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I just heard back from GULC about merit scholarship awards, and wanted to get your opinion on which school is the best option.

Vandy - $80,000 over 3 years
UCLA - $45,000 over 3 years + $6,900 in first year (need-based grant)
GULC - $30,000 over 3 years
Cornell - hasn't come back with scholarship info yet but had me forward the information from the other three schools to them to aid in their decision process. They extended their seat deposit for me until I hear back. Assuming they give me money, what amount would make you choose them over the others?

Preferably, I'd like to get into big law. I'm from East Tennessee if that counts for anything and is partially why I don't want to go to Vandy (I'd like to get out of my state), but money talks.

171/3.63 Biology - MA URM

Where do you want to work?

You can cross UCLA off that list.

I'd prefer to live not in Tennessee after it's all said and done. I'm tired of the South in general, honestly.

nailglue wrote:I just heard back from GULC about merit scholarship awards, and wanted to get your opinion on which school is the best option.

Vandy - $80,000 over 3 years
UCLA - $45,000 over 3 years + $6,900 in first year (need-based grant)
GULC - somewhere in the range of $5,000 per years ($15K overall). They haven't confirmed exact figures yet, but that was their preliminary estimate.

Preferably, I'd like to get into big law. I'm from East Tennessee if that counts for anything and is partially why I don't want to go to Vandy (I'd like to get out of my state), but money talks.

(0L caveat) I would go with Vandy. I understand wanting to get out of your state, but you have ties to the south, you'd be saving yourself $30,000 or more, and would only have to tough it out in Tennessee (Nashville is cool, it wont be hard) for 3 more years before having good portability to basically all of the south and a shot at the larger markets (depending on grades and such). Just my $.02

nailglue wrote:I'd prefer to live not in Tennessee after it's all said and done. I'm tired of the South in general, honestly.

Hmm, didn't see this by the time I made my post. Anyone feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, but won't Vandy open some doors to the larger east coast markets if he does well?

I also neglected to mention that I've been accepted at Cornell as well, but I haven't got anything back in terms of scholarship chances. I got my acceptance email about a week ago.

Accounting for these statements:

nailglue wrote:I'd prefer to live not in Tennessee after it's all said and done. I'm tired of the South in general, honestly.

nailglue wrote:I also neglected to mention that I've been accepted at Cornell as well, but I haven't got anything back in terms of scholarship chances. I got my acceptance email about a week ago.

My suggestions would be this:
- Vandy - IF you can stomach the south for another 3 years. IF you perform well, you can still get out of the South, land BigLaw in NYC and with less debt

BUT if you can't stomach the south
- GULC - different city with decent access to BigLaw in multiple east coast cities. I didn't suggest Cornell only because, I can't imagine that you would want to be in upstate New York during winter.

Cornell, then NYC biglaw

Vandy is the only one that makes financial sense, though it will be hard to break into markets you don't have ties to. That would also be true at GULC though.

Updated with newer information. I'd still like opinions. Either way, I'm going to ride waitlists all summer, but these are the best 4 that have accepted me - (171/3.63 - I qualify as a Mexican URM).

rad lulz wrote:Vandy is the only one that makes financial sense, though it will be hard to break into markets you don't have ties to. That would also be true at GULC though.

Vandy still makes more financial sense.

nailglue wrote:Updated with newer information. I'd still like opinions. Either way, I'm going to ride waitlists all summer, but these are the best 4 that have accepted me - (171/3.63 - I qualify as a Mexican URM).

How late did you apply? As a MA with these numbers, you should have better options. Out of these, I agree with rad lulz. Vandy is the only one that makes sense.

I think you should wait a cycle and reapply. With your numbers + URM, you can get into better schools with money next year.

My last LoR didn't arrive until almost the end of January, so my apps didn't go out until the 24th of that month. I wish I could have gotten them out earlier and gotten into better schools, but the thought of sitting out another year really doesn't sound appealing at all.

nailglue wrote:My last LoR didn't arrive until almost the end of January, so my apps didn't go out until the 24th of that month. I wish I could have gotten them out earlier and gotten into better schools, but the thought of sitting out another year really doesn't sound appealing at all.

Less appealing than losing out on significant scholarship money to better places?

How old are you?

If I sit out another year, I'd be 26 when I started. No, it doesn't sound better financially, but I hate the thought of sitting around a whole year not doing much with my time.

nailglue wrote:If I sit out another year, I'd be 26 when I started. No, it doesn't sound better financially, but I hate the thought of sitting around a whole year not doing much with my time.

Gain work experience, save money, gain better acceptances and more scholarship money.

Not seeing any negatives bruh. You've got the rest of your life to work your face off. You think 50 year old you is going to look back and care?

OK, so then a question: At which level of the rankings would you just go ahead and accept an offer off the waitlist if you were in my position? I applied to every school in the T14 except Yale and Stanford (they were the only ones that didn't waive apps fees due to my financial situation). Held at Harvard, rejected at Berkeley - waitlisted everywhere else.

nailglue wrote:OK, so then a question: At which level of the rankings would you just go ahead and accept an offer off the waitlist if you were in my position? I applied to every school in the T14 except Yale and Stanford (they were the only ones that didn't waive apps fees due to my financial situation). Held at Harvard, rejected at Berkeley - waitlisted everywhere else.

Harvard for sure. The rest aren't worth paying sticker for in your position as you'd likely get money from most of them if you reapplied next year though.

Your timing this cycle was unfortunately just off, which sucks. But waiting a year will likely open up both better and cheaper options.

This bro with a 3.55 and a 169 got $100,000 at Michigan, $60,000 at NYU and $105,000 at G'Town.