre Dame at half price, it might be the best choice.

Having said that, between UT sticker and Baylor full ride, I'd pick UT, and this is coming from someone who is debt averse. Your opportunities will be dramatically higher out of UT.

ughOSU wrote:

bmontminy wrote:Anyways, edited topic (for clarity of course) and body to add info about staying in TX

Zojirushi wrote:

ughOSU wrote:poorly worded topic

Makes perfect sense to me.

e: yea sorry I had nothing productive to add...

Thank you kindly for showcasing your quoting skills, and STILL being informative/productive, truly amazing.

Tipping the scales in Baylor's favor is that I currently work for a mid-sized firm as a litigation assistant (130+ attorneys). Two partners who are somewhat high profile baylor grads are flying me down in one of their private planes to go visit a class and 'meet some people.' (Them offering to do this back around Christmas if I would 'send in my application,' is that main reason I even applied) It seems somewhat likely that I may very well have a very decent job opportunity coming out of law school regardless of where i attend (although i doubt they are paying 160k...still) in which case Baylor may make more sense...

If you are a Texas resident, then UT will most likely not be at sticker. If you are like most of us and have little in the way of assets, you will receive approximately 5K per year in education grants, maybe more. Talk to the financial aid office.

Other considerations: 1. Baylor is in Waco. 2. The Scholarship most likely has a GPA requirement. 3. UT is in Austin. 4. Look at the attrition rates for Baylor. 5. Baylor is in Waco (I know I already said this)

UFMatt wrote:What about schools in between? With those stats, I would've expected half tuition scholarships from T20 through T30. If a third option were, let's say, Notre Dame at half price, it might be the best choice.

Having said that, between UT sticker and Baylor full ride, I'd pick UT, and this is coming from someone who is debt averse. Your opportunities will be dramatically higher out of UT.

Half scholly's at T-20 through T-30 would put my estimated cost of attending the school at the same as In-state UT (I forgot to mention I was in-state before)

Tough choice OP.

littlebit wrote:If you are a Texas resident, then UT will most likely not be at sticker. If you are like most of us and have little in the way of assets, you will receive approximately 5K per year in education grants, maybe more. Talk to the financial aid office.

Other considerations: 1. Baylor is in Waco. 2. The Scholarship most likely has a GPA requirement. 3. UT is in Austin. 4. Look at the attrition rates for Baylor. 5. Baylor is in Waco (I know I already said this)

Very good points, I do have very little assets, but was unaware i should be expecting any grants whatsoever...scholly req. is a 2.5 GPA

UFMatt wrote:What about schools in between? With those stats, I would've expected half tuition scholarships from T20 through T30. If a third option were, let's say, Notre Dame at half price, it might be the best choice.

Having said that, between UT sticker and Baylor full ride, I'd pick UT, and this is coming from someone who is debt averse. Your opportunities will be dramatically higher out of UT.

I am very debt averse ... and I would pay sticker at UT tomorrow if I were in your shoes. UT owns Texas, and enjoys a reasonable measure of national portability, should you ever need or want to move out-of-state.

Then again .... who wants to spend three years in Austin when you can spend three years in Waco?

UFMatt wrote:What about schools in between? With those stats, I would've expected half tuition scholarships from T20 through T30. If a third option were, let's say, Notre Dame at half price, it might be the best choice.

Having said that, between UT sticker and Baylor full ride, I'd pick UT, and this is coming from someone who is debt averse. Your opportunities will be dramatically higher out of UT.

If OP wants to stay in Texas, it would make little sense to go to Boston or GW or whatever on partial scholarship because he/she probably will have a hell of a time getting a job back in Texas as all of those are regional schools.

I'd take UT at in-state sticker. The way I look at it, its a lot of debt, but a good chance to get a good job > some debt, but a slim chance of getting a good job.

Baylor grads pass the bar at a rate the other TX big three (UT, SMU and Houston) don't come close to. I'm not sure why others think getting biglaw or similiar wouldn't happen.
... but yes 3 years in Waco would be a challenge, no doubt.

edited OP again to keep all the info in the first post for those not wishing to read the whole thread.

Thanks again!

All these school have very high passage rates. Texas Tech has a higher bar passage rate than Baylor this year.

BAYLOR 94.12% 85 80 5 0.00% 3 0 3
ST. MARY'S 82.80% 157 130 27 56.25% 16 9 7
SOUTH TEXAS 89.66% 261 234 27 58.97% 39 23 16
S.M.U. 90.99% 233 212 21 35.71% 14 5 9
T.S,U. 71.11% 135 96 39 41.54% 65 27 38
U OF HOUSTON 91.63% 227 208 19 85.71% 14 12 2
U OF TEXAS 92.36% 288 266 22 72.22% 18 13 5
TEXAS TECH 94.52% 146 138 8 66.67% 12 8 4
T.W.U. 93.29% 149 139 10 59.09% 22 13 9
Sub-Total 89.41% 1681 1503 178 54.19% 203 110 93

OUT-OF-STATE 83.96% 642 539 103 43.40% 106 46 60
TBE ATTORNEY 83.33% 120 100 20 65.22% 23 15 8
RULE XIII(b) 66.67% 6 4 2 22.22% 9 2 7
REINSTATEMENTS 100.00% 1 1 0 0.00% 0 0 0
Sub-Total 83.75% 769 644 125 45.65% 138 63 75

TOTAL 87.63% 2450 2147 303 50.73% 341 173 168

Total of First Time & Repeaters 2791
Overall Pass Rate 83.12% #Passed 2320
Overall Fail Rate 16.88% #Failed 471

Everything I've read I would vote UT unless you want to work for this firm for a while after you graduate, but even then if something were to happen where you couldn't get hired back at that firm UT would be a way better diploma to have.

Scholly requires a 2.5 GPA? Isn't Baylor's curve set at something excruciatingly low? You need to find out. There's an excellent chance you could lose your scholarship after the first year. If the scholly had no strings attached, Baylor wouldn't be a bad choice, but with strings, UT.

I've always thought conditional scholarships are bad juju. Just seems like unnecessary stress to me.

Plus, Waco is an awful, awful place. Austin is an awesome, awesome place.

UT, although whoever said you should use your UT acceptance to try to get money from UH/SMU was credited, but nonetheless, Texas.

Esc wrote:Scholly requires a 2.5 GPA? Isn't Baylor's curve set at something excruciatingly low? You need to find out. There's an excellent chance you could lose your scholarship after the first year. If the scholly had no strings attached, Baylor wouldn't be a bad choice, but with strings, UT.

Top 1/3 at Baylor=2.6.