NYU vs UW (at sticker) Forum

[beautyistruth]

I've been accepted into NYU and UW. I'll apply for merit/aid at both schools, but at this point, let's assume that I'll pay sticker at both. (Numbers are a 3.71 and 172). My parents will pay the total CoA at either school, with the expectation that I'll repay them; this way I'll still be $200,000 in debt after NYU and about $80,000 ish (whatever three years of UW tutition ends up being) after UW, but I won't have to worry about interest payments in either situation.

If I attend UW, I'll get to pay in-state tutition, live with my parents, get free meals, and keep my part-time tutoring students, essentially making CoL free in terms of what I'll owe my parents after law school. If I go to NYU, I'll have to factor in whatever I borrow for living for the next three years, so the overall CoA will be much higher. If I go to UW, I'd be perfectly happy making anything up from $40 K, though I'd weigh in how few and far between Seattle biglaw placements are, and gun for those positions. I don't, however, want to end up flat-out unemployed. Ideally I'd want to work in Seattle regardless of school, but I'm perfectly fine staying in NYC, or going to any market that offers me a good job.

Which school should I pick?

(Edit: I have extensive ties to Seattle, if I'm understanding the term correctly. Family's in Seattle, I grew up there, and I go to undergrad at the UW. Another thing that's attractive is the possiblity of living with my parents for the first few years of working, thus saving on rent allowing me to really put in a lot in terms of repaying them)

(I've also been accepted at Duke. How much of a scholarship would Duke have to offer me to trump both of these schools?)

[superpippo]

Congrats on getting into NYU and UW. I've heard that cracking the Seattle market from out of state is difficult, but since you seem to be from Seattle, or at least close to the area, this should be more than sufficient to return especially from a school with national reach like NYU. If you really want to gun for big law I'd like to think you'd be more successful at NYU than UW and you're chance of unemployment would surely would be much lower overall.

[beautyistruth]

Yup. I grew up in Seattle/greater Eastside and I went to college at UW as well. (I'll edit my original post to reflect my Seattle ties). Thanks for the advice! I guess at this point, the only thing holding me back from NYU is the thought of owing my parents $200,000 and being utterly unemployed. Owing my parents $80 K and servicing that with even a crap retail job, while disappointing, seems much less frightening.

[Bronck]

I'd be wary about taking NYU at sticker, but I think it's clearly the better choice here.

Seattle is an incredible parochial market, and UW has mediocre -- at best -- employment statistics. One of my friends goes there and he says that it's pretty grim. You say that you're fine with staying in NYC, so take NYU.

[superpippo]

I'd be wary about taking NYU at sticker, but I think it's clearly the better choice here.

Seattle is an incredible parochial market, and UW has mediocre -- at best -- employment statistics. One of my friends goes there and he says that it's pretty grim. You say that you're fine with staying in NYC, so take NYU.

I don't usually like to speculate, but is it worth noting that OP probably won't end up at sticker at UW with his numbers (I'd imagine at least)? I have to figure that he/she would have to be getting some sort of scholarship - above median GPA and significantly above 75th lsat.

[ndirish2010]

Yeah, if you're paying sticker for UW, that is bad. Your numbers are too good for that. If this was UW for free or NYU sticker, I would probably say UW...but it's close.

[beautyistruth]

Does UW even offer full rides? I've heard horror stories about how stingy they are with $$. (I'll go check LSN). UW for free would be pretty nice... that would be pretty low risk. Straight-up unemployment would still suck, though.

[Tom Joad]

Why don't you have money at another T14 as an option? If you want to come back to Seattle, NYU won't have much more weight than Penn or Michigan.

[beautyistruth]

Mostly because I haven't been offered money yet. Counting chickens before they hatch and all that. But that's a good point. I'll go add that. Actually on that note, when -do- schools typically make their $$ offers? Also, while I'll definitely be bidding on Seattle, I'm honestly happy staying wherever I can find work that would justify the debt.

Well shoot. That reset all the votes

[J90]

You might be able to negotiate with them, given your NYU acceptance. It can't hurt to try, at the very least, they won't rescind that acceptance.

[beautyistruth]

Also, technically, Duke is the only other school that's accepted me. I applied early January though, so I expect I'll get a few other acceptances. (Knock on wood).

[superpippo]

Not all schools offer merit aid with their acceptance packages. Sometimes schools that are stingier with aid require prospective students to file a financial aid supplement/FAFSA in order to be considered.

I believe this is the case with OP (correct me if I'm wrong) so it may be too early to have this debate considering aid should be coming. If this is the case I'd imagine you'd get your offer around a month (more or less) after you submit your info or maybe after the deadline. However, as stated leveraging your NYU acceptance could only help your potential for $$$

[beautyistruth]

It is indeed the case. I've just sent off NeedAccess and the FAFSA for NYU and Duke. I'm waiting for other acceptances to come in. (I blanketed the T-14, USC and UCLA).

[superpippo]

It is indeed the case. I've just sent off NeedAccess and the FAFSA for NYU and Duke. I'm waiting for other acceptances to come in. (I blanketed the T-14, USC and UCLA).

Nice! Hope your cycle continues to go well!

[beautyistruth]

Thanks! At this point, I'm mainly stressed out about scholarships and trying to decide whether NYU at sticker is worth it. It's really hard to give up the CCN prestige. I guess this is all premature as there's still time in the cycle.

[Myself]

.

[JCougar]

I definitely wouldn't go to NYU at sticker in your situation. But I wouldn't go to UW either, unless it were close to free. You should be able to command a hefty scholarship from something in-between. Did you apply to Berkeley? It's not that far away, and you might get a decent scholarship there with your numbers. Also, UCLA/USC might give you close to full tuition. The easiest way to get a job is if a firm is recruiting at your school, and there's a number of CA schools much better than UW that still probably draw Seattle employers.

Do not be fooled by UW's US News rank. It's pretty much a 30th-ranked law school that got lucky for one fluke year. The new rankings come out in a month or two, and I would be shocked not to see them take a big hit.

[beautyistruth]

This is also dependent on how robust the Seattle market is. It seems like if I strike out there, NYU would still give me a better shot elsewhere, certainly with the NYC market, and also with other markets. Wouldn't UCLA/USC be terribly risky options, given that you have to be pretty near the top of your class to avoid straight-up unemployment? (I realize the exact same and more could be said for UW).

[Anciano]

I was in a very similar situation last year (though my CoL in Seattle would have been higher than yours) and I decided on NYU. Especially since you've lived in the Seattle area your whole life and you went to UW for undergrad, if you stay at UW for law school your options outside Seattle will be very limited; NYU gives you a lot more flexibility in the long term. The same would be true for any school in the top 10 or so. If you want to stay on the West Coast, as someone else said Berkeley would be a fine choice.

Obviously you have to consider the money, but loans to your parents are not nearly as bad as student loans, and I think with your numbers you could get some merit aid at top schools too.

[dixiecupdrinking]

I wouldn't count on getting a ton of money from the T14. Your numbers are in that range where you should get into a ton of schools but they won't feel the need to blow you away with scholarship offers. At least that was the case a couple of years ago, maybe they're more desperate for good LSAT scores these days.

Given your choices I think NYU is definitely the way to go. It might be different if you were wedded to staying in the northwest, but since you sound willing to stay in NYC, your job prospects from NYU should be sufficiently better to justify the money difference. I also expect that with your numbers, you'll be getting some money from NYU, something in the $50,000 range. (Edit: On second thought, that might be too optimistic, actually, but $30,000+ is reasonable to expect if memory serves.)