Top Law Schools

So lucky...please help me out!

Not sure of what I want to do...prefer not to be in NYC or on the West Coast. I'm more interested in hearing what others would do in this situation and why they'd make that choice. I know that there is no wrong answer and it is a very personal choice (and yes, I have visited all of the schools - and liked them all!).

I've excluded the schools (other than Harvard) from which I did not receive significant scholarship offers because I cannot see myself choosing them over Harvard and/or full-ride to another top law school.

I included Vandy and Texas because even though they are ranked lower, I really liked both schools when I visited and think that I'd enjoy attending there and could be happy with my career afterwards.

Edits in response to questions posed:
I actually am a real person, and I'm actually not that impressive; I just got really lucky.

I got rejected from Yale and I didn't apply to Stanford because I'd like to stay in the East/South/Midwest rather than be on the West Coast.

and...I'll probably start my career with a big law firm (I've heard it's the real way to learn the law), and then move into either the federal government or corporate law. I'm most interested in international topics, as well as intellectual property (not patent law, however). I'm more of a transactions-type than a litigator. I could see myself in DC, Atlanta, Chicago, Boston, Houston, or Dallas. But again, I'm more interested in what you'd do in this lucky position and why you like the school/situation that you do.

what type of work are you interested in doing after law school?

If you have any desire to do high profile stuff like be a Senator/Congressman/President/Attorney General, then you must go to Harvard.

If you just want a quiet, normal life in your favorite city in America take the Penn/Mich/Duke full ride.

Harvard is a great choice but I chose michigan because of the alumni network, name recognition, low COL (which means literally $0 after school.) I voted down Penn and Duke because of atmosphere, neither are in nice areas (IMO), and lack of massive network. Esp for penn... the law school isnt even their best grad school

Dude... who are you?

Assuming this is not a flame, I agree with this guy:

insidethetwenty wrote:If you have any desire to do high profile stuff like be a Senator/Congressman/President/Attorney General, then you must go to Harvard.

If you just want a quiet, normal life in your favorite city in America take the Penn/Mich/Duke full ride.

wow thats amazing. congratulations. I agree with others: depends on what you want to do.

the only thing that works well for harvard is the fact that it doesnt matter where u graduate in ur class, youre a HARVARD grad. On the other hand, leaving a t14 with no debt is a pretty nice deal. Instinct tells me harvard trumps all else. But logically, not being in debt is a really huge deal.

I guess that helped 0. But....down to it...assumingur career prospects are not senator, big law, etc---id go with full rides. I include big law because I think that graduating from the bottom of ur class at Michigan wouldnt give you the same career prospects as bottom of the class at harvard. That said, the fact that you got into harvard and got full rides from other top schools speaks to your work ethic and I can reasonably assume you will *not* be graduating at the bottom of your class. Take the full rides.

i have no advice, but I want to pinch your cheeks for the adorableness in the OP. Congrats and good luck

Whoever you are, this is effing ridiculous. You can't go wrong, I would do Penn, but really it is impossible for me to justify that to you over HLS, Duke or Mich. I would rule out VA, just for money reasons, and Vanderbilt because you have full rides at other slightly better schools. Anyhow, I am jealous as shit. I hope it works out.

Personally, I vote for the Darrow, in part because the Levy isn't full-tuition for all 3 years, and Michigan/Penn's placement numbers (esp. outside of NYC) are probably comparable, with a slight edge for Mich.

I think your choice ultimately comes down to HLS vs. one of the major scholarships (unless you get into SLS or YLS), and I think the benefit of coming out with minimal (less than $20K or so, with living expenses) debt is fantastic, esp. when you don't know what you want to do.

Kretzy wrote:Personally, I vote for the Darrow, in part because the Levy isn't full-tuition for all 3 years, and Michigan/Penn's placement numbers (esp. outside of NYC) are probably comparable, with a slight edge for Mich.

I think your choice ultimately comes down to HLS vs. one of the major scholarships (unless you get into SLS or YLS), and I think the benefit of coming out with minimal (less than $20K or so, with living expenses) debt is fantastic, esp. when you don't know what you want to do.

This

This may sound like I am just mimicking the poll but I think the choice really is between HLS and Umich. For quality of life you could not go wrong at either and although Harvard carries way more prestige I think that a Michigan law degree will certainly not close any doors (unless you plan on being vetted for the Supreme Court). Look at it this way: debt can in some ways inhibit your career choic just as much as prestige can. I would take the money and join us at Michigan next year

*admittedly biased

What, no Hamilton?

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insidethetwenty wrote:If you have any desire to do high profile stuff like be a Senator/Congressman/President/Attorney General, then you must go to Harvard.

If you just want a quiet, normal life in your favorite city in America take the Penn/Mich/Duke full ride.

+1

I'd personally choose Duke based on weather and a love for college hoops.

My $.02: if you choose Harvard you will have to gun for the top of the class to make it worthwhile. If you end up at median you'll probably wish you had taken the full ride. If you succeed at getting top 10-15% at Harvard however (clearly a possibility given your track record) you will be very glad you went there as your life (or at least your career) will be objectively awesome.

But there's no way of knowing where you'll end up in the class. And you've probably gone around this particular mental circle 9,000 times already.

^^^ haha this guy has a good point. While you have some great choices, I imagine making the decision is nerve racking.

Take the money and run. All the schools offering you substantial scholarships are excellent and you can't make a wrong decision with any of them. You are going to get a great legal education.

The question you need to ask yourself is, when you graduate, would you rather have virtually zero debt or have to repay $160K plus interest for virtually the same education?

If it was me, I'm taking the money and my top 3 would be Vandy, Duke and UVA in no particular order because spring is my favorite season and there is nothing like spring in the south.

I was actually just talking to a HLS grad (early 80's), and he told me that unless you want to go into academia, you'd be crazy to turn down a big scholarship at a Top 14 to pay full price at Harvard. I'd take Michigan in a heartbeat, though I'm not sure I'd instantly turn down Harvard for anything less than a full ride. You'll have a very comparable education at Michigan, Penn, Duke, UVA, ect than you would at Harvard, so it isn't like this decision is going to determine the quality of lawyer you'll become. Even without the Harvard prestige, being in the upper echelon of your class at the other schools will still open doors.

Of that list, UVA would be my top pick, but I'd take Michigan for the extra money.

HLS will give you options, but so will graduating with little debt. If you're at all interested in PI/gov, I'd say take the money.

I wonder how many Harvard holds are actively pushing against Harvard.

Hmm, I've always wondered though... I know some people go to HYS and regret not taking a big scholly to lower T14.. Does the reverse happen though?

I think its basically a toss up, with top 20% at H being awesome, but median you probably should have just gone with Darrow. But what happens if for some reason you take the Darrow, wind up at median at Michigan, and the economy doesn't recover, or something else goes wrong? How much does the chances of this happening factor in to the decision?

ITE Harvard is not a guarantee of big law, so it would be hard to say that you should take on a ton of debt when you don't have to. I would probably take the Darrow.

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To me, the decision is really:

1) Harvard vs.
2) Darrow/Michigan vs.
3) Mordecai/Duke

Your other choices are great, but the fact that you are NOT drawn to any school/region in particular after visiting all leads me to think that there's little reason to assume more debt to go one of the other schools.

You have Harvard and two free T14 degrees on your hands. Don't consider anything else -- given your lack of strong preference for a particular region, there's pretty much no reason to go with Penn, UVA, UT, or Vandy.