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Due to the circumstances of my husband's job search, I'm facing the possibility of having to make my law school decisions earlier than expected and without all the relevant information. So here's the breakdown:

Husband's job situation - has an offer in Madison that he has to reply to by Tuesday, pays 65,000 a year. He likes the people & job content, and has been accepted into the WI part-time MBA program. Interviewed for large Chicago company which will reply to him on Monday, optimistic about chances of landing a job (gives himself a 50/50 chance) and expect pay to be 80,000+. He's been contacted for interviewing for "dream job" in NYC, but date hasn't been set yet, so we won't hear back in time to make decision on Madison and possible Chicago job offer. If he gets the NYC job we'd probably go there.

My law school situation - incredibly successful cycle, and the law schools I'm in at in the areas my husband is interviewing are NYU, Northwestern, WI. (#s are 175, 3.7). NYU scholy was unconvincing (25,000 total). Not sure on $ from Northwestern - contacted them this past week but they won't be making decisions quite yet... Received a SWEET deal from WI - $15,000 first year (in state tuition as I'm a resident is 18,000) and in-state tuition plus stipend 2nd and 3rd year as a research assistant (have to stay in top 20% of class).

If my husband gets the Chicago job we'd have to make a decision w/in 24 hours on the Madison offers. Despite the difference in rankings/job opportunities between Madison and the other schools, I'm excited about the opportunity to be a research assistant and graduate w/ no debt. I am interested in corporate law and am aware of the differences in placement ... However, it is hard to chose Chicago w/out knowing what Northwestern will offer me.

Thoughtful comments would be sincerely appreciated!

Top 20% stip - ummmm

Sandro wrote:Top 20% stip - ummmm

Yeah. What happens year 2 and 3 if you don't make the 20% stipulation? Does it revert to something like the first year, or do you lose everything?

cubswin wrote:

Sandro wrote:Top 20% stip - ummmm

Yeah. What happens year 2 and 3 if you don't make the 20% stipulation? Does it revert to something like the first year, or do you lose everything?

I don't know - it's a question I plan to ask when I talk to admissions next week ...

Not considering the stipulation, I'd personally have that expectation of myself going to WI just to have similar opportunities that I would have been giving up going to Northwestern, etc.

Wait until Monday passes & fully inform Northwestern of your situation, then decide.

Wait till Monday and ask NW for money with your situation. Top 20% is a crazy stipulation, I wouldn't take that honestly.

LHC wrote:Due to the circumstances of my husband's job search, I'm facing the possibility of having to make my law school decisions earlier than expected and without all the relevant information. So here's the breakdown:

Husband's job situation - has an offer in Madison that he has to reply to by Tuesday, pays 65,000 a year. He likes the people & job content, and has been accepted into the UW-Madison part-time MBA program. Interviewed for large Chicago company which will reply to him on Monday, optimistic about chances of landing a job (gives himself a 50/50 chance) and expect pay to be 80,000+. He's been contacted for interviewing for "dream job" in NYC, but date hasn't been set yet, so we won't hear back in time to make decision on Madison and possible Chicago job offer. If he gets the NYC job we'd probably go there.

My law school situation - incredibly successful cycle, and the law schools I'm in at in the areas my husband is interviewing are NYU, Northwestern, UW-Madison. (#s are 175, 3.7). NYU scholy was unconvincing (25,000 total). Not sure on $ from Northwestern - contacted them this past week but they won't be making decisions quite yet... Received a SWEET deal from UW-Madison - $15,000 first year (in state tuition as I'm a resident is 18,000) and full in-state tuition plus nice stipend & health insurance 2nd and 3rd year as a research assistant (have to stay in top 20% of class).

If my husband gets the Chicago job we'd have to make a decision w/in 24 hours on the Madison offers. Despite the difference in rankings/job opportunities between Madison and the other schools, I'm excited about the opportunity to be a research assistant and graduate w/ no debt. I am interested in corporate law and am aware of the differences in placement ... However, it is hard to chose Chicago w/out knowing what Northwestern will offer me.

Thoughtful comments would be sincerely appreciated!

Not at all trying to be rude, but it's not that likely this will happen if you go to Madison with the top 20% stipulation. Get them to drop that, they want you enough to give you a free first year, they should drop the stipulation. I agree with the poster above, I wouldn't take that either. And of course, try to get more from NW.

Best of luck!

LHC wrote:He's been contacted for interviewing for "dream job" in NYC, but date hasn't been set yet, so we won't hear back in time to make decision on Madison and possible Chicago job offer. If he gets the NYC job we'd probably go there.

My law school situation - incredibly successful cycle, and the law schools I'm in at in the areas my husband is interviewing are NYU, Northwestern, UW-Madison.

NYC dream job for the guy, T6 law school for the gal...

The timing isn't ideal, but NYU is categorically better than NU, which is categorically better than Madison. That seems like a high risk, high return option that could be great depending on your ability/willingness to gamble. Sounds like there might bea variety of jobs in his field, if things didn't work out with the NYC job, maybe he'd have another shot out there?

It also depends on what you want to do with your law degree. NYU and Northwestern leave you pretty open. Madison, not so much.

ahduth wrote:

LHC wrote:He's been contacted for interviewing for "dream job" in NYC, but date hasn't been set yet, so we won't hear back in time to make decision on Madison and possible Chicago job offer. If he gets the NYC job we'd probably go there.

My law school situation - incredibly successful cycle, and the law schools I'm in at in the areas my husband is interviewing are NYU, Northwestern, UW-Madison.

NYC dream job for the guy, T6 law school for the gal...

The timing isn't ideal, but NYU is categorically better than NU, which is categorically better than Madison. That seems like a high risk, high return option that could be great depending on your ability/willingness to gamble. Sounds like there might bea variety of jobs in his field, if things didn't work out with the NYC job, maybe he'd have another shot out there?

It also depends on what you want to do with your law degree. NYU and Northwestern leave you pretty open. Madison, not so much.

If he indeed got the NYC job, we'd almost definitely be going there. We're in WI and like the idea of staying local, which is why I've primarily applied in the Midwest, and why we're still considering Madison vs. Northwestern. We'd be able to enjoy a much higher quality of life in Madison. It would just come with the enormous pressure to stay on top of my class ...

My husband's areas is IT so he can pretty much work anywhere there is a city ... except Detroit, where even the technology industry is hurting, pretty much ruling out Ann Arbor for us.

I think Chicago would be a nice choice. Its close enough to family where if you needed to- you can make it in a days drive, but big enough where your husband should have a nice time getting a job. NW is a great school.

Why not just triple deposit and make a decision with all the cards on the table? It seems his best options are linked geographically with yours. And if he's making 80k+ a year, I wouldn't think you'd need to take on the full COA in debt.

Even if she doesn't make the top twenty percent, in state tuition is still as cheap as lots of other schools would be with good scholarships. And isn't Madison a top thirty school? If she wants to stay in Wisconsin it's not a bad deal at all.

Go to NW or NYU.

If you want to do corporate law you will almost certainly have to move from Madison after you graduate. This will probably disrupt your husband's career.

If you go to NYU or NW you'll greatly reduce the probability of needing to move for your career goal post graduation. I'm not saying that you should put your husband's career over your wants and desires, but from the outside looking in, this would seem to be the best balance for the both of you long term.

Full disclosure: I turned down better schools b/c it would have forced my wife to quit her career. At the end of the day, it was the right decision for us.

Nobody wrote:Even if she doesn't make the top twenty percent, in state tuition is still as cheap as lots of other schools would be with good scholarships. And isn't Madison a top thirty school? If she wants to stay in Wisconsin it's not a bad deal at all.

This is actually a good point. But if they're willing to offer the OP free tuition plus stipend, there's no reason why the OP shouldn't get the stipulation reduced. Wisconsin isn't a bad deal at sticker, but she's turning down schools with significantly better placement for a full ride that likely won't materialize.

OP, UW obviously wants you to go there, so use that leverage to reduce/delete this ridiculous stipulation.

The difference between NU and NYU is much much smaller than the difference between those two and Wisconsin. If you look at it in terms of cost to benefits ratios, you are saving significantly more money at Wisconson, but the benefits are greatly reduced. The name at the top of the resume will matter and when you are applying from NU or NYU you will get more people looking closely at you. I would deposit NU and NYU because even, though are pricier they will open far far far more doors for you and provide you with better future flexibility.

LHC wrote:My husband's areas is IT so he can pretty much work anywhere there is a city ...

Go to NYU. IT jobs are everywhere. You only get your law degree once. He'll find something in New York. You can move back to the Midwest.

Thanks for all the input ... my husband never heard back from the Chicago company, so he's going ahead and accepting the Madison job. It'll buy us a little more time as we wait to finalize our decision.

The comment about disrupting my husband's career ... I guess in our situation we're not quite as concerned about that. At the end of the three years (if at Madison) I'll have my law degree, he'll have an MBA and we'll probably be ready for a change in scenery.

LHC wrote:Thanks for all the input ... my husband never heard back from the Chicago company, so he's going ahead and accepting the Madison job. It'll buy us a little more time as we wait to finalize our decision.

The comment about disrupting my husband's career ... I guess in our situation we're not quite as concerned about that. At the end of the three years (if at Madison) I'll have my law degree, he'll have an MBA and we'll probably be ready for a change in scenery.

If it were a Wisconsin full-ride, maybe...but I dunno, that seems pretty dicey.

http://www.freeimagehosting.net/uploads/7edd4baeb0.png
I won't repost that thread link, but:
Art. III: http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandr ... ngs/page+6
NLJ 250: http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticleNL ... 2483173162

Wisconsin-Madison has pretty low numbers: only about 13% in NLJ 250 firms, and my understanding is that even NLJ 250 might be over-inclusive in terms of "good jobs" – remember the bimodal distribution of salaries. (I think I might have missed its clerkship numbers somewhere?) I'd worry about your ability to secure a "change in scenery" from there.

I'd go with a T14, if your husband really isn't worried about securing a job elsewhere. (Really? ITE? Might he just be trying not to tie you down?) NYU and Northwestern are awesome schools (NYU is not "categorically better" than Northwestern.)

Adamantium admissions claws out: aren't there a bunch of tech companies in Ann Arbor?

Hard choice. I'd go with not tipping your hand too much and beating a full ride with no class rank requirements out of Wisconsin-Madison. They should be desperate to have you. If you really, truly aren't bound to stick around in Wisconsin, take a T14.

Don't do the Wisconsin deal, it isn't worth it unless that is the only job your husband lands.

I think NW will offer you a decent scholarship.

Lawlcat wrote:
Adamantium admissions claws out: aren't there a bunch of tech companies in Ann Arbor?

Lawlcat - care to elaborate on this? I'd love to consider Michigan if I had reasonable confidence that my husband could find a job there. The unemployment #s for the Detroit area are scary, and I know the technology industry there also took a hit during this past recession.