UConn with 45K v. Indiana Law Bloomington Forum

[sally3832]

Thanks, for the help!

[flem]

I need some help making a quick decision. I got off the wait-list at Indiana which is a great school that im excited about...but iit's n the Midwest. I also have a free first year at UConn and may be able to use that and then transfer. I want to work in Boston or DC and have family in NY so I prefer to be East Coast. I also want to do public interest law and keep debt down. Both schools are out of state but at Indiana I will pay full out of state for 3 years and at UConn I will pay nothing the first year and then in-state 2l and 3l. Both are out of state for me right now bc im from the west coast. I think UConn is better in terms of $$ but how much does it matter when you do well at a T2 vs. a T1? Any advice helps! Also, if your going to say don't go to UConn or Indiana....I've already chosen to not reply and go with one of them so that's not helpful right now. Thanks!

Don't respond if you don't want to, but that's exactly what I'm going to advocate for.

1) Indiana and UConn have extremely regional placement and neither will get you to Boston or DC since there are not only better regional schools in those locations, but T14 grads targeting them as well
2) If you want to do public interest work, the debt load from these schools is going to be too high. Indiana at sticker is going to leave you 150-200K in the hole, UConn 100Kish (assuming you're financing living expenses). Taking on that type of debt to rely on a LRAP (loan repayment assistance program) is sublime idiocy because public interest work is extremely competitive and schools outside of the T14 have strict requirements for LRAP qualification.
3) Rankings don't matter. Once you get out of the T14 schools they are all regional to some extent. I would only go to these schools if you're okay with working in their immediate region in (likely) a small law firm.
4) What's your GPA/LSAT?
5) You're from the west coast. How did you pick these schools?

[CanadianWolf]

UConn due to your substantial first year scholarship award & geographic preference for the Northeast.

In my opinion, this should be a very easy decision based on geographical preference alone. Don't let USNews rankings obscure your judgment: Free tuition & fees in your preferred region is far superior to a higher ranked regional law school at outrageous non-resident tuition.