Ohio St vs U Washington vs Wash U Forum

[AspiringJD]

I'm trying to decide between Ohio St, University of Washington and Wash U. I have $12,000/year plus three years of in-state tuition at OSU and $4,000/year plus two years of in-state tuition at UW. WUSTL would be at sticker price.

I probably got the best feeling from OSU when I visited, but I liked all of the schools. Current legal interests include NCAA Compliance/Academic Eligibility, Immigration Law, Adoption Law, Maritime Law, and working in a university's legal department.

I would ideally like to live in Denver, Salt Lake City, or Bozeman or Missoula, MT. My next tier of long-term geographic preferences include Seattle, San Francisco, and other places throughout CO/UT/WY/ID/MT. I got into Colorado, but they didn't give me any money and I didn't love the school enough to justify paying sticker price. Was that a mistake based on where I want to live?

Finally, I have had a number of experiences at Washington that have made it seem like they do not bureaucratically have their act together. This makes me nervous. Is that justified? Can anyone speak to that specifically?

Thanks in advance for your help.

[bk1]

U Dub since Seattle is a place you want to be whereas Ohio and the midwest aren't even on your list.

Or alternatively if you really want Denver you could retake/reapply to get money from CU Boulder.

[Law Sauce]

Choose based on where you would like to be for school and end up in afterwords. Ohio seems like the place deal but not the place you want to end up.

Also

Finally, I have had a number of experiences at Washington that have made it seem like they do not bureaucratically have their act together. This makes me nervous. Is that justified? Can anyone speak to that specifically?

This is pointless. You will be a student if you go there not a continuous prospective.

Id also probably drop WUSTL at sticker.

[CanadianWolf]

I understand & agree with your concerns re: Univ. of Washington.
Don't pay sticker at WashUStL.
Ohio State is your best option with respect to cost & Colorado with respect to desired location. Based on your posts, Ohio State might be your best option simply based on cost & feel, Colorado (easy to get resident tuition for final 2 years ) & then Washington.

Have you calculated the total COA for each school ? That may make OSU the obvious choice.

[romothesavior]

U Dub since Seattle is a place you want to be whereas Ohio and the midwest aren't even on your list.

Or alternatively if you really want Denver you could retake/reapply to get money from CU Boulder.

This.

Based on the states you are interested in, I'd say retaking for $$ at CU is your best bet. If you already got in, a small handful of points could get you a huge scholarship. Outside of the T14, it is arguably the best school for the region you want.

[CanadianWolf]

I don't think Colorado awards "huge" scholarships. Scholarships of $40,000 reported on LSN.com consist of $24,000 for the first year & $8,000 for each of the remaining two years. Most scholarships are either $40,000 or $20,000 total for all three years.

OP: What are your stats ?

[romothesavior]

I don't think Colorado awards "huge" scholarships.

Well that's a bummer. I'd still take it over tOSU, WUSTL, and UW for that region, though not at sticker.

[AspiringJD]

3.76 GPA (WUSTL undergrad), 163 LSAT (took them in 2009), a year of AmeriCorps*VISTA if that counts for anything

Thanks for all of your help so far

[CanadianWolf]

AmeriCorps Vista is a significant soft factor. To which other law schools did you apply ?

[AspiringJD]

I also applied to Cornell and Northwestern (though very late in the game at Northwestern and mainly because I got a fee waiver) and got into American (and then had my acceptance rescinded when I didn't accept a very small scholarship; I was waiting to see if I'd get anything more significant and I hadn't received any sort of package by their acceptance date).