Top Law Schools

I have to make tough decision within few days
BC, BU and Emory all give me $20K per year, while UConn gives me more than free ride.
Big/Small law or Corporate are my target
Please help.

That's not enough info.

Where do you want to practice? Have you negotiated at all? BigLaw and small law are completely different things. What would be your total cost of attendance at these schools?

1. None of these schools are great for biglaw. BC, BU and Emory all place only 20-25% of their class into biglaw.

2. All of these schools are very regional. You're basically choosing between living in Boston or Atlanta after law school.

I would retake and reapply if you seriously want to pursue biglaw.

Thanks
COA of BC, BU and Emory are very much the same
Emory housing is cheaper but tuition is a little bit higher plus flying back home in Northeast, so for all 3 schools, I will get out with ~150K in debt while UConn = 0 debt

Retake? I already did twice and getting lower, and I am not URM

tsunami wrote:Retake? I already did twice and getting lower, and I am not URM

So study harder. Something obviously hasn't clicked yet. You'd be surprised at how much of a difference 5 or 6 points can make on your cycle.

Thanks,
My LSAT is 166 and I don't want to waste 2 more years (since I already took 3 tests) with a very small chance to get to 170+
I don't know why 30% answers in this forum are retake

.

Regulus wrote:

tsunami wrote:Thanks,
My LSAT is 166 and I don't want to waste a year with a very small chance to get to 170+
I don't know why 30% answers in this forum are retake

Probably because it will bring about the best outcome?

What was your GPA that you were only able to get into these schools and with these scholarships? (I say this as a fellow 166.)

3.85

tsunami wrote:Thanks,
My LSAT is 166 and I don't want to waste 2 more years (since I already took 3 tests) with a very small chance to get to 170+
I don't know why 30% answers in this forum are retake

Because getting a 55k job and paying back 200k in loans will suck if you don't crush grades.

Ruxin1 wrote:

tsunami wrote:Thanks,
My LSAT is 166 and I don't want to waste 2 more years (since I already took 3 tests) with a very small chance to get to 170+
I don't know why 30% answers in this forum are retake

Because getting a 55k job and paying back 200k in loans will suck if you don't crush grades.

That is why I may go with free option

I think the easy choice given your situation is UCONN for free. A free legal education at a good school is a great option. Prospective law students are way to eager to go into insane amounts of debt. I was in your position last year and decided to go to UCONN, passing over BC and BU with near identical offers. I couldn't be happier with my choice. The students here are great. The professors are excellent. The opportunities for students are good as well. For example, I know of many students who are working in firms or with federal judges for the summer.

I hope this helps and that you end up at UCONN. Don't lose sight of how good it would be to graduate from law school with zero debt!

You're not going to get biglaw out of UCONN, but if you're okay working for 40-50K doing small time law it's not the worst decision for COL debt.

timbs4339 wrote:You're not going to get biglaw out of UCONN, but if you're okay working for 40-50K doing small time law it's not the worst decision for COL debt.

Thank you. With close to 200K debt after 3 years, I will have to pay back about 30K/year in 10 years, so earning 100K a year [assume that I can find a good job], is not much different than earning 60K in CT with no debt. However, if the chance of getting the big $ out of BC, BU or Emory is high, than I would take it.
Visited all those 4, and I think I can live in 3 years with any of them.

TranstulitSustinet wrote:I think the easy choice given your situation is UCONN for free. A free legal education at a good school is a great option. Prospective law students are way to eager to go into insane amounts of debt. I was in your position last year and decided to go to UCONN, passing over BC and BU with near identical offers. I couldn't be happier with my choice. The students here are great. The professors are excellent. The opportunities for students are good as well. For example, I know of many students who are working in firms or with federal judges for the summer.

I hope this helps and that you end up at UCONN. Don't lose sight of how good it would be to graduate from law school with zero debt!

Are you really UConn student or Dean Maybe see you in the Fall even though I don't know who you are

OP, where are your ties? I'm guessing CT or MA based on the list you put together. If you are from CT, a free ride at UConn is probably the way to go here, as long as the stip isn't too bad. Even if you're from Boston, I'd still probably say UConn, though definitely don't dismiss the retake outright. Considering you went down after the first test, you can't deny there is something wrong with your study plan.

Best of luck with whatever you choose.

Yeah, what are the stips?

Thank you all,
I grew up in CT and don't mind to come back.
Stips are very little, but I can live in my brother's house 30 minutes from the school. He promises won't charge me a dim in 3 years until I graduate, so I don't need to get loan.
I am going to send my deposit tomorrow. I am done!

As a 3.85/166 with 3 identical offers, you should be able to get more money out of Em/BU/BC.

Put the deposit down at UCONN if you wish, but I would keep trying to negotiate with the T30s.

Also, living 30 minutes away from school is going to be a bitch.

Nova wrote:As a 3.85/166 with 3 identical offers, you should be able to get more money out of Em/BU/BC.

Put the deposit down at UCONN if you wish, but I would keep trying to negotiate with the T30s.

Also, living 30 minutes away from school is going to be a bitch.

+1

Also, if you want to work MA biglaw---BU or BC should be your choices. Try and negotiate.