Top Law Schools

George Washington University @ $150,000

vs.

Washington University @ $115,000

vs.

Arizona State University @ $120,000

I have little preference when it comes to geography. I prefer the Atlantic Coast, but then again I've never seen 70% of the United States.

I really have no way of gauging where it is I want to work. In the past I said the Carolinas. Honestly, though, I bet Colorado would be just as nice, and Chicago (my current home) is a lot of fun. Clearly, if I could go to GW at the Wash U price, I would, but that's not the case.

How much are a few ranking spots worth? What would you do?

ASU is not a peer school to WUSTL or GW, even though the current USN rankings might imply otherwise (don't have the same job placement ability and don't have the same reach in terms of placement). So ASU should be off the table unless you are set on practice in PHX. Of the other two options, traditionally WUSTL has been the stronger school and they are giving you a better deal, so WUSTL is prob your overall best option. But, GW and WUSTL are still basically regional schools in terms of where most grads end up, so region should still be a consideration.

Withdraw from GWU & see if they respond with a higher scholarship offer.

Among your current options, WashUStL is the most reasonable unless you are targeting Phoenix.

Best option: Withdraw from GWU & WUSTL & hope to receive better scholarship offers. If this isn't fruitful, sit out this year & reapply next cycle.

WUSTL is the best out of those very blah options, considering your career goals

rad lulz wrote:WUSTL is the best out of those very blah options, considering your career goals

Agreed but that's a lot of money for these schools considering the amount of aid they throw out.

I should be clear, those numbers are including living expenses.

Right now I'm getting $75K total out of Wash U, $51K out of GW, and $30K from ASU.

I'm a 2.8/169 splitter, and I don't think I'm getting more than $75K out of Wash U no matter what I do.

I might be able to negotiate more from GW, but I doubt withdrawing will do much since I was accepted from their waitlist.

ASU is public, so they're hard-asses about scholarship money.

beetlejuice123 wrote:I should be clear, those numbers are including living expenses.

Right now I'm getting $75K total out of Wash U, $51K out of GW, and $30K from ASU.

I'm a 2.8/169 splitter, and I don't think I'm getting more than $75K out of Wash U no matter what I do.

I might be able to negotiate more from GW, but I doubt withdrawing will do much since I was accepted from their waitlist.

ASU is public, so they're hard-asses about scholarship money.

2.7/168 here, and I got $84k from WUSTL and $75k from GW. Negotiate harder.

Wily wrote:

2.7/168 here, and I got $84k from WUSTL and $75k from GW. Negotiate harder.

Funny story about that: I'm aware of you and your awards. I stalked your profile a little bit, ha. I actually had to negotiate pretty hard to get $51K out of GW. They're saying they're "out of money" --whatever that is.

Negotiate hard on GWU. If they won't come close, then WashU. All of these options are pretty crummy though at their prices. Retake/Reapply possible?

beetlejuice123 wrote:George Washington University @ $150,000

vs.

Washington University @ $115,000

vs.

Arizona State University @ $120,000

I have little preference when it comes to geography. I prefer the Atlantic Coast, but then again I've never seen 70% of the United States.

I really have no way of gauging where it is I want to work. In the past I said the Carolinas. Honestly, though, I bet Colorado would be just as nice, and Chicago (my current home) is a lot of fun. Clearly, if I could go to GW at the Wash U price, I would, but that's not the case.

How much are a few ranking spots worth? What would you do?

I am sad to say I agree with most people on this thread. Withdraw from ASU and pit WUSTL and GW against each other for scholarship money.

Again, sorry, I was including all expenses (r&b, food, etc) in those numbers.

Revised tuition costs:

WUSTL @ 56K

vs.

GW @ 81K

beetlejuice123 wrote:Again, sorry, I was including all expenses (r&b, food, etc) in those numbers.

Revised tuition costs:

WUSTL @ 56K

vs.

GW @ 81K

Why would you eliminate expenses from the calculation.

Why would you eliminate expenses from the calculation.

Well, I'm getting the general sentiment in this thread that people are mortified at what I'm thinking about paying for these schools. I guess I'm *hoping* that it's because while most people post either tuition costs or scholarship awards, I (not thinking) posted my projected living expenses as well.

I'm getting a lot of "give up, retake the LSAT," and I'm hoping it's because people are assuming that the numbers I posted were projected tuition costs, thus making the numbers close to (and even over!) sticker price.

I honestly wasn't feeling too bad about a $75K scholarship at Wash U. It's not T14 or a full ride by any means, and Wily got $84K with similar numbers, but it's not awful for someone with a C+ average by any means. At least I think it isn't.

I've been thinking in terms of total 3 year expenses this whole time. I forgot to shift back into brass tax on tuition costs.

beetlejuice123 wrote:

Wily wrote:

2.7/168 here, and I got $84k from WUSTL and $75k from GW. Negotiate harder.

Funny story about that: I'm aware of you and your awards. I stalked your profile a little bit, ha. I actually had to negotiate pretty hard to get $51K out of GW. They're saying they're "out of money" --whatever that is.

Haha, glad my example could help.

For what it's worth, I did have some some unique factors that may have gotten me a higher scholarship than my stats alone did.

I don't believe GW is "out of money" any more than the Fed is out of money. They just don't want to give any more to you (or to me when I asked for more).

Wily wrote:

beetlejuice123 wrote:I should be clear, those numbers are including living expenses.

Right now I'm getting $75K total out of Wash U, $51K out of GW, and $30K from ASU.

I'm a 2.8/169 splitter, and I don't think I'm getting more than $75K out of Wash U no matter what I do.

I might be able to negotiate more from GW, but I doubt withdrawing will do much since I was accepted from their waitlist.

ASU is public, so they're hard-asses about scholarship money.

2.7/168 here, and I got $84k from WUSTL and $75k from GW. Negotiate harder.

Wow I only got 90k after negotiating with a 3.3/175, they truly do only care about 168 don't they?

Wow I thought those were scholarship offers and not COA. Not sure what the call is here, but don't go ASU.

Lawquacious wrote:ASU is not a peer school to WUSTL or GW, even though the current USN rankings might imply otherwise (don't have the same job placement ability and don't have the same reach in terms of placement). So ASU should be off the table unless you are set on practice in PHX. Of the other two options, traditionally WUSTL has been the stronger school and they are giving you a better deal, so WUSTL is prob your overall best option. But, GW and WUSTL are still basically regional schools in terms of where most grads end up, so region should still be a consideration.

ASU is certainly a peer in terms of job placement, probably better. When choosing between similarly ranked schools it never hurts to pick the one that dominates a major market.

However, clearly none of those schools is worth over 100k.

Veyron wrote:

Lawquacious wrote:ASU is not a peer school to WUSTL or GW, even though the current USN rankings might imply otherwise (don't have the same job placement ability and don't have the same reach in terms of placement). So ASU should be off the table unless you are set on practice in PHX. Of the other two options, traditionally WUSTL has been the stronger school and they are giving you a better deal, so WUSTL is prob your overall best option. But, GW and WUSTL are still basically regional schools in terms of where most grads end up, so region should still be a consideration.

ASU is certainly a peer in terms of job placement, probably better. When choosing between similarly ranked schools it never hurts to pick the one that dominates a major market.

However, clearly none of those schools is worth over 100k.

Definitely not a peer.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/pub ... d3c&gid=11

thelawyler wrote:

Veyron wrote:

Lawquacious wrote:ASU is not a peer school to WUSTL or GW, even though the current USN rankings might imply otherwise (don't have the same job placement ability and don't have the same reach in terms of placement). So ASU should be off the table unless you are set on practice in PHX. Of the other two options, traditionally WUSTL has been the stronger school and they are giving you a better deal, so WUSTL is prob your overall best option. But, GW and WUSTL are still basically regional schools in terms of where most grads end up, so region should still be a consideration.

ASU is certainly a peer in terms of job placement, probably better. When choosing between similarly ranked schools it never hurts to pick the one that dominates a major market.

However, clearly none of those schools is worth over 100k.

Definitely not a peer.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/pub ... d3c&gid=11

I was being charitable. I guess its clear from these spreadsheets that around 10% less of ASU's class ends up unemployed.

beetlejuice123 wrote:George Washington University @ $150,000

vs.

Washington University @ $115,000

vs.

Arizona State University @ $120,000

I have little preference when it comes to geography. I prefer the Atlantic Coast, but then again I've never seen 70% of the United States.

I really have no way of gauging where it is I want to work. In the past I said the Carolinas. Honestly, though, I bet Colorado would be just as nice, and Chicago (my current home) is a lot of fun. Clearly, if I could go to GW at the Wash U price, I would, but that's not the case.

How much are a few ranking spots worth? What would you do?

Washington University. ASU is only for Phoenix and only if you are top 10. GW plays second fiddle to Georgetown.

OP - would you have to borrow the whole cost of attendance?