Top Law Schools

CLS vs. NU full ride

Northwestern.

If in doubt, then visit both NU & Columbia.

How is this even a question? Go to NU. You shouldn't even be considering Columbia.

Northwestern. And I'm a CA guy and a UCLA UG alum. Love UCLA, but NU wins no contest. Congrats either way. Good problem to have!

Columbia isn't worth 100k+ more than Northwestern, but if you'd always feel like you're missing out unless you go to Columbia, it's fine to go there. You seem to be looking for validation.

If you're truly just on the fence, you should suck it up and go to Northwestern.

CLS is obviously out of the picture.

If you want to work somewhere other than CA (e.g. NYC) or the type of job is more important than the location --> Go to NU.
If location of the job is more important than the type of job (and the location you really want to be is CA) --> Go to UCLA.

How are tuition and fees alone costing you $200k at CLS? Am I reading this wrong? Even with interest, that seems high.

And if you have a $20k scholarship at CLS and will have $200k debt, how is a $150k scholarship at Northwestern going to leave you with no debt? The former implies you have no savings to apply to school, the latter implies you have like $75k.

I don't really understand what's going on here but as best I can tell, it sounds like you're talking about paying either $200,000 or $130,000 more for CLS than Northwestern. If either of those is true, then that shit cray.

dixiecupdrinking wrote:How are tuition and fees alone costing you $200k at CLS? Am I reading this wrong? Even with interest, that seems high.

It's a bit high, but it's not that far off. It should be around 185-190k with interest depending on whether you pay for university health insurance.

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At 6.8% interest, BK is correct = $185,000 -$190,000 for tuition & fees only at CLS.

ConfidenceMan2 wrote:Columbia isn't worth 100k+ more than Northwestern, but if you'd always feel like you're missing out unless you go to Columbia, it's fine to go there.

It's really not.

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ptush wrote:

dixiecupdrinking wrote:How are tuition and fees alone costing you $200k at CLS? Am I reading this wrong? Even with interest, that seems high.

And if you have a $20k scholarship at CLS and will have $200k debt, how is a $150k scholarship at Northwestern going to leave you with no debt? The former implies you have no savings to apply to school, the latter implies you have like $75k.

I don't really understand what's going on here but as best I can tell, it sounds like you're talking about paying $200,000 more for CLS than Northwestern. If that's your choice, then that shit cray.

I don't take living expenses into consideration. CLS tuition and fees is 59,950 for 2012-2013 minus 8K scholarship first year (2nd year 8K and 3rd year 4K) = ~51KX3years = 153K + interest = ~200K.

Interest on $150k in tuition over three years is like $20k, not $50k.

ptush wrote:I don't take living expenses into consideration.

I hope that's because someone else is paying it.

There is one and only one intelligent decision here, and you know what that is.

Columbia is not worth anything remotely close to that kind of money over NU. And what the fuck is UCLA doing in this thread?

Yeah. I am still surprised how expensive CLS is. I guess I'm not paying so much less at NYU (maybe $5k less all in, before scholarships) but somehow it feels less egregious. And I make it a point not to think too much about my accruing interest....

Anyway... I don't think there is any way CLS is worth $130,000 more than NW, pre interest. Maybe someone can make an argument for UCLA if you're deadset on working in southern California, I dunno.

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ptush wrote:

JasonR wrote:There is one and only one intelligent decision here, and you know what that is.

Columbia is not worth anything remotely close to that kind of money over NU. And what the fuck is UCLA doing in this thread?

You probably never lived in SoCal. I feel depressed only thinking about Chicago winters.

If it makes you feel any better, I was born, raised, and went to UG in the south and I didn't find the Chicago weather bad at all my first winter here. A good coat works wonders!

I really think Northwestern is the way to go here. A T14 for with little/no debt? That's a great deal. If this was just between Columbia and UCLA then it would be a tougher decision, but NU provides job prospects that aren't too far off those of CLS with no debt.

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ptush wrote:

JasonR wrote:There is one and only one intelligent decision here, and you know what that is.

Columbia is not worth anything remotely close to that kind of money over NU. And what the fuck is UCLA doing in this thread?

Thanks for your comments!

what about:

CLS ranks 4 consistently, and NU ranks 12. Isn't it a significant different to consider CLS? Should I be thinking about long term goals vs. short term cost? (I am not arguing for CLS, I am trying to justify NU).

120K at NU beats anything besides HYS. Hell, it might even beat those three if you aren't interested in clerkships or academia. NU is T14 and has very good placement rates on top of that.

ptush wrote:

JasonR wrote:There is one and only one intelligent decision here, and you know what that is.

Columbia is not worth anything remotely close to that kind of money over NU. And what the fuck is UCLA doing in this thread?

Thanks for your comments!

what about:

CLS ranks 4 consistently, and NU ranks 12. Isn't it a significant different to consider CLS? Should I be thinking about long term goals vs. short term cost? (I am not arguing for CLS, I am trying to justify NU).

Rankings overstate the distinctions between them.

Depends on the goals. Also, 200k of debt is definitely not "short term cost." NU wins here imo, but Columbia is never a terrible choice. UCLA shouldnt be on the list with full ride at NU.