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I recently received full tuition from Cardozo Law. I also have $20K from Vanderbilt, and $17.5k from Howard. I was also accepted to BU and Fordham, but no word on money yet.

I am a AA URM.

I know that I want to work in New York City. I also know I want to pursue IP/Entertianment Law. Should I take the free ride to Cardozo? I'm just nervous because law firms seem to only care about your GPA and law school rank...so I don't know if I should be going to the best school I get into, which is currently Vandy (#17). However...if I chose Cardozo with the full ride and had trouble finding a job at graduation, at least I wouldn't be 100k in debt.

Somebody, help!!!

Are those scholarship amounts total, or per year?

Also - what are your career goals and where do you want to live/practice?

Rawlsian wrote:Are those scholarship amounts total, or per year?

per year...

Are there any GPA stipulations on the full ride from Cardozo? Will you be aiming for a big firm (V100)? If you don't want biglaw, a guaranteed scholarship is not a bad thing, but you should be aware of each school's most recent placement rate-- this will help you make the best decision.

Kiersten1985 wrote:Also - what are your career goals and where do you want to live/practice?

I'm REALLY interested in Entertainment Law...Labor Law is the 2nd interest. and I KNOW I want to live in NYC.

If you have 20K per year offer from Vandy, you should get decent $$ from Boston. Honestly, BU is that much better than Cardozo, and if you're sure you want to be in NYC, I'd go there. Did you apply to Fordham?

chinagator wrote:If you have 20K per year offer from Vandy, you should get decent $$ from Boston. Honestly, BU is that much better than Cardozo, and if you're sure you want to be in NYC, I'd go there. Did you apply to Fordham?

Yeah, I applied and got accepted to Fordham. Do they give money, though? I haven't heard anyone talk about that...

I'll defer to OS on this question, but I heard they do give out money in spite of their rep for being stingy.

chinagator wrote:I'll defer to OS on this question, but I heard they do give out money in spite of their rep for being stingy.

They give some, but Fordham is not stingy. It has a very small endowment for a school of its quality, and really does depend on our tuition money to run. Scholarship negotiation is certainly worth a try, but Fordham can't really buy students. I wish my school had more money! I consider it to be well worth what I am paying, but OP should talk to finaid.