BU ($20,000/yr) vs UIUC ($33,390/yr) Forum

[ocajavati]

UIUC
$11,130 + $3591 school fees per year
$400 per month for apartment (estimated)
$1,800 for book and supplies
$2,760 for other expenses

Total cost would be around $72,243, not including interest.

BU
$23,278 + $890 school fees per year
$850 per month for apartment (estimated)
$1,462 for books and supplies
$2,990 for other expenses

Total cost would be around $116,460, not including interest.

Expenses/etc. are taken from university website. Apartment cost is a rough estimate I got from surveying the area. If I'm off in any of the estimation, please tell me. Might be able to pay for the apartment cost as I go to lower to overall debt.

Would prefer Boston over Chicago/mid-west, but have zero interest in New York.

Another point of interest is that UIUC locks in the tuition price for three year. So there's that.

Which one should I choose? Would BU hold any realistic benefits over UIUC, when considering actual job prospects?

My original break-even point was at $25,000 from BU, but it doesn't seem like that's happening.

Here's UIUC's admission outcomes for this year.

http://illinois.lawschoolnumbers.com/stats/1112/

I'm going to attribute their lower admission stat with the scandal. This tells me that their ranking would almost certainly drop well below 35 by next year.

While I'm sure it'll recover eventually, dropping out of top 50 isn't healthy by any extend.

So given all this, which one would you choose? Any input, as usual, would be very much appreciated. Are my concerns with the UIUC scandal irrelevant?

[CanadianWolf]

BU because you want Boston.

[ocajavati]

Another point being that I have also been trying to keep my debt below $100k.

I'm fine with either school if their employment prospects are equal. The latest report suggests Boston is doing slightly better than UIUC is at placing students into NLJ 250.

Not sure how much I should take from that though.

[allamerican73]

UIUC
$11,130 + $3591 school fees per year
$400 per month for apartment (estimated)
$1,800 for book and supplies
$2,760 for other expenses

Total cost would be around $72,243, not including interest.

BU
$23,278 + $890 school fees per year
$850 per month for apartment (estimated)
$1,462 for books and supplies
$2,990 for other expenses

Total cost would be around $116,460, not including interest.

Expenses/etc. are taken from university website. Apartment cost is a rough estimate I got from surveying the area. If I'm off in any of the estimation, please tell me. Might be able to pay for the apartment cost as I go to lower to overall debt.

Would prefer Boston over Chicago/mid-west, but have zero interest in New York.

Another point of interest is that UIUC locks in the tuition price for three year. So there's that.

Which one should I choose? Would BU hold any realistic benefits over UIUC, when considering actual job prospects?

My original break-even point was at $25,000 from BU, but it doesn't seem like that's happening.

Here's UIUC's admission outcomes for this year.

http://illinois.lawschoolnumbers.com/stats/1112/

I'm going to attribute their lower admission stat with the scandal. This tells me that their ranking would almost certainly drop well below 35 by next year.

While I'm sure it'll recover eventually, dropping out of top 50 isn't healthy by any extend.

So given all this, which one would you choose? Any input, as usual, would be very much appreciated. Are my concerns with the UIUC scandal irrelevant?

Scandal is irrelevant--they are not dropping further FWIW. BU for Boston. UIUC for Chicago/Midwest. If you want Boston, then choose BU. Case closed.

[ocajavati]

Scandal is irrelevant--they are not dropping further FWIW. BU for Boston. UIUC for Chicago/Midwest. If you want Boston, then choose BU. Case closed.

I find that a bit hard to believe, considering their drastically lower admission standard for this year.

That's gotta have an impact. Median LSAT/GPA from the admits weigh pretty heavily, no?

Arguably not going to make an impact on employment. Probably. Or at least that's the impression I get from people.

[otnemem]

Your COA at BU is more than I'd ideally recommend, but it's doable.

When you factor in an annual 3% increase in cost of attendance and interest, you're set to graduate with around 135k in debt, which will put your monthly loan repayment at about $1600 a month. If you are in the 60-70% of BU's class that doesn't get biglaw, it will be tough to pay that amount each month. If you assumed a 50k a year job, you will take home about 3k a month after taxes. It would be tough to live off of the remaining $1400 a month in Boston, so you would likely have to refinance to a 15 or 20 year loan. That's not the end of the world, so if you are OK with that, go with BU.