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Hi everyone, I'd love some advice. I'm currently living with my wife and three kids in Philly area. I am trying to decide between these options:

1. Chicago-Kent offered me renewable full-tuition
2. Temple offered me a renewable Law Faculty Scholarship (5k off their 18k in-state tuition).

I'm willing to practice in Philly or Chicago (we have family in both places, although we have some great big firm connections in Philly) and I like both cities a lot. I'm pretty debt-averse but my top priority is getting a big-law job, because I want to do international.

My sense is that Temple is ranked better in Philly than Chicago-Kent is in Chicago.

My LSAT was 168 and my GPA is 3.9, so I was really hoping for a bigger scholarship from Temple...but given the above choices what would you all suggest?

Thanks!

Chad

Anybody have any ideas for me?

I'd go to Temple here. You still have to pay for CoL at either school, and Temple's deal is pretty good. It seems you're aware of the employment situation, which is relatively positive for Temple and undeniably bleak for Kent.

How do you know that CK's employment prospects are bleak? (I'm not challenging you, but am curious what types of resources people look to arrive at a conclusion like that).

hey are bleak because Chicago's market is bleak. I would leverage the Kent scholly to get a little more money at Temple and then go to Temple. Though depending on exactly how strong your firm connections are you may be able to just go to Kent and then get a job in those firms anyway.

Yeah, I've been petitioning to get Temple to pay me more but they're really tight-fisted this year because of current and looming budget cuts. I'll admit I'm really surprised. My numbers are high, I worked to support a family during undergrad, I was in StuGo, on the newspaper, etc. etc...my recommendation letters are very strong and I think my personal statement was strong. 5k?! Like I said, I'm kind of surprised.

BarbellDreams wrote:hey are bleak because Chicago's market is bleak. I would leverage the Kent scholly to get a little more money at Temple and then go to Temple. Though depending on exactly how strong your firm connections are you may be able to just go to Kent and then get a job in those firms anyway.

What he said, OP.

Also I'll add to the employment situation: Kent competes with Northwestern, Chicago, Loyola, DePaul, Notre Dame, UIUC, and few other strong Midwestern schools. Temple competes with Penn (many grads go to NYC), Nova, Rutgers, and to a lesser extent, Drexel. I greatly prefer the chances in Philly.

morristmm wrote:Hi everyone, I'd love some advice. I'm currently living with my wife and three kids in Philly area. I am trying to decide between these options:

1. Chicago-Kent offered me renewable full-tuition
2. Temple offered me a renewable Law Faculty Scholarship (5k off their 18k in-state tuition).

I'm willing to practice in Philly or Chicago (we have family in both places, although we have some great big firm connections in Philly) and I like both cities a lot. I'm pretty debt-averse but my top priority is getting a big-law job, because I want to do international.

My sense is that Temple is ranked better in Philly than Chicago-Kent is in Chicago.

My LSAT was 168 and my GPA is 3.9, so I was really hoping for a bigger scholarship from Temple...but given the above choices what would you all suggest?

Thanks!

Chad

Retake and reapply. You can do much better with those numbers (you should settle for no less than a full ride from Temple). You have an excellent shot getting in UPenn or UVA ED (both of which would be much better for Philadelphia than Temple).

If you have to go this year, Temple and it's not close.

Wait a second...3.9/168 and you're considering these two schools? You should be going to UVA. At the very least, big schollies from WUSTL, UIUC, ND, etc...

Tom corbett just proposed to cut state funding for pa public schools in half. Mind u that.

Wait a year and reapply or go to Temple.

Temple better give you damn near close to a full ride. respond to their measly 5k/year with a no-bullshit request for some serious cash.


http://www.law.temple.edu/pages/Prospec ... Grant.aspx

Ask for the Beasley by name.

I did write them a very straightforward request for a full ride and they're just not budging. I can't wait a year and I need to live right in the Philly or Chicago area because I have kids and a wife and we know people in those two areas. I'm not going to uproot them just so they're dad can have his nose in a book constantly for three years and they have no friends or family around. Thus, I never really considered UVA.

So it's gotta be this year and it's gotta be one of these two schools. I do feel pretty confident that I can be near the top of my class at Temple (or Chicago-Kent for that matter), so maybe I'll qualify for some grants during the academic year...

Sheesh, I'm at least glad to hear that it is pretty surprising that they didn't offer more. Did anyone on get a better offer from Temple with worse or comparable numbers? I'm sure the white/male thing is not helping, but I definitely expected a better offer. . .

Oh well. . .

morristmm wrote:I did write them a very straightforward request for a full ride and they're just not budging. I can't wait a year and I need to live right in the Philly or Chicago area because I have kids and a wife and we know people in those two areas. I'm not going to uproot them just so they're dad can have his nose in a book constantly for three years and they have no friends or family around. Thus, I never really considered UVA.

So it's gotta be this year and it's gotta be one of these two schools. I do feel pretty confident that I can be near the top of my class at Temple (or Chicago-Kent for that matter), so maybe I'll qualify for some grants during the academic year...

Sheesh, I'm at least glad to hear that it is pretty surprising that they didn't offer more. Did anyone on get a better offer from Temple with worse or comparable numbers? I'm sure the white/male thing is not helping, but I definitely expected a better offer. . .

Oh well. . .

If you absolutely HAVE to go this year, leverage the hell out of your Chicago-Kent scholarship. Best of luck.

HeavenWood wrote:

morristmm wrote:If you absolutely HAVE to go this year, leverage the hell out of your Chicago-Kent scholarship. Best of luck.

Yeah I thought I did, but I'm thinking I'll try again. What's the worse they can do?! I can't really imagine their financial aid reps saying "boy this person wants to come to Temple TOOOOO much, we better UN-accept him..."

Any more thoughts on strategy? What if I just said, "I simply cannot attend Temple unless my scholarship is bigger. If Temple can't offer me something larger, I will be attending Chicago-Kent."

OP, I doubled my scholarship to Temple from $2500 to $5k a year through negotiation. I'm not sure if that spells an ability to increase your scholarship, but PM me if you want me to show you what I told them.

Thanks, I'm going to try again. I'll let everyone know how it goes...

Justathought wrote:I'd go to Temple here. You still have to pay for CoL at either school, and Temple's deal is pretty good. It seems you're aware of the employment situation, which is relatively positive for Temple and undeniably bleak for Kent.

Kent has a higher percentage of its graduates employed at graduation than Temple according to the latest US News, so this isn't accurate. Also, Kent guarantees an externship to all students after their first year, and it seems they do decently well overall (in this economy) in the employment category. Yes, the market in Chicago is tough, but Kent definitely works hard to get its students employed. Still, if you're wanting to work in Philly, obviously Temple would be the better choice here.

Can't you get Northwestern? You sound like you are probably a more experienced student... with those numbers, you should be doing significantly better than your current options.

Temple is about to lose a huge amount of the funding that's used to subsidize its in-state tuition -- think California tuition hikes on steroids, especially since Temple is only state-affiliated and not state-controlled like UC, so there's more latitude to make changes. That's not to say that it would affect you that much if you get in at a lower rate, but it should be a consideration about long-term prospects.

I vote re-apply.

Full tuition? Go to Kent. Stop making employment plans before you've begun law school. If you do well at either school, you'll likely be okay. Conversely, if you do poorly, you'll likely not be okay. But in the latter scenario, you come out with your hands clean, unless the c-k scholly is gpa contingent, which they are fond of, and you are unable to maintain the requisite gpa.

Thanks for a nice variety of answers everyone!