GULC $$$ vs Reapply to CCN Forum

[mew777]

Thanks to all those who responded!

Argh, if I think about my financial reality, GULC seems to be the obvious answer and if I think about prestige and CCN placement, I have doubts.

So how exactly well does GULC place? Their raw placement is lower than CCN for sure, but is it low simply because they are a lower ranked school, or because GULC has so many federal gov't types who are never interested in private practice anyway?

If a substantial number of GULC part-time students already have a career (as the school claims) and thus don't want firm placement to begin with, then perhaps GULC placement isn't too low relative to CCN either?

[80884]

Free GULC is a deal breaker. You cant go wrong.

[rose711]

Please go to GULC and leave with no debt. You will be making the right decision.

[droges]

If money is a huge issue, I would say take the money. But if you have had your heart set on going to a different school then you should reapply. You wont get the same money from Columbia and comparable schools as you did from Georgetown but I wouldnt be suprised if you receive some money. But depending on the money you would get from Columbia,you would still easily be looking at 50-100k in loans when you account for the high COL in NYC.

[cubswin]

What's wrong with transferring?

Should I talk about what I plan to do with my hypothetical lottery winnings too?

If someone just gave you 120,000 free powerball tickets, sure.

The suggestion was if OP get good grades ... I don't see the harm in thinking that way since OP would be fine if grades are not good.

Yeah, I didn't think my comment was worthy of that cute little facepalm emoticon either. My point was that if OP does really well in law school, he can transfer and try to take advantage of the opportunities GULC might not afford him, even with high grades. If he doesn't do well enough to transfer, then he's at GULC with very little debt and still in a decent position to achieve his goals. I never said to base his decision off of a plan to transfer.

And I'm no statistician, but I think the odds of a GULC student transferring to a higher ranked T14 are at least slightly better than winning the lottery.

Finally, OP has an LSAT average of 170.5. NYU and Columbia average, so he'd pretty much be reapplying to see if UChi will let him in. They might give him some money, but I doubt anything near what GULC has given him.

[ChiSoxinDC]

Here's a dirty secret that no one will tell you: If you want to work in NY you might actually be better off at Georgetown and if you wanted to work in DC you might be better at Columbia or NYU. Why? Many students choose law schools based on cities where they want to eventually work. There is some logic to that - you can use your time in law school networking for you post-law school job. But most students at Columbia and NYU are going to want to work in NY, so the competition is far greater. Same thing with Georgetown in DC.

Having gone through OCI at Georgetown I can tell you that my year the average student looking for DC received 7-9 interviews while the average student looking for NY received closer to 20. There are two explanations for this: (1) many New York firms had as many or more interview spots and (2) the majority of the class was preferencing the DC firms first.

As someone who chose Georgetown with $$$ over five higher ranked schools, I can tell you that it seems like a no-brainer to me--unless you have something keeping you in the other cities.

If you do well your first year and decide that Georgetown isn't for you then you can always transfer. I only know one person who did this (because he was rejected from Georgetown's joint MBA program), but it is an option.

Thanks to all those who responded!

Argh, if I think about my financial reality, GULC seems to be the obvious answer and if I think about prestige and CCN placement, I have doubts.

So how exactly well does GULC place? Their raw placement is lower than CCN for sure, but is it low simply because they are a lower ranked school, or because GULC has so many federal gov't types who are never interested in private practice anyway?

If a substantial number of GULC part-time students already have a career (as the school claims) and thus don't want firm placement to begin with, then perhaps GULC placement isn't too low relative to CCN either?

[The Gentleman]

FWIW, I was offered the same scholarship from Georgetown (although with some work study too) and will be choosing it over Penn with 70k. Unless you really don't think you would be happy at GULC, then I'd recommend taking the money. You have much more flexibility after graduation and still have a very respectable shot at biglaw. Come on down to GULC and we'll hit up some Hoya games!

[bk1]

Here's a dirty secret that no one will tell you: If you want to work in NY you might actually be better off at Georgetown and if you wanted to work in DC you might be better at Columbia or NYU.

While you would probably be better off at CLS/NYU for DC, I highly doubt you'd be better off at GULC for NYC.

[glewz]

You will likely get into columbia, at best with a 60k (total) scholly (softs are solid & you have a very directed app).

If it's really your dream school, go for it. But understand that you might be going there @ sticker. You have some shot at HYS, but slim, unless you have amazing softs.

[mst]

This is a no-brainer. Reapply. You will get into CCN without ED. You will get money at 1-2 of them but it will be 10-20k a year, probably in between that. You will get money at Georgetown again if you are serious about it. In fact, you'll get some serious money at MVP as well. Hold off for a year. This really is stupid if you do otherwise... GULC placement is terrible right now for biglaw.

[chipchip]

I'm a 2L at GULC. So maybe I'm biased, but take the money and come. The TLS norm of how much GULC sucks is tiring to read, personally, because there are plenty of opportunities here.

Sure, is our overall placement worse than CCN? Yeah, it is. But if you're at least Top 1/3 and aren't the worst interview in the world, you'll have big law. I know plenty who weren't Top 1/3 and got jobs out of EIW as well. I have a 2L SA, had over 20 interviews at EIW after bidding on NY and DC and sending resumes out to the firms coming here as well, and have been lucky to have great externships throughout DC as well. The difference in debt is going to be huge no matter where you go.

[FloridaCoastalorbust]

It's a tough one, but I'd say retake and ED UVA

[vanwinkle]

It's a tough one, but I'd say retake and ED UVA

Can't tell if this is trolling or just stupidity.

[FloridaCoastalorbust]

both

[mst]

But if you're at least Top 1/3 and aren't the worst interview in the world, you'll have big law.

Oh. Just get top 1/3? Why didn't you say so? That doesn't sound hard at all, nor in any way dependent on a good bit of chance.