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Just got an email from loyola, a school i withdrew from a couple months ago, giving me a full tuition scholarship my first year, and 30k the next two years provided i maintain a 3.0. If I drop below a 3.0 I get 15k, and if I raise it back up, the scholarship goes back to 30k for the third year. Very perplexing since their initial offer was for just 10k/year. As for wake forest, I was all set to attend with a minimal (~1/4 tuition) scholarship with a top 2/3 stipulation. in fact, i was going to move pretty soon. let me lay out the details below....

Preferred practice location: none really, but was looking forward to leaving chicago, where i currently live. I just want to get a decent job out of school
Debt graduating from loyola: $0. i will just use up some of my savings to cover the remaining tuition and my wife will cover col
Debt graduating from wake: ~100k. wife will be taking a severe pay cut (approx 20k) to work in nc, but she should still be about to cover col

Graduating debt free is incredibly enticing, even though loyola is a T2 school. I ask for an extension from loyola to give me a few more days to make my decision. Im currently out of the country, but will be back in chicago on thursday. any insight would be incredibly helpful. thanks.

Didn't you already sign a lease and everything in W-S?

This seems like an absolute no-brainer to me: Loyola and never look back. If you finish in the top 10%, shoot for the stars via transfer. If not, enjoy a good education in a supposedly great city where you already have local connections. Congrats!

I received the same exact offer from Loyola Chicago this week (and will be taking it).

I think your decision really boils down to where you (and your wife) want to live. Quality wise I do not think the schools are that dissimilar but North Carolina and Chicago are incredibly different. Obviously the lack of debt is a big bonus for Loyola.

kalvano wrote:Didn't you already sign a lease and everything in W-S?

yup. signed a lease, and wife got a job. everything was set and the move date was next week! fortunately I talked to wake and they doubled the scholarship they initially gave me. amazing. the difference in cost between the two schools will be roughly 40k, and it is small enough for me to chose wake now. wake has everything i wanted in a law school (that i could get in to), so with their scholarship increase, the decision became easy.

Congratulations on figuring it out! It sounds like you made the right choice for you!

Wow, awesome turn of fortune for you man! Congrats!

moandersen wrote:

kalvano wrote:Didn't you already sign a lease and everything in W-S?

yup. signed a lease, and wife got a job. everything was set and the move date was next week! fortunately I talked to wake and they doubled the scholarship they initially gave me. amazing. the difference in cost between the two schools will be roughly 40k, and it is small enough for me to chose wake now. wake has everything i wanted in a law school (that i could get in to), so with their scholarship increase, the decision became easy.

Good choice. I know the free ride is tempting, but if you feel like you would be happier at Wake, then go there. If you're happy, you'll do better.