Marquette with Money vs DePaul/Chicago-Kent/Loyola sticker Forum

[dgymrat44]

I have been accepted to Marquette with a 4,000 dollar a year scholarship. I am also waitlisted at the other three schools and want to know if I should just plan on going to Marquette or hold out for one of those 3 as long as I can. I do not necessarily want big time law. I just want to find a job somewhere either in Chicago or Milwaukee after school. I am thinking Marquette is my best bet considering the much lower cost of living, lower tuition, and relatively less competitive job market in Milwaukee. Let me know what you think

[ndirish2010]

If you have to go to one of them, probably Marquette. However, be prepared to get ripped apart. None of the Chicago T2s are good investments, especially not at sticker.

[BarbellDreams]

These are all really bad options honestly. TCR is retake.

[aknecht]

I don't remember reading in the original post "do I go to these schools or retake?" guys. His question was which of those schools should he go to. He might have already retaken or, for some reason, doesn't want to.

dgymrat44, first thing I would do is try to negotiate with the Chicago schools for $$$. DePaul is notoriously generous and Kent is as well. Loyola isn't so much. But let's be honest, $4k/year is a very small amount of money in the scheme of the law school game. I wouldn't let that play too much of a role in your choice. Where would you rather be, Chicago or Mil? That should drive your decision more IMO. Marquette places better in WI and the other schools place better in Chicago. The Chicago market is really, really, REALLY tough right now but it is a much larger one than pretty much the entire state of WI. Paying full sticker for any of these schools is big pill to swallow and will leave you in a hole that'll be hard to dig out of. I would negotiate hard for more money.

I was accepted to all the schools we are talking about here and my personal ranking of these schools is DePaul>Loyola>Kent>Marquette. It also helps that every school is offering me substantial amounts of $$$. Which one will I choose? I don't know yet but that's my two cents. Hope that helps.

Oh and in interest of full disclosure, I'm from Chicago so that might tell you why I rank those schools the way I do.

[dgymrat44]

I don't remember reading in the original post "do I go to these schools or retake?" guys. His question was which of those schools should he go to. He might have already retaken or, for some reason, doesn't want to.

dgymrat44, first thing I would do is try to negotiate with the Chicago schools for $$$. DePaul is notoriously generous and Kent is as well. Loyola isn't so much. But let's be honest, $4k/year is a very small amount of money in the scheme of the law school game. I wouldn't let that play too much of a role in your choice. Where would you rather be, Chicago or Mil? That should drive your decision more IMO. Marquette places better in WI and the other schools place better in Chicago. The Chicago market is really, really, REALLY tough right now but it is a much larger one than pretty much the entire state of WI. Paying full sticker for any of these schools is big pill to swallow and will leave you in a hole that'll be hard to dig out of. I would negotiate hard for more money.

I was accepted to all the schools we are talking about here and my personal ranking of these schools is DePaul>Loyola>Kent>Marquette. It also helps that every school is offering me substantial amounts of $$$. Which one will I choose? I don't know yet but that's my two cents. Hope that helps.

Oh and in interest of full disclosure, I'm from Chicago so that might tell you why I rank those schools the way I do.

I really appreciate this post. If I am accepted to one of the Chicago schools, I do plan on trying to get scholarship money. I am well aware that the 4,000 isnt much and it is not playing too much of a part in my decision. I would prefer to be in Chicago over Milwaukee but can be happy in either city (I just do not want to be north of Milwaukee).

As far as retaking, I studied a good amount last summer and never pretested higher than a 162 so my plan is just to accept the 158 that I got and take my chances with one of these schools.

It may also be helpful to know that my parents have already told me they can contribute 40,000 total to my legal education because as a undergrad college athlete, my family paid less than they had planned for my undergrad education. This will obviously be a big help in the total amount of debt I will be paying off after graduation and may factor into my decision one way or another.

[BarbellDreams]

I don't remember reading in the original post "do I go to these schools or retake?" guys. His question was which of those schools should he go to. He might have already retaken or, for some reason, doesn't want to.

dgymrat44, first thing I would do is try to negotiate with the Chicago schools for $$$. DePaul is notoriously generous and Kent is as well. Loyola isn't so much. But let's be honest, $4k/year is a very small amount of money in the scheme of the law school game. I wouldn't let that play too much of a role in your choice. Where would you rather be, Chicago or Mil? That should drive your decision more IMO. Marquette places better in WI and the other schools place better in Chicago. The Chicago market is really, really, REALLY tough right now but it is a much larger one than pretty much the entire state of WI. Paying full sticker for any of these schools is big pill to swallow and will leave you in a hole that'll be hard to dig out of. I would negotiate hard for more money.

I was accepted to all the schools we are talking about here and my personal ranking of these schools is DePaul>Loyola>Kent>Marquette. It also helps that every school is offering me substantial amounts of $$$. Which one will I choose? I don't know yet but that's my two cents. Hope that helps.

Oh and in interest of full disclosure, I'm from Chicago so that might tell you why I rank those schools the way I do.

1. TLS is made to give the best advice. Retaking was the best advice.

2. Employment statistics will heavily disagree with your rankings. DePaul is worse than both Kent and LUC. Its more like LUC>Kent>>DePaul/Marquette. I am from Chicago and know attorneys which can attribute to this (Not the Marquette comment, just the three Chicago schools). Also, NLJ employment stats clearly show Depaul as the inferior school, and their section stacking doesn't help.

[aknecht]

I really appreciate this post. If I am accepted to one of the Chicago schools, I do plan on trying to get scholarship money. I am well aware that the 4,000 isnt much and it is not playing too much of a part in my decision. I would prefer to be in Chicago over Milwaukee but can be happy in either city (I just do not want to be north of Milwaukee).

As far as retaking, I studied a good amount last summer and never pretested higher than a 162 so my plan is just to accept the 158 that I got and take my chances with one of these schools.

It may also be helpful to know that my parents have already told me they can contribute 40,000 total to my legal education because as a undergrad college athlete, my family paid less than they had planned for my undergrad education. This will obviously be a big help in the total amount of debt I will be paying off after graduation and may factor into my decision one way or another.

well I can't believe I'm going to go back on my own advice but retaking and getting 160+ might be worth your time. I got a 159 my first time out and then a 161 my second time. You wouldn't believe how the attitude of school's changed because they saw a score in 16(x) range. Ok, done with that.

That 40k from your parents will cover a year of tuition and a sliver of living expenses which is very nice. According to my notes, each of these schools is charging in the high 30s for '10-'11 tuition so that leaves you ~$80k in tuition alone to deal with. Not too bad of a loan but then you have living expenses (20-25k/year in Chicago) so that's $130k total so anything you can grovel for is great.

Am I reading right that you aren't in to the Chicago schools yet?

[dgymrat44]

I really appreciate this post. If I am accepted to one of the Chicago schools, I do plan on trying to get scholarship money. I am well aware that the 4,000 isnt much and it is not playing too much of a part in my decision. I would prefer to be in Chicago over Milwaukee but can be happy in either city (I just do not want to be north of Milwaukee).

As far as retaking, I studied a good amount last summer and never pretested higher than a 162 so my plan is just to accept the 158 that I got and take my chances with one of these schools.

It may also be helpful to know that my parents have already told me they can contribute 40,000 total to my legal education because as a undergrad college athlete, my family paid less than they had planned for my undergrad education. This will obviously be a big help in the total amount of debt I will be paying off after graduation and may factor into my decision one way or another.

well I can't believe I'm going to go back on my own advice but retaking and getting 160+ might be worth your time. I got a 159 my first time out and then a 161 my second time. You wouldn't believe how the attitude of school's changed because they saw a score in 16(x) range. Ok, done with that.

That 40k from your parents will cover a year of tuition and a sliver of living expenses which is very nice. According to my notes, each of these schools is charging in the high 30s for '10-'11 tuition so that leaves you ~$80k in tuition alone to deal with. Not too bad of a loan but then you have living expenses (20-25k/year in Chicago) so that's $130k total so anything you can grovel for is great.

Am I reading right that you aren't in to the Chicago schools yet?

Yes I am not in yet. Waitlisted at DePaul and Loyola. Deferred at Chicago-Kent which I am assuming is pretty much the same thing. I wrote letters of continued interest for all 3 schools immediately after receiving their decisions

[dr123]

Marquette, you dont have to take the bar in Wisco if you went to school there

[goldeneagle]

similar situation here... tag

[mackenbrown]

I'm in the Chicago area and applied to the usual suspects there as well as surrounding schools like Marquette. After speaking with Marquette's career and admissions offices, I did not get the sense that there is much interest in Marquette from the Chicago market. I asked if Chicago law firms attend OCI at Marquette, the answer was mostly no. A few will attend, but I was told that students are expected to interview in Chicago. However, when I asked the same questions of U of W-Madison, they confirmed that many Chicago firms go to Madison to interview. I decided if I want to work in Chicago and had to attend TT, I should stay in Chicago.

If you are content to be in Milwaukee, then Marquette should be great as it's the only law school in the city. But, I wouldn't rely on Marquette for a Chicago job. (Also Marquette has that gorgeous new building, not that you should pick a school based on the building, but it's swanky!)

You should lean on DePaul for a scholarship. I received scholly offers from Marquette and DePaul. You might get the same.

[aknecht]

Yes I am not in yet. Waitlisted at DePaul and Loyola. Deferred at Chicago-Kent which I am assuming is pretty much the same thing. I wrote letters of continued interest for all 3 schools immediately after receiving their decisions

well that pretty much rules out any significant amount of scholarship from those schools then. are you firm on attending this fall? retaking might be your best course of action costwise as you'll get more favorable consideration with a 160+ score.

If not, wait until you hear back from those schools and then update here. Until then, this thread is just an exercise in "what ifs".

[EstboundNDwn]

I was accepted to all the schools we are talking about here and my personal ranking of these schools is DePaul>Loyola>Kent>Marquette. It also helps that every school is offering me substantial amounts of $$$. Which one will I choose? I don't know yet but that's my two cents. Hope that helps.

Is that scholarship $$$ from DePaul leading you to rank those schools in that order? Otherwise, the majority of posts I've seen regarding this similar situation have the rankings along these lines:

Kent>Loyola>DePaul/Marquette

Care to elaborate?

[aknecht]

I was accepted to all the schools we are talking about here and my personal ranking of these schools is DePaul>Loyola>Kent>Marquette. It also helps that every school is offering me substantial amounts of $$$. Which one will I choose? I don't know yet but that's my two cents. Hope that helps.

Is that scholarship $$$ from DePaul leading you to rank those schools in that order? Otherwise, the majority of posts I've seen regarding this similar situation have the rankings along these lines:

Kent>Loyola>DePaul/Marquette

Care to elaborate?

yea the $$ was a factor. To be honest I wanted the rankings to be that way so that I could justify DePaul. I would have to say that after weighing all the above options myself, the rankings (all scholarship considerations aside), are LUC>Kent>DePaul>Marquette

I admit that I saw the scholly offer from DePaul of $18k/year and that clouded my judgement.

[sunshine123]

I was accepted to all the schools we are talking about here and my personal ranking of these schools is DePaul>Loyola>Kent>Marquette. It also helps that every school is offering me substantial amounts of $$$. Which one will I choose? I don't know yet but that's my two cents. Hope that helps.

Is that scholarship $$$ from DePaul leading you to rank those schools in that order? Otherwise, the majority of posts I've seen regarding this similar situation have the rankings along these lines:

Kent>Loyola>DePaul/Marquette

Care to elaborate?

yea the $$ was a factor. To be honest I wanted the rankings to be that way so that I could justify DePaul. I would have to say that after weighing all the above options myself, the rankings (all scholarship considerations aside), are LUC>Kent>DePaul>Marquette

I admit that I saw the scholly offer from DePaul of $18k/year and that clouded my judgement.

I personally was more impressed by Kent than Loyola and DePaul, so for me the rankings are Kent > Loyola > DePaul > Marquette. US news also has Kent ranked higher than Loyola and DePaul. The student body stats at Kent are similar to some tier 1 schools. Kent has had a higher LSAT and GPA than both Loyola and DePaul for the last few years now. Also, Kent's facility and location (near the train station/el) are great, and I was also more impressed by Kent's faculty. I also think IIT is a better school than Loyola Chicago. Those are just some of the reasons I think the higher ranking is justified, but to each his own.

[barry]

To be honest, i think I would have picked marquette over any Chi T2 if you're fine w/ working in WI, because wisconsin seems way less saturated than chicago, Marquette is the second best school in the state, and you don't have to take the bar. You probably will have a hard time working in chicago but an easier time finding a job in general.