BC v. BU Forum

[eagles2013]

So here's the deal:

I am a Senior at BC (ug) right now with a 3.6 GPA and a 168 LSAT (only took once). I'm not sure about career plans, but I'm really interested in prosecution and public policy. I worked at the DA's office in Philadelphia (I'm from there) one of my summers as an undergrad, and I loved it. However, I might have to look for a higher paying job to pay off my loans. I plan on most likely staying in the Boston area after school, but possibly going to NYC or Philly.

I've been accepted to both BC and BU, with a waitlist at Penn and a reserve at Columbia (like everyone else that applied to Columbia this year).

BC has offered me a 22k/yr scholarship (total 66k), and BU has offered me a 20k/yr scholarship (total 60k). I'm still trying to weasel more money out of each.

Cost of Attendance at BU is slightly higher than BC, so the CoA looks like BC: ~40k/yr (total 120k) , BU: ~43k (total 129k). I'll probably work part time to subsidize ~10k of that per year and get maybe 5k per year help from my parents, but the rest will have to come from loans.

HOWEVER, I have applied for a grad assistant program at BC that I have a good shot of getting. It comes with tuition remission (that would cut the CoA down to about 20k, just cost of living/room/board) and a yearly stipend of 20k (which I would use for that cost of living/room/board). I would be working 10-20 hours a week, but I would essentially be attending BC for free. In this case, BC is the pretty obvious answer. But the case in which I don't get it is more difficult.

What's my play?

[BlueDiamond]

this thread has been made about 100 times.. searching the forum will get you an answer

neither school is worth the amount of money you are talking about to be totally honest

i lost interest a bit, but it looked like you were saying you were going to work during 1L - working over a certain number of hours isn't even "allowed" so you might wanna check with BC law if they even know about the position you are talking about - even if they say it is fine, 1L should be about nothing but your grades and thus you should turn the position down anyway - leaving BC with 90K debt instead of 120K debt will not matter if you do poorly during 1L and cannot find a job

[BigZuck]

I would not go to either at that price. Don't work during your 1L year. Retake for Penn/Columbia, don't settle for that 168.

[Doorkeeper]

Retake and apply throughout the T14.

Even with a 168/3.6, you should've applied to Georgetown, Cornell, Duke, and Michigan.

[romothesavior]

Retake and apply throughout the T14.

Even with a 168/3.6, you should've applied to Georgetown, Cornell, Duke, and Michigan.

Credited. Retake/reapply. Even one or two points on the LSAT would make a huge difference.

[empyreanrrv]

If you can go to BC with 20k COA, go there. If not, then retake/reapply. BU/BC are not worth over 100k COA.

[eagles2013]

Retake and apply throughout the T14.

Even with a 168/3.6, you should've applied to Georgetown, Cornell, Duke, and Michigan.

Understand where you're coming from, but I have no interest in living in DC, Ithaca, NC or Ann Arbor, even for 3 years. Retake is definitely an option, but I don't want my finaid to be hurt by working for a year and making 45k before attending law school. Will this affect my package?

[romothesavior]

No. Finaid at most schools and for most applicants has absolutely zero to do with salary before you matriculate. Its about your numbers.

Also, you should reconsider your aversion to the places you listed. Three years in ithica would double your long term job prospects.

[BigZuck]

Retake and apply throughout the T14.

Even with a 168/3.6, you should've applied to Georgetown, Cornell, Duke, and Michigan.

Understand where you're coming from, but I have no interest in living in DC, Ithaca, NC or Ann Arbor, even for 3 years. Retake is definitely an option, but I don't want my finaid to be hurt by working for a year and making 45k before attending law school. Will this affect my package?

Where exactly are you ok with living?

[jbagelboy]

No. Finaid at most schools and for most applicants has absolutely zero to do with salary before you matriculate. Its about your numbers.

Also, you should reconsider your aversion to the places you listed. Three years in ithica would double your long term job prospects.

As a sidenote, while drawing your numbers is the key factor, your parents finances have SOME relevance if you are <26, but not your own post-grad salary (unless your making $100K+ at google or barclays). There's too much variation in scholarships at some schools b/t students with same numbers for parental assets to play no role. Anyway its moot since that's very unlikely to change in one year.

Retake and apply throughout the T14.

Even with a 168/3.6, you should've applied to Georgetown, Cornell, Duke, and Michigan.

Agreed. Your numbers could crack a lot of better options. If you really want to stay in Boston, you could go to BC for near to free (and not have to work during 1L) with a 171. Look, your options here are not "horrible", I would go to BC if I had no other choice, but since you are a first time taker and scored under 170, the advice to retake stands as the credited response.

[dixiecupdrinking]

I'd retake, unless you get that grad assistant situation at BC, but that sounds like a pretty sweet deal and I would take it.

If you can get your score up more like 4-5 points then you've got a good shot at Penn or NYU, which might fit your geographic preferences better.

[BigZuck]

I think the OP wasting their untapped LSAT potential on these schools for these prices would be tragic. OP has the potential to score 170+ easily and this would have significantly better options.

[0913djp]

I would try to ride the waitlist out and hope for Penn. You could still get in, and in your case, probably would work out since you have ties to Philly. But that all depends on whether or not you get in.

BU is the better public interest school, from what I've read, but Double Eagle status wouldn't look bad to Boston firms (there's a good amount of them, I would imagine) granted you have above median to top 25% grades.

I'm a 0L so take my suggestion with a grain of salt but it is something to consider going forward.

[boblawlob]

I understand that you're tired of taking the LSAT and want to get to law school asap. I get that.

But consider this. You only took the LSAT once. I don't know what your cold diagnostic was, but a first time LSAT score at 168 is pretty high and good. But there have been countless people before you who have retaken a 168/169 and hit the 175s: some of those people even had first-time LSAT scores in the late 150s.

The BC/BU scholarships aren't awful, but they are definitely holding out on you in my opinion as I would have expected them to give you closer to a 30k/yr scholly if not more.

You're a senior and just about to graduate. Why don't you just study hard for the LSAT post graduation, take the October, send in applications, and go travel? No need to jump straight into law school with even more debt with even scarier job prospects.

Also, if you are considering going to BC, I highly suggest you stop thinking about being a grad assistant to save money and start worrying more about focusing your full time and energy towards law school, especially your 1L year. What's the point of saving money when at the end of the day your grades will suffer and you will be SOL for a good job.

[elm84dr]

So here's the deal:

I am a Senior at BC (ug) right now with a 3.6 GPA and a 168 LSAT (only took once). I'm not sure about career plans, but I'm really interested in prosecution and public policy. I worked at the DA's office in Philadelphia (I'm from there) one of my summers as an undergrad, and I loved it. However, I might have to look for a higher paying job to pay off my loans. I plan on most likely staying in the Boston area after school, but possibly going to NYC or Philly.

I've been accepted to both BC and BU, with a waitlist at Penn and a reserve at Columbia (like everyone else that applied to Columbia this year).

BC has offered me a 22k/yr scholarship (total 66k), and BU has offered me a 20k/yr scholarship (total 60k). I'm still trying to weasel more money out of each.

Cost of Attendance at BU is slightly higher than BC, so the CoA looks like BC: ~40k/yr (total 120k) , BU: ~43k (total 129k). I'll probably work part time to subsidize ~10k of that per year and get maybe 5k per year help from my parents, but the rest will have to come from loans.

HOWEVER, I have applied for a grad assistant program at BC that I have a good shot of getting. It comes with tuition remission (that would cut the CoA down to about 20k, just cost of living/room/board) and a yearly stipend of 20k (which I would use for that cost of living/room/board). I would be working 10-20 hours a week, but I would essentially be attending BC for free. In this case, BC is the pretty obvious answer. But the case in which I don't get it is more difficult.

What's my play?

If you get that gig at BC, go with the cheaper school. If not, decide do you want to go to NEwton campus for three years or the city.

Other than that, a word of caution. The people that tended to do worse this last cycle were K-JDs. Those straight through that got SAs, DOJ and other great jobs, were in the top 15% AND Law Review or journals (for the most part). Those at or below median that got great jobs for this summer, worked at least a couple years before law school.

[PRgradBYU]

Retake and apply throughout the T14.

Even with a 168/3.6, you should've applied to Georgetown, Cornell, Duke, and Michigan.

Credited. Retake/reapply. Even one or two points on the LSAT would make a huge difference.

+1. Also, learn to use the search function, OP. These BC/BU threads have been beaten to death.

[Ti Malice]

I think the OP wasting their untapped LSAT potential on these schools for these prices would be tragic. OP has the potential to score 170+ easily and this would have significantly better options.

[dw3]

BC + work Skadden BIGLAW

[dixiecupdrinking]

This thread is old y'all.

[PRgradBYU]

This thread is old y'all.

Haha. Looks like elm84dr decided this thread was ripe for a necro.