Cornell vs. Northwestern Forum

[Forumbrowser45]

Cost of attendance:
Cornell: ~$70,000.
Northwestern: ~120,000.

Ehhh, will have to re-calculate, but it's about $150k from Cornell in scholarship money, $105-$115k from NU.

Cost of attendance would be financed via loans.

LSAT 171 (taken once), GPA 3.9X. K-JD. Non-URM.

Still waiting to hear if Penn will give me any money (I haven't heard anything since I got accepted except that I wouldn't be receiving any need-based aid, so that's discouraging), and I'm still hoping Berkeley pulls through with a matching scholarship.

I wouldn't mind practicing either in New York or Illinois, and both seem to have decent connections to California.

On the one hand, Cornell seems really nice, and having almost all of my tuition paid for makes it incredibly enticing. On the other, Northwestern seems really attractive, especially given my circumstances (being accepted as a K-JD in addition to receiving a really generous amount of money), and it seems to have less regional competition (Chicago is a Big Deal, but Cornell in the northeast also has to deal with NYU and Columbia, let alone places like Harvard).

I want a reason to say Northwestern, but the Cornell offer is incredibly tempting. Ideally, Berkeley just offers me All The Money and I don't have to worry about this, but I wouldn't bet on it. NYU also offered me about $65k~ in merit scholarship, but I don't think they'll up it from that even if I showed them these.

[Winston1984]

A few more points on your LSAT would put you in range for HYS. I would take the next year to gain work experience and retake the LSAT. You worked hard for that GPA, don't waste it.

[untar614]

ask twinkletoes about berkeley matching scholarships from NW and Cornell

And as I asked her, how did you calculate these COAs?

[Forumbrowser45]

Looked at Law School Transparency, took the non-discounted tuition cost, upped it a few thousand for each, added the indirect costs, multiplied by three, subtracted scholarship offers, and then made a little fuzzy for ANONYMITY and all that jazz.

[hephaestus]

I don't think Northwestern is worth 50k more than Cornell.

[onionz]

Did you apply late? I feel like you should have more options.

[Forumbrowser45]

No, and I do, although these are the two options I've pared it down to. Meanwhile, Harvard wait listed me, and Stanford sent a letter on Friday, so either a rejection or wait list offer from there, too.

[untar614]

Looked at Law School Transparency, took the non-discounted tuition cost, upped it a few thousand for each, added the indirect costs, multiplied by three, subtracted scholarship offers, and then made a little fuzzy for ANONYMITY and all that jazz.

yeah, don't do that. That doesn't properly calculate interest. Also, when you're down to 2 choices like this, the rough estimates given can be way off. Here's what you need to do: go research where you would likely live at each of these places, what associated costs there would be, account for other things like if you could get a 9month lease, if you would have a car, etc, then calculate cost by subtracting scholarship from tuition before interest, then calculating interest year by year. That's the only way to get reasonably accurate numbers.

[Cobretti]

What was your NU scholarship? 135? 120?

And Cornell was 150?

[Micdiddy]

Op, what is your opinion in retaking? Increasing a few points can get you a Hamilton/Ruby or into HYS (possibly with money too).
With that said you certainly have decent options in front of you, and if all you really want is big law it might be worth it to just go now.
I don't think NU is worth 50k more than Cornell. Not much more I can say about that.

[twinkletoes16]

Yo OP, PM me. Same situation.

[Cobretti]

And assuming NU was 135k:


Assuming NU was 120k:


I'm not sure that Chicago's COL is really that much higher (I used the schools' estimates), but its probably more expensive to some extent. Even if the difference is slightly less than this calculation, I'd probably still go Cornell unless you had a significant preference for Chicago.

[Forumbrowser45]

Looked at Law School Transparency, took the non-discounted tuition cost, upped it a few thousand for each, added the indirect costs, multiplied by three, subtracted scholarship offers, and then made a little fuzzy for ANONYMITY and all that jazz.

yeah, don't do that. That doesn't properly calculate interest. Also, when you're down to 2 choices like this, the rough estimates given can be way off. Here's what you need to do: go research where you would likely live at each of these places, what associated costs there would be, account for other things like if you could get a 9month lease, if you would have a car, etc, then calculate cost by subtracting scholarship from tuition before interest, then calculating interest year by year. That's the only way to get reasonably accurate numbers.

Noted, because, uhhh

What was your NU scholarship? 135? 120?

And Cornell was 150?

Cornell is $150k, yeah, NU is ... not quite that much. I must've really underestimated the costs for there, because it's actually more like $105-$115k (gotta maintain that super thin veil of anonymity).

So with that in mind, I imagine it leans a lot more in favor of Cornell, then. It just feels like a missed opportunity, argh. I mean, Cornell's great, don't get me wrong, but even just getting into NU seemed like a big deal.

With respect to retaking: The LSAT was a lot of stress studying for the first go-around, and having the pressure to not only do well, but better than before (where just one or two questions can make all the difference), when I could still be rejected from HYS makes it a really unpalatable option for me.

Yo OP, PM me. Same situation.

Will do, gonna grab a bite to eat first.

[Cobretti]

105k would have you graduating with 167k in debt. At that point I don't think any personal preference is strong enough to chose NU over Cornell. If you were from Chicago and it was the only market you wanted to work in I could see it, but not in this case. GL and grats on having awesome options.

[untar614]

Looked at Law School Transparency, took the non-discounted tuition cost, upped it a few thousand for each, added the indirect costs, multiplied by three, subtracted scholarship offers, and then made a little fuzzy for ANONYMITY and all that jazz.

yeah, don't do that. That doesn't properly calculate interest. Also, when you're down to 2 choices like this, the rough estimates given can be way off. Here's what you need to do: go research where you would likely live at each of these places, what associated costs there would be, account for other things like if you could get a 9month lease, if you would have a car, etc, then calculate cost by subtracting scholarship from tuition before interest, then calculating interest year by year. That's the only way to get reasonably accurate numbers.

Noted, because, uhhh

What was your NU scholarship? 135? 120?

And Cornell was 150?

Cornell is $150k, yeah, NU is ... not quite that much. I must've really underestimated the costs for there, because it's actually more like $105-$115k (gotta maintain that super thin veil of anonymity).

So with that in mind, I imagine it leans a lot more in favor of Cornell, then. It just feels like a missed opportunity, argh. I mean, Cornell's great, don't get me wrong, but even just getting into NU seemed like a big deal.

With respect to retaking: The LSAT was a lot of stress studying for the first go-around, and having the pressure to not only do well, but better than before (where just one or two questions can make all the difference), when I could still be rejected from HYS makes it a really unpalatable option for me.

Yo OP, PM me. Same situation.

Will do, gonna grab a bite to eat first.

Ok, yeah I feel ya. As everyone on here is gonna say, Cornell is the better financial decision. If you have strong personal reasons to choose NW though, its still not a bad option, just not as good as the 150k at Cornell. That said, regarding retaking, don't think of it like something your being pressured for, like its terrible if you don't improve - you still have really good options. Just think of it as a chance for something even better. If you don't improve, no big, but its worth a shot to try to, just don't put pressure on urself like not improving will a disaster by any means.