NYU vs. UVA $$$ vs. NU $$$ vs. UCLA $$$ Forum

[monstarrx]

Hello!

This is my first time posting on this forum, but I have been reading around here for about the last year and a half.. I am currently considering what school to attend next year, so if you don't mind, please provide some input/opinions. Thanks!

NYU - $78,112
- no scholarship offers

UVA - $71,800
- scholarship offer: $45,000/year

Northwestern - $79,628
- scholarship offer: $50,000/year + 1 year deferral condition

UCLA - $57,000 (resident)
- scholarship offer: $40,000/year

- COA taken from all the schools' official website #s, except for UCLA, which I took from the TLS page for UCLA.
- I expect to be financing my COA through scholarships and loans. My parents want to help me financially as well, but I don't want to rely on them too much, which is why I am being more considerate of the better scholarship offers.
- I'm from CA and want to work in CA after law school. I'm from norcal but am currently an undergraduate from UC San Diego so I have ties in both the Bay Area and SD.
- I'm undecided on what field I want to go into, but I have been told this is something I can discover once I attend law school.
- 171/3.87 and took the LSAT once.
- Other factors: I am strongly considering deferring for a year to work. This is due to the fact that while I feel ready for law school, I do not feel like I have true work experience, and I believe having work experience as well as working for a year before attending law school would make me a stronger job applicant when I start applying for jobs and internships in/post law school. However, if I do not find a job for next year, I do want to continue going to law school straight away then.

- For those that are curious about other schools I applied to:
Stanford NO NEWS
Columbia NO NEWS
Berkeley DENIED
Yale DENIED
Harvard WAITLISTED
Chicago WAITLISTED
Cornell WAITLISTED
Michigan WAITLISTED
USC ADMITTED
Georgetown ADMITTED
Penn ADMITTED

Feel free to ask me any questions too! Thanks!

[rad lulz]

http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 1&t=206299

[sinfiery]

If you are willing to work for a few years before coming back to CA, pick which one you are a better fit at from UVA or NU.


If you'd rather be a starbucks employee in CA than have any legal job in another state at any point after you graduate, UCLA

[WokeUpInACar]

I would take a year or two off to get some work experience and probably retake the LSAT actually. While you do have very attractive options, HYS or CCN with $$ would be attainable with a few more points. Plus the work experience would obviously serve you well. That Berkeley ding is pretty puzzling though.

[Winston1984]

Work for a year and retake. If you get a few points higher, you are competitive for Stanford.

[monstarrx]

I'm not confident in my abilities to retake and get a higher score because when I studied for the LSAT, I was averaging a 166-167 and I feel like the 171 was a hint of lucky and perhaps testing really well that day. It was definitely in the higher end of my range and the highest I'd scored on my practice LSATs before was 169 (albeit it was a week before the test).

[sinfiery]

how much/how intently did you study?

[Real Madrid]

I would take a year or two off to get some work experience and probably retake the LSAT actually. While you do have very attractive options, HYS or CCN with $$ would be attainable with a few more points. Plus the work experience would obviously serve you well. That Berkeley ding is pretty puzzling though.

Not as puzzling as all the weird waitlists, like Cornell and Michigan.

OP, have you tried to negotiate money with NYU? If you haven't, you should. And if they act like they're too good to negotiate with a UVA or NU offer, point them to NLJ/Art III clerkship numbers and laugh at them as you withdraw.

[Doorkeeper]

1. Try to use your UVA scholarship to negotiate with NYU.

2. If NYU gives you nothing, then take UVA and run.

3. However, if you're confident you could get 2-3 more points on the LSAT, wait a year, retake, and be guaranteed for the T6.

[twenty]

Defer NU. Retake during that 1 year time. Drop the deferral if you do better.

[TripTrip]

UCLA shouldn't even be on this list IMO. It's between UVA and NU.

[monstarrx]

I have sent NYU notice of my other scholarship offers to try to negotiate a deal through e-mail but they haven't said anything yet. Should I try calling instead or just email again?

As for the LSAT, I took Blueprint course and studied really hard. I am not really confident that I could score higher. I'm not too sure though, because when I reviewed my test, I found 4 questions where I missed because I misread or rushed when answering, but at the same time I might have scored higher because I guessed lucky on some questions..

Waitlists: yeah, these confused me as well and really shook my confidence (especially the Berkeley rejection), but maybe they just didn't feel I'd suit their schools that well? I did interview for Cornell and Chicago and got waitlisted at both..

Currently, I am leaning towards UVA or NU because of the $$ and I contacted UVA and they told me that scholarships will be deferred alongside my academic deferral if it is granted.

I think the reason I am still considering NYU is because I am still waiting to see if they offer me something, but since they haven't yet, can I ask at what amount of aid would you guys think it is worth it to go to NYU over UVA/NU?

And UCLA is on this list because it's the only school I'm considering going to that I'm accepted to in CA for now.. and I did visit and like the school/people, but at the same time, I do realize that I have a lot of better options. Also, the COA is really low according to the websites, but I'm not sure how accurate this is?

[monstarrx]

Update on NYU:

I got a scholarship offer of $20,000 first year, 20,000 second year and 10,000 for my third year.

I have pretty much narrowed it down to NYU or UVA. I feel like NYU will give me better job/internship opportunities during summer/3L but I am not sure if the extra cost of the school is worth it.

[untar614]

Update on NYU:

I got a scholarship offer of $20,000 first year, 20,000 second year and 10,000 for my third year.

I have pretty much narrowed it down to NYU or UVA. I feel like NYU will give me better job/internship opportunities during summer/3L but I am not sure if the extra cost of the school is worth it.

IMO it's not. NYU's biglaw + fed clerk % is only a couple points higher. That's a pretty nice scholarship from UVA, so if you are set on going this year, then I'd say that's the best option, assuming nothing changes.

[M458]

Defer NU. Retake during that 1 year time. Drop the deferral if you do better.

I'm pretty sure if you defer, you'll have to sign something that specifically prevents you from applying to other schools and in the end not attending NU, so please be careful if you choose to consider this advice. Schools talk, and breaking a contract before you even start school is probably not the way you want to start your legal career.

[NoodleyOne]

In an effort to free up more scholly money at UVA so I can possibly get an increase, I'm going to say don't go to UVA.

[jbagelboy]

Defer NU. Retake during that 1 year time. Drop the deferral if you do better.

+1. The NU offer is great, and it actually matches with your short term goals so even better. That's far and away my vote. Retaking is a good idea in your position, but not necessary if you really aren't improving in your PTs since you have such a good offer already.

edit: also, to give yourself a better idea of what you're actually looking at for COA, do all three years with interest (assuming you are loaning). The delta b/t NU and the others, particularly NYU, will show much more starkly.