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I was accepted to Boston University and Emory. Emory offered me $75,000 dollars (i.e. $25,000 per year); Boston offered nothing. I scored 168 on the LSAT and have a 3.71 GPA. Given these and the following, the question is how to proceed.

I want to work in a large or mid-size firm on the East Coast--in or near North Carolina would be nice, but not necessary. It's more important that I have a job than that my family and I live in North Carolina.

Which school promises greater job prospects? (I understand that an answer depends upon several things--primarily, it seems, on where I place in my class. Without knowing this, though, please give your opinions or offer suggestions. Should I push BU for a scholarship offer, if I am in a strong position? Could I do the same for Emory? Or, does neither choice seem good? And so on.)

If asking questions would help, please do, and I will answer as best I can.

Thank you.

tl;dr but I do recommend you make a poll

dingold7 wrote:I was accepted to Boston University and Emory. Emory offered me $75,000 dollars (i.e. $25,000 per year); Boston offered nothing. I scored 168 on the LSAT and have a 3.71 GPA. Given these and the following, the question is how to proceed.

I want to work in a large or mid-size firm on the East Coast--in or near North Carolina would be nice, but not necessary. It's more important that I have a job than that my family and I live in North Carolina.

Which school promises greater job prospects? (I understand that an answer depends upon several things--primarily, it seems, on where I place in my class. Without knowing this, though, please give your opinions or offer suggestions. Should I push BU for a scholarship offer, if I am in a strong position? Could I do the same for Emory? Or, does neither choice seem good? And so on.)

If asking questions would help, please do, and I will answer as best I can.

Thank you.

Negotiate w/BU. They will almost certainly give you something.

how much money can you pony up from a combination of savings/20hr per week job that can offset the expenses? if the answer is zero, consider not going to law school yet. 75k is a great scholarship, i'm sure bu will play ball with you, but if they don't rise to emory's offer, go to emory, get a job, minimize your debt, and good luck to you.

imo if you can't see yourself getting out of law school with less than 65k total (i.e. including ug) debt, do not go.

dingold7 wrote:I was accepted to Boston University and Emory. Emory offered me $75,000 dollars (i.e. $25,000 per year); Boston offered nothing. I scored 168 on the LSAT and have a 3.71 GPA. Given these and the following, the question is how to proceed.

I want to work in a large or mid-size firm on the East Coast--in or near North Carolina would be nice, but not necessary. It's more important that I have a job than that my family and I live in North Carolina.

Which school promises greater job prospects? (I understand that an answer depends upon several things--primarily, it seems, on where I place in my class. Without knowing this, though, please give your opinions or offer suggestions. Should I push BU for a scholarship offer, if I am in a strong position? Could I do the same for Emory? Or, does neither choice seem good? And so on.)

If asking questions would help, please do, and I will answer as best I can.

Thank you.

Did you apply to Vanderbilt? Neither BU or Emory is good for those goals.

With those numbers I'm kinda surprised your best options are Emory w/75k or BU with butkus. Agreed with those who say you should negotiate with BU.

@ze2151
To begin with, I have around $15,000 in savings bonds (perhaps a little more), and I'm fairly certain that I would receive a full Pell Grant each year. (That's how I paid for my undergraduate tuition, and I was only married then; now I have a child, too.) Together, that would total around $31,000. We have little else in savings. I expect need-based aid to play a role, but how large remains to be seen.

@f0bolous
I did apply to Vanderbilt, but was waitlist'ed. Initially, I thought I would be accepted, though without any scholarship offer. We'll see how the waitlist goes. Assuming I get in, I doubt they would offer any merit-based scholarship, which means I would have to foot a large bill by the end of three years. Would it be worth it?

@SBL
I was also waitlist'ed at Columbia and University of Virginia. Getting into the former is a pipe dream; into the latter seems more likely, though how much more, I don't know.

Neither, if NC is important to you. Retake and go to Vandy or UVA - you aren't getting into either as is regardless of the waitlist.

@stratocophic
I have considered retaking the LSAT--a gain of even a point or two would certainly increase my chances--but, right now, I don't think it's possible. Again, NC would be nice, but not necessary.

op- hang onto your saved cash, get loans to cover tuition, and pay for living expenses with a job. don't take out more loans than you absolutely need. they are future-killers.

many on this site will tell you not to have a job at all during 1L. but it is not only possible, it actually is useful. it keeps you focused and committed when you are studying. you maximize your time. and it's only 20 hours. you probably wouldn't be studying those extra 20 hours anyway. even if you were, i promise that won't be the difference between top 10 pct and top half.

spoken as one who had a job 1L and got good grades.

@ze2151
Assuming BU offered a large enough scholarship to be financially on par with Emory--which, from my rough calculations would need to be about $45,000--, would BU be the better choice? Also, about working during school: I'm not adverse to it--I worked throughout my undergraduate (though I know law school is a different beast). I would take that into consideration.

Did you apply to UNC or Wake Forest ? Either would be better for placement in North Carolina. WFU might have offered you a full tuition scholarship based on your numbers. Check lawschoolnumbers.com

If must chose, I'd go BU, and certainly try to negotiate for $ your numbers are really good.

However, if you can retake LSAT and reapply next yr with a 170+, I feel your options would exponentially increase, and give you time to save up more $

dingold- i don't think you want me to answer that question, as i have a "dog in the fight." i go to emory, i love it, i've been afforded every opportunity i was promised. i don't know how representative my experience is, but there you have it.

i know absolutely nothing about bu. i can't imagine bu would be a better conduit for north carolina than emory would be, but i think, in general, north carolina is a pretty saturated state once you start thinking about all the schools trying to place there.

i would say weigh all your options, and if you can swing emory with fewer than 60k loans, by all means run with it! you said you're married? that's awesome! hopefully your spouse can help with some bills so col loans won't be an issue for you.

@CanadianWolf
Regrettably, no. I didn't do enough of my homework while submitting applications, and made some poor decisions. If I were to wait a year, I would apply for state residency and apply to UNC, as well as apply to more schools in the 20s and 30s.

@Br3v
I agree, and I have seen as much elsewhere on TLS. Unfortunately, taking another year to study enough to breach the 170s isn't an option right now. If it were, I would seriously consider that route.

@ze2151
Thank you for your candor. I doubt I could attend Emory and graduate with less than $100,000 in debt, unless need-based aid comes through well; though, again, perhaps I could mitigate that if I were to work during school. May I ask how your job prospects are, or, if you already have secured a job, how difficult it was?

pmd