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I'm in quite a predicament as all the schools I REALLY wanted to go to I got rejected or waitlisted (Chic, Columbia, Penn, UVA, Mich). I am from the LA area and lived my entire life here. I plan to come back to California after graduation but that could always change I guess. Duke offered me 48k so far and I sent emails to the other schools hoping to see if I can get any $$. I guess the leading contenders for me are UCLA and Duke. On a sidenote I am currently abroad and its going to be quite expensive to visit schools and was wondering if you guys think its worth it to visit the schools I got waitlisted at.

trojanfan06 wrote:I'm in quite a predicament as all the schools I REALLY wanted to go to I got rejected or waitlisted (Chic, Columbia, Penn, UVA, Mich). I am from the LA area and lived my entire life here. I plan to come back to California after graduation but that could always change I guess. Duke offered me 48k so far and I sent emails to the other schools hoping to see if I can get any $$. I guess the leading contenders for me are UCLA and Duke. On a sidenote I am currently abroad and its going to be quite expensive to visit schools and was wondering if you guys think its worth it to visit the schools I got waitlisted at.

Ride the WLs, put down the deposit at Duke.

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The only school I have visited is UCLA btw...man international flights are expensive.

OneKnight wrote:

trojanfan06 wrote:I'm in quite a predicament as all the schools I REALLY wanted to go to I got rejected or waitlisted (Chic, Columbia, Penn, UVA, Mich). I am from the LA area and lived my entire life here. I plan to come back to California after graduation but that could always change I guess. Duke offered me 48k so far and I sent emails to the other schools hoping to see if I can get any $$. I guess the leading contenders for me are UCLA and Duke. On a sidenote I am currently abroad and its going to be quite expensive to visit schools and was wondering if you guys think its worth it to visit the schools I got waitlisted at.

Ride the WLs, put down the deposit at Duke.

TITCR. But it depends on what you want to do... If your location preferences aren't concrete, I would go with Duke. It probably places better in CA than any of the others except for UCLA anyways.

I'm also in-state for UCLA but with the budget cuts who knows if that will make a big difference..

showNprove wrote:Of your options, Cornell has the best basketball team. Go there.

hahahahaha

trojanfan06 wrote:I'm also in-state for UCLA but with the budget cuts who knows if that will make a big difference..

UCLA in-state tuition is an estimated $134k over the next 3 years (--LinkRemoved--). Duke's tuition is $44,480 now, so after your scholarship, that should be a 3-year total of roughly $93k, assuming 3% annual increases.

Got an updated offer of 45k from UCLA...

WLs should be its own option. It should be what you do after deciding from among the rest.

trojanfan06 wrote:Got an updated offer of 45k from UCLA...

So UCLA and Duke would cost about the same. In that case, you can't go wrong with UCLA as long as you plan to work on SoCal. For any other market, Duke would be better.

Wait and see if CNG give you money. If they do, it'll depend largely on (a) how much and (b) various personal preferences.

But as it stands now, I feel like it's a wash. UCLA might make more sense since it's cheaper (right?) and is already in the area you want to practice. But with ties to California, I'm sure Duke would place you well too. Which do you actually prefer?

Not exactly sure which school I prefer, I'm going to visit NW/Duke next month though

showNprove wrote:Of your options, Cornell has the best basketball team. Go there.

Sadly, Cornell is probably going to make the tournament this year, whereas the Bruins are not. It's almost criminal.

You need to wait until your money situation is more clear. I know NU hasn't given out awards yet.

I'd take whichever is cheaper of duke, NU or Cornell. If UCLA throws a lot of money take them.

tallboone wrote:

showNprove wrote:Of your options, Cornell has the best basketball team. Go there.

Sadly, Cornell is probably going to make the tournament this year, whereas the Bruins are not. It's almost criminal.

Not after UCLA takes care of Cal in the Pac 10 tournament!

Also, OP you didn't mention which type of law you want to do. If you want to go into public interest/govt in So Cal, I think the choice is clearly between GULC and UCLA, whereas if you are solely interested in biglaw, you might be better off going to Duke. But any way you look at it, you get to go to a school with a basketball team that isn't on self-imposed sanctions.