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I need help deciding between the following schools:

Boston College w/ 20k per year (60k over 3 years)
Boston University w/ 35k per year (105 k over 3 years)
GW Part time w 5k per year (20 k over 4 years) with a federal job making 60k+ per year.

I currently work for a Fed agency making 60k per year with the potential to get promoted to 90k over 4 years and am debating whether to keep working and go to GW part-time paying most of my tuition w/ loans/ salary.

or quiting my job and going full time to BC or BU- I visited Boston and absolutely loved BC and wouldn't mind working in Boston after graduation.

I am worried about several things, including:
1. leaving my stable job with promotion potential
2. Being overwhelmed juggling work and a large part-time program like GW

I'd like to really focus during my 1L year and wonder if GW will be overwhelming and cause me to not perform as well as if I go to a full-time program.

Either way I will come out with 80 to 90k debt for (GW-tuition) or (Boston-cost of living- 50% or 20% tuition)

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I dont have much time to decide.

1. The GW evening program isn't that large anymore. It's a great little community.
2. Unless you are IP, I'd be pretty worried about getting a job coming out of GW (I can't speak about BU or BC).
3. The Red Sox are awesome. But the Nats have cheap tickets and Strasburg.
4. As an evening student at GW, who will be graduating in a few weeks, I can definitively say that 4 years of law school is really, really brutal. Unless you are made of sterner stuff than me, being an evening student is more about surviving than it is about doing well. Therefore, it may make more sense to dedicate yourself to going full time with a decent scholarship and getting good grades if you aren't IP.

Would you consider staying at your federal job (hopefully promoted by the end of law school!) if things dont work out (assuming your goal is biglaw)? Is your goal biglaw?

You have a tough choice to make! For biglaw, BUBC>GW but not a lot better of course.. however, having a steady job in hand is great. Part-time will be brutal, but could be very worth it if it means you have a 90k job waiting for you whether its in law or not.

BU or GW... BC=BU so eliminate BC given the much lighter scholarship. I would only go to GW if you keep the job (which will be brutal).

BU with that money, and do not look back.

.

rad lulz wrote:

elm84dr wrote:BU with that money, and do not look back.

Naw breh, with that stable job, GW PT if you go at all. Tons of law students would punch their own mother in the nose for a shot at even a nonlegal $60 federal government gig.

Agreed.

Yeah I'd take GW PT over the others. It's gonna be tough but at least there's a backup plan that pays pretty damn well (90k). Though I think an argument can be made that OP shouldn't go to law school at all since it'll cost 120k+ and OP has a decent chance at ending up in the same position (at the fed agency).

bk187 wrote:

rad lulz wrote:

elm84dr wrote:BU with that money, and do not look back.

Naw breh, with that stable job, GW PT if you go at all. Tons of law students would punch their own mother in the nose for a shot at even a nonlegal $60 federal government gig.

Agreed.

Yeah I'd take GW PT over the others. It's gonna be tough but at least there's a backup plan that pays pretty damn well (90k). Though I think an argument can be made that OP shouldn't go to law school at all since it'll cost 120k+ and OP has a decent chance at ending up in the same position (at the fed agency).

I agree. It will be hard, but its a great way to "test the waters." You may not enjoy law school and then you'll still have the option of just going back to work. Keep the job and go PT.

BC=BU=GW

Go wherever is cheapest and where you feel the most comfortable.