W&L v. Cardozo Forum

[airbear1012]

I want to do public interest or government work. I have absolutely no interest in biglaw. Location isn't too important to me, but I would like to live in a city, perhaps NYC or D.C. I had wanted to work in Pittsburgh but don't see a way of doing that without going into way more debt than necessary by attending Pitt. My parents will be paying CoL wherever I go.

Right now I've been admitted to:
Cardozo (Full ride, no stips)
W&L ($40,000 a yr, must maintain 3.25)
Hofstra (Full ride, must be top 40%)
W&M ($15,000 a year)
Pitt ($14,000 a year)
Penn State ($20,000 a year)
BC (no money yet)

Still waiting on:
Boston U
Minnesota

[MrAnon]

If you want to live in pittsburgh and thats your hometown I'd say just go to school there. Cardozo and W&L are not destination schools. In other words you don't uproot yourself to attend a school like Cardozo or W&L. Do other people? Yes. Is it a bad decision. generally. You would uproot yourself to attend a top school, not these local/regionalish schools in areas you are unfamiliar with. the job placement at these schools is mediocre and the chance you will lose your scholarship is better than even.

[airbear1012]

The problem is that Pittsburgh isn't my hometown. I'm from Maryland. So does that change anything? What about the fact that my scholarship at Cardozo has no stips?

[srfngdd6]

If you want to live in pittsburgh and thats your hometown I'd say just go to school there. Cardozo and W&L are not destination schools. In other words you don't uproot yourself to attend a school like Cardozo or W&L. Do other people? Yes. Is it a bad decision. generally. You would uproot yourself to attend a top school, not these local/regionalish schools in areas you are unfamiliar with. the job placement at these schools is mediocre and the chance you will lose your scholarship is better than even.

he said his scholly from dozo has no stip and having your scholly reduced at w&l seems unlikely based on the data they provide http://law.wlu.edu/admissions/page.asp?pageid=1286

[YourCaptain]

interesting that w&l @ heavy $$$ is being compared to dozo fullride.

[airbear1012]

Any other advice?

[Paul Campos]

If you want to do public interest the overriding consideration has to be taking on as little debt as possible. It's impossible to service any kind of significant debt on a public interest salary unless you go into IBR, which is risky (it could be eliminated).

[tennisking88]

I say dozo. Lexington is grossly small but if that appeals to you then fine. If your parents are paying for COL I would take NYC in a heartbeat but that's just me. Also just bc WL places in dc doesn't mean it places well, as it is 3.5 hrs from dc. I would say it'd help actually to be in the city to find Work but who knows.

[dixiecupdrinking]

Full ride at Cardozo plus no COL worries about New York is a no-brainer, IMO.

[airbear1012]

Still trying to make my decision...

I got my PSU scholarship upped to $75,000 total and my Pitt scholarship upped to $57,000. I also have $75,000 at BC.

Right now, I'm thinking about Cardozo and BC. But I don't want to be stuck in Boston for the rest of my life...