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What do you guys think? These are my offers: 15k/yr at Chicago, 25k/yr at Virginia, and 45k/yr at GW. Penn, Cornell, and Gtown have not come back with aid offers yet. I was held at Columbia and am still waiting to hear back, but as of right now, these six are the schools that I've narrowed it down to. I know Penn, Chicago, and Virginia are ranked higher, but I feel like Gtown and Cornell have good reputations and have pretty well-known names (though I guess lay prestige differs from name recognition in the legal profession..?!). Any thoughts? Is the extra money at GW worth the lower ranking? I really am stuck as to what to do because there are just so many factors that play into it, like money vs. ranking, reputation, location, etc. Any advice/opinions/anecdotes are appreciated! Thanks!

You should only be considering chicago, penn or virginia. Even if Cornell or Georgetown were offering more money they are not in the same category as the other schools in my opinion. The school you graduate from is more important now than ever in this economy.
edit: columbia is fine too if you get in As far as choosing between columbia, virginia, chicago and penn...that is more of a personal decision as far as school fit. They are all terrific schools but I would go with chicago or columbia for prestige reasons.

what do you want to do, where do you wanna work? Chicago is usually considered a step above the others especially for academia but i would say that since you have a good scholly at UVA if you want to work in the South/DC and you like the atmosphere then it might be worth it to go UVA but barring that Chicago is better for having the most opportunities in general

jcunni5 wrote:what do you want to do, where do you wanna work?

this.

ZXCVBNM wrote:You should only be considering chicago, penn or virginia. Even if Cornell or Georgetown were offering more money they are not in the same category as the other schools in my opinion. The school you graduate from is more important now than ever in this economy.
edit: columbia is fine too if you get in As far as choosing between columbia, virginia, chicago and penn...that is more of a personal decision as far as school fit. They are all terrific schools but I would go with chicago or columbia for prestige reasons.

It's pretty hard to make an informed case against cornell not being in the same category of virginia and penn. That said, i'd take chicago or columbia, OP.

t6 with scholarship = yes