Would it be a terrible decision to.... Forum

[005618502]

Go to a Tier 3/4 school with a full ride + stipend (enough to cover everything) literally graduate with 0 debt. When you could go to a school full sticker ranked between 10-20.

I hope people dont slaughter this thread....

[sophia.olive]

What kind of employment are you looking for, what kind of employment would each school provide you? What are their locations? Where do you want to work?

[joemoviebuff]

If that scholarship is not contingent on maintaining a certain GPA, and your school does well in it's market, it's worth consideration IMO.

[005618502]

What if its a school like Michigan State (i hear they have a great litigation certificate) but you dont want to practice in Michigan.
Lets say goal is becoming a DA

[HeavenWood]

What if its a school like Michigan State (i hear they have a great litigation certificate) but you dont want to practice in Michigan.

If you don't want to practice in Michigan, going to Michigan State is not a good idea.

[joemoviebuff]

What if its a school like Michigan State (i hear they have a great litigation certificate) but you dont want to practice in Michigan.
Lets say goal is becoming a DA

No.

Most people on here will tell you to retake the LSAT (especially if you're a 4.0 like your profile indicates), and that would be the right thing to do. If you attend a TTT, at the very least it needs to be in a place you'd like to practice.

[sophia.olive]

Because you never know how welll you will do in law school, what do you think about going with the full ride and then transfering up if you want. That would make the overall cheaper and increase your options.

[005618502]

Transfering is something you cannot rely on from what i have heard.
FYI: I am going to UVA in the fall. (ED)

I have gotten emails from schools like MichState and Usanfrancisco (better then michstate) and basically been told how much the scholarship would be, and it makes me wonder what i would have done if i had gotten these email and offers in september. (i am a relative of someone high up at michigan state law school, so we have spoken exact numbers of how much i would recieve, and what total costs are)

[joemoviebuff]

Transfering is something you cannot rely on from what i have heard.
FYI: I am going to UVA in the fall. (ED)

I have gotten emails from schools like MichState and Usanfrancisco (better then michstate) and basically been told how much the scholarship would be, and it makes me wonder what i would have done if i had gotten these email and offers in september. (i am a relative of someone high up at michigan state law school, so we have spoken exact numbers of how much i would recieve, and what total costs are)

I'll be joining you, congrats.

Go ahead and put up a poll: UVA (sticker) vs. Michigan State (full ride + stipend) with the caveat that you want to be a DA not in Michigan, and see what happens.

[005618502]

Transfering is something you cannot rely on from what i have heard.
FYI: I am going to UVA in the fall. (ED)

I have gotten emails from schools like MichState and Usanfrancisco (better then michstate) and basically been told how much the scholarship would be, and it makes me wonder what i would have done if i had gotten these email and offers in september. (i am a relative of someone high up at michigan state law school, so we have spoken exact numbers of how much i would recieve, and what total costs are)

I'll be joining you, congrats.

Go ahead and put up a poll: UVA (sticker) vs. Michigan State (full ride + stipend) with the caveat that you want to be a DA not in Michigan, and see what happens.

Im going to sound retarded, but how do you make a poll? lol

Congrats to you as well

[20160810]

"A school ranked 10-20" is a huge gap. I'd go to any of Duke, Cornell, NU or GULC at sticker over a full ride at a TTT in a heartbeat. I'd probably still pay sticker for Texas or UCLA. Vandy and USC are closer calls. WUSTL or GW, I'd probably take the money at the TTT and go debt-free.

[Aqualibrium]

"A school ranked 10-20" is a huge gap. I'd go to any of Duke, Cornell, NU or GULC at sticker over a full ride at a TTT in a heartbeat. I'd probably still pay sticker for Texas or UCLA. Vandy and USC are closer calls. WUSTL or GW, I'd probably take the money at the TTT and go debt-free.

I dont know if I agree with that. Perhaps if the school was a t1 I could agree. Also, this scenario is really unlikely, unless you just applied very haphazardly. Admission at a 10-20 school seems to indicate that you are a candidate for some type of scholarship at a t1-2 school.

[Richie Tenenbaum]

Those scholarships at T3/T4 schools will most likely have a GPA/class rank requirement, which would make it not worth the risk.

The better question is not between a T3/T4 for full ride + stipend vs UVA, but rather a full ride at a school in the 20-30 range in an area you want to work for a full ride (or close to it), since if you have the numbers for UVA you should have the numbers to entice at least a few schools around that range to throw some significant money at you).

Keep in mind though the lower rank school should be in the area you want to work after graduation. It is a bad idea to attend a significantly lower ranked school just because they offered you money. People who LSAT scores in the mid to high 160's with a decent GPA have a very good shot at getting a full ride or full ride + stipend from Cardozo, but that doesn't necessarily make it a good decision to turn down much better schools. (and this is ignoring the fact that those scholarships will usually have a GPA/class rank requirement, which should disqualify it as a legitimate option)

[Aqualibrium]

Those scholarships at T3/T4 schools will most likely have a GPA/class rank requirement, which would make it not worth the risk.

The better question is not between a T3/T4 for full ride + stipend vs UVA, but rather a full ride at a school in the 20-30 range in an area you want to work for a full ride (or close to it), since if you have the numbers for UVA you should have the numbers to entice at least a few schools around that range to throw some significant money at you).

Keep in mind though the lower rank school should be in the area you want to work after graduation. It is a bad idea to attend a significantly lower ranked school just because they offered you money. People who LSAT scores in the mid to high 160's with a decent GPA have a very good shot at getting a full ride or full ride + stipend from Cardozo, but that doesn't necessarily make it a good decision to turn down much better schools. (and this is ignoring the fact that those scholarships will usually have a GPA/class rank requirement, which should disqualify it as a legitimate option)

I agree for the most part, but I think the scholarship stipulation thing is way overblown on this site. Almost every school I know of has them. As long as the stipulation isn't something ridiculous like "must be in top 25%," or the curve at the school isn't one of those C+ curves, I don't think they are really all that bad.

I

[Richie Tenenbaum]

I agree for the most part, but I think the scholarship stipulation thing is way overblown on this site. Almost every school I know of has them. As long as the stipulation isn't something ridiculous like "must be in top 25%," or the curve at the school isn't one of those C+ curves, I don't think they are really all that bad.

I should have been more clear. The scholarship requirements at T3/T4 usually ARE ridiculous (like top 1/3 or quarter, either in class rank or GPA that approximately equates to somewhere around there). I may have had a decently small sample size (but probably bigger than most since I had 2 app cycles), but schools outside of the T30 generally have something like this. Schools within the T30 usually don't (their requirement is usually good standing).

[D. H2Oman]

tough call OP, i suggest you check this out. It should help clarify things a bit

http://www.endlessyoutube.com/watch?v=XoSb5SKRPLo

[burger lover]

^ H2Oman~ that's funny.

i have to admit i couldn't turn it off for like 45 secs. for a 2 sec video, that's about 20+ iterations. lol.

[JOThompson]

If that scholarship is not contingent on maintaining a certain GPA, and your school does well in it's market, it's worth consideration IMO.

These should be your two main criteria. Still, you should also be prepared to accept a less than ideal job in terms of pay, hours, subject matter, etc. in your local market. I know a recent MSU grad that spent over a year looking for work before finally landing a small town family law job.

[bdubs]

Transfering is something you cannot rely on from what i have heard.
FYI: I am going to UVA in the fall. (ED)

I have gotten emails from schools like MichState and Usanfrancisco (better then michstate) and basically been told how much the scholarship would be, and it makes me wonder what i would have done if i had gotten these email and offers in september. (i am a relative of someone high up at michigan state law school, so we have spoken exact numbers of how much i would recieve, and what total costs are)

You can't break your ED contract so the point is moot.

[burger lover]

Transfering is something you cannot rely on from what i have heard.
FYI: I am going to UVA in the fall. (ED)

I have gotten emails from schools like MichState and Usanfrancisco (better then michstate) and basically been told how much the scholarship would be, and it makes me wonder what i would have done if i had gotten these email and offers in september. (i am a relative of someone high up at michigan state law school, so we have spoken exact numbers of how much i would recieve, and what total costs are)

You can't break your ED contract so the point is moot.

i hardly think that having been accepted ED precludes a person from wondering about the options. this is a discussion forum after all. jt1341 is not implying he is re-considering his early decision.
as a fellow EDer, i thought that the stress of the app-cycle would be over now. yet i, too, sometimes get a little panicky when thinking about some of the other avenues i could have explored had i not applied early.
that being said, overall, i am very pleased that the cycle is over, of course.

[justadude55]

Go to a Tier 3/4 school with a full ride + stipend (enough to cover everything) literally graduate with 0 debt. When you could go to a school full sticker ranked between 10-20.

I hope people dont slaughter this thread....

maybe close to a full ride at a tier 2 would be better.

only the top students from those schools get jobs----the very top, if that. if u have the #'s to get a full ride, u have an advantage going in. that said, weigh the $ vs. your connections in the field. if ur gonna work for ur mom/dad, then do it. if not, maybe settle for the middle.

[bdubs]

Transfering is something you cannot rely on from what i have heard.
FYI: I am going to UVA in the fall. (ED)

I have gotten emails from schools like MichState and Usanfrancisco (better then michstate) and basically been told how much the scholarship would be, and it makes me wonder what i would have done if i had gotten these email and offers in september. (i am a relative of someone high up at michigan state law school, so we have spoken exact numbers of how much i would recieve, and what total costs are)

You can't break your ED contract so the point is moot.

i hardly think that having been accepted ED precludes a person from wondering about the options. this is a discussion forum after all. jt1341 is not implying he is re-considering his early decision.
as a fellow EDer, i thought that the stress of the app-cycle would be over now. yet i, too, sometimes get a little panicky when thinking about some of the other avenues i could have explored had i not applied early.
that being said, overall, i am very pleased that the cycle is over, of course.

Feel free to stress out all you want, but you can't take back the decision to ED. I guess if hearing that you made the correct choice soothes your fears, then go right ahead.

[bk1]

This is probably something you should have considered before ED'ing to UVa.

[justadude55]

if u don't mess up, i'm sure ull have every opportunity to make back the 150k coming from UVA.

btw: are there really no scholarships for ED?

[joemoviebuff]

Early Decision:

Students who fall below Virginia Law’s medians can increase their chances of admission by applying Early Decision. Trujillo says:

If we are going to “reach” for someone, it will often be through the early decision process. Virginia is, for some applicants, truly their dream school and they apply early decision. If I can make that person’s dream a reality, I will strive to do so.

If you fall into this category and are worried about obtaining scholarship money, have no fear. Applying ED does not affect an applicant’s merit scholarship prospects. In fact, Trujillo states:

I treat the ED applicants the same as if they applied regular decision. If I did not, word would spread pretty quickly and I’d expect far fewer ED applicants the following year. Some who apply ED and receive scholarship assistance are quite shocked. For example, I gave $20,000+ scholarships to two ED applicants and they were quite surprised.