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Hey all. Just hoping to get some feedback and appreciate if any of you take the time to weigh in,

Here's the situation. I live in Dayton and would like to practice in Ohio after graduation. I have a $10,000 a year scholarship with in state tuition from OSU.
In total, I would have to pay around $80,000 including housing ect. if I attended.

I also have a full tuition scholarship from Dayton and would not have to pay for housing because I would live at home so it would be essentially free.

I know the job prospects are way better for Ohio State in terms of salary and percentage of firm jobs but will the $80,000 in debt be worth it?

Thanks for the help in advance!

I understand that debt versus no debt is a difficult calculus, but this really isn't a question. 80k is a lot, but it's better than the alternative. If you go to Dayton, even for free, you are wasting 3 years of your life. Your job opportunities there are very limited and you'd also be limiting yourself to Dayton/southwest Ohio. Go to OSU and enjoy it! And if you can reduce COL by being an RA in the dorms or living with a bunch of roommates or whatever, just do whatever you have to do. In theory, couldn't you commute from Dayton if you really wanted to live at home and save? I mean, it'd be like 2 hours each way (1.5?), but people do things like that I guess.

cinephile wrote:I understand that debt versus no debt is a difficult calculus, but this really isn't a question. 80k is a lot, but it's better than the alternative. If you go to Dayton, even for free, you are wasting 3 years of your life. Your job opportunities there are very limited and you'd also be limiting yourself to Dayton/southwest Ohio. Go to OSU and enjoy it! And if you can reduce COL by being an RA in the dorms or living with a bunch of roommates or whatever, just do whatever you have to do. In theory, couldn't you commute from Dayton if you really wanted to live at home and save? I mean, it'd be like 2 hours each way (1.5?), but people do things like that I guess.

2 hours each way? That's crazy dawg. That would be a horrible quality of life.

Mitchellcar wrote:Hey all. Just hoping to get some feedback and appreciate if any of you take the time to weigh in,

Here's the situation. I live in Dayton and would like to practice in Ohio after graduation. I have a $10,000 a year scholarship with in state tuition from OSU.
In total, I would have to pay around $80,000 including housing ect. if I attended.

I also have a full tuition scholarship from Dayton and would not have to pay for housing because I would live at home so it would be essentially free.

I know the job prospects are way better for Ohio State in terms of salary and percentage of firm jobs but will the $80,000 in debt be worth it?

Thanks for the help in advance!

Retake. But failing that...

Have you taken your offer from Dayton to OSU? Even bumping that shit up to 15k a year would mean that much less debt; it's worth a shot. Honestly, you're not going to get biglaw from either, though, so I would say Dayton. It's not a good school, but it's got almost 50% employment and if it's free, so it's not going to kill you to go there. It's the less dangerous of the two options.

Man, I don't know. If you're going to do something, do it right. I would say retake, get a bitching scholarship, and go to OSU or somewhere else.

OP in another thread wrote: I have a 3.74 gpa and have only taken the lsat once with a 159.

3.74 puts you in contention for every school from Columbia down. Your LSAT is really holding you back

retake in June for better options

even if you only hit OSU's median (160...), they'll probably offer you more money

Does the $80,000 include 10 year interest rate?

What are your goals? Very few people get BigLaw from OSU, as the LST stats indicate.
http://www.lstscorereports.com/?school= ... =employers

I,personally, wouldn't invest almost 100 grand for 58% chance of employment.

How many times did you take the LSAT?

isuperserial wrote:

Mitchellcar wrote:Hey all. Just hoping to get some feedback and appreciate if any of you take the time to weigh in,

Here's the situation. I live in Dayton and would like to practice in Ohio after graduation. I have a $10,000 a year scholarship with in state tuition from OSU.
In total, I would have to pay around $80,000 including housing ect. if I attended.

I also have a full tuition scholarship from Dayton and would not have to pay for housing because I would live at home so it would be essentially free.

I know the job prospects are way better for Ohio State in terms of salary and percentage of firm jobs but will the $80,000 in debt be worth it?

Thanks for the help in advance!

Retake. But failing that...

Have you taken your offer from Dayton to OSU? Even bumping that shit up to 15k a year would mean that much less debt; it's worth a shot. Honestly, you're not going to get biglaw from either, though, so I would say Dayton. It's not a good school, but it's got almost 50% employment and if it's free, so it's not going to kill you to go there. It's the less dangerous of the two options.

Man, I don't know. If you're going to do something, do it right. I would say retake, get a bitching scholarship, and go to OSU or somewhere else.

Do higher ranked schools actually take lower ranked schools scholarships into consideration? Do you know if OSU negotiates schollys at all? I also have a full ride at penn state, Toledo, and akron, as well as 40,000 (3 year total) from Cincinnati. Would that help my odds at increasing any?

Bigfish41 wrote:Does the $80,000 include 10 year interest rate?

What are your goals? Very few people get BigLaw from OSU, as the LST stats indicate.
http://www.lstscorereports.com/?school= ... =employers

I,personally, wouldn't invest almost 100 grand for 58% chance of employment.

How many times did you take the LSAT?

I have taken the LSAT once. On the aba report its says only 4 people were unemployed from OSU last graduation cycle and 66% where firm jobs not 58%. What accounts for the discrepancy between those numbers and law school transparency?

cinephile wrote:I understand that debt versus no debt is a difficult calculus, but this really isn't a question. 80k is a lot, but it's better than the alternative. If you go to Dayton, even for free, you are wasting 3 years of your life. Your job opportunities there are very limited and you'd also be limiting yourself to Dayton/southwest Ohio. Go to OSU and enjoy it! And if you can reduce COL by being an RA in the dorms or living with a bunch of roommates or whatever, just do whatever you have to do. In theory, couldn't you commute from Dayton if you really wanted to live at home and save? I mean, it'd be like 2 hours each way (1.5?), but people do things like that I guess.

Thanks for the input. Passing up completely free law school is tough especially since its in the location I want to work, but I understand what your saying. I'm leaning toward OSU.

Mitchellcar wrote:

cinephile wrote:I understand that debt versus no debt is a difficult calculus, but this really isn't a question. 80k is a lot, but it's better than the alternative. If you go to Dayton, even for free, you are wasting 3 years of your life. Your job opportunities there are very limited and you'd also be limiting yourself to Dayton/southwest Ohio. Go to OSU and enjoy it! And if you can reduce COL by being an RA in the dorms or living with a bunch of roommates or whatever, just do whatever you have to do. In theory, couldn't you commute from Dayton if you really wanted to live at home and save? I mean, it'd be like 2 hours each way (1.5?), but people do things like that I guess.

Thanks for the input. Passing up completely free law school is tough especially since its in the location I want to work, but I understand what your saying. I'm leaning toward OSU.

Why didn't you apply to Cincinnati? That probably would've been free for you too (or close to it) and you could have commuted from home - it's only an hour.

Mitchellcar wrote:

Bigfish41 wrote:Does the $80,000 include 10 year interest rate?

What are your goals? Very few people get BigLaw from OSU, as the LST stats indicate.
http://www.lstscorereports.com/?school= ... =employers

I,personally, wouldn't invest almost 100 grand for 58% chance of employment.

How many times did you take the LSAT?

I have taken the LSAT once. On the aba report its says only 4 people were unemployed from OSU last graduation cycle and 66% where firm jobs not 58%. What accounts for the discrepancy between those numbers and law school transparency?

http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 1&t=183922
This thread should answer your question. If you've taken it once, retake for a second or even a third time until you hit 170+.

cinephile wrote:

Mitchellcar wrote:

cinephile wrote:I understand that debt versus no debt is a difficult calculus, but this really isn't a question. 80k is a lot, but it's better than the alternative. If you go to Dayton, even for free, you are wasting 3 years of your life. Your job opportunities there are very limited and you'd also be limiting yourself to Dayton/southwest Ohio. Go to OSU and enjoy it! And if you can reduce COL by being an RA in the dorms or living with a bunch of roommates or whatever, just do whatever you have to do. In theory, couldn't you commute from Dayton if you really wanted to live at home and save? I mean, it'd be like 2 hours each way (1.5?), but people do things like that I guess.

Thanks for the input. Passing up completely free law school is tough especially since its in the location I want to work, but I understand what your saying. I'm leaning toward OSU.

Why didn't you apply to Cincinnati? That probably would've been free for you too (or close to it) and you could have commuted from home - it's only an hour.

I did apply and got a 40,000 dollar scholarship all the years. So it would be around 30,000 for tuition and I figured that at that price I might as well spend the extra money and go to OSU because of the better job prospects.

Please please please retake.

Bigfish41 wrote:

Mitchellcar wrote:

Bigfish41 wrote:Does the $80,000 include 10 year interest rate?

What are your goals? Very few people get BigLaw from OSU, as the LST stats indicate.
http://www.lstscorereports.com/?school= ... =employers

I,personally, wouldn't invest almost 100 grand for 58% chance of employment.

How many times did you take the LSAT?

I have taken the LSAT once. On the aba report its says only 4 people were unemployed from OSU last graduation cycle and 66% where firm jobs not 58%. What accounts for the discrepancy between those numbers and law school transparency?

http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 1&t=183922
This thread should answer your question. If you've taken it once, retake for a second or even a third time until you hit 170+.

Thank you.

Mitchellcar wrote:

Bigfish41 wrote:

Mitchellcar wrote:

Bigfish41 wrote:Does the $80,000 include 10 year interest rate?

What are your goals? Very few people get BigLaw from OSU, as the LST stats indicate.
http://www.lstscorereports.com/?school= ... =employers

I,personally, wouldn't invest almost 100 grand for 58% chance of employment.

How many times did you take the LSAT?

I have taken the LSAT once. On the aba report its says only 4 people were unemployed from OSU last graduation cycle and 66% where firm jobs not 58%. What accounts for the discrepancy between those numbers and law school transparency?

http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 1&t=183922
This thread should answer your question. If you've taken it once, retake for a second or even a third time until you hit 170+.

Thank you.

You need to retake. Even if you want to end up in Western Ohio and not do Big Law. Just several more points and you can get a full ride at OSU. I was in the same boat a few years back. I got into my state flagship with very little money, re-took and scored 5 points higher and basically got a full ride. It was worth the wait.

Also, I'm keeping my hope up for notre dame. Do you all think it would be worth it to go their with minimal schollys over OSU or Dayton considering my goal is to work in Ohio?

ND at close to full COA would be a mistake for anyone
http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 1&t=203182

Nova wrote:ND at close to full COA would be a mistake for anyone

Thanks for the input.

Mitchellcar wrote:Also, I'm keeping my hope up for notre dame. Do you all think it would be worth it to go their with minimal schollys over OSU or Dayton considering my goal is to work in Ohio?

No. These other posters are right. Retake and get a full ride. For a smaller (non-Cleveland) Ohio market like Dayton (or Cincy, or Columbus, or Toledo), the only schools you should be looking at other than OSU are HYS, and like... Chicago and Michigan. Even Chicago is pushing it, and Ohioans sometimes have actual, real (not just "lulz what a rivalry") hatred of Michigan. I think the goal should be mid-160s at least and get sweet $$$$ from OSU.

Between the two, go to OSU. No question. As to live in Dayton or Columbus, I would recommend you live in Columbus. You'll burn yourself out unless your used to getting up at 4ish in the morning. However, I strongly recommend you study/take a class and retake the LSAT. If you increase your LSAT by just four points, you would be looking at half off or more from OSU. Go up by 8-9 and you're looking at being competitive for t-14 (though for sticker). Good luck!

Ohiobumpkin wrote:Between the two, go to OSU. No question. As to live in Dayton or Columbus, I would recommend you live in Columbus. You'll burn yourself out unless your used to getting up at 4ish in the morning. However, I strongly recommend you study/take a class and retake the LSAT. If you increase your LSAT by just four points, you would be looking at half off or more from OSU. Go up by 8-9 and you're looking at being competitive for t-14 (though for sticker). Good luck!

Thank you for the advice!

Mitchellcar wrote:

isuperserial wrote:

Mitchellcar wrote:Hey all. Just hoping to get some feedback and appreciate if any of you take the time to weigh in,

Here's the situation. I live in Dayton and would like to practice in Ohio after graduation. I have a $10,000 a year scholarship with in state tuition from OSU.
In total, I would have to pay around $80,000 including housing ect. if I attended.

I also have a full tuition scholarship from Dayton and would not have to pay for housing because I would live at home so it would be essentially free.

I know the job prospects are way better for Ohio State in terms of salary and percentage of firm jobs but will the $80,000 in debt be worth it?

Thanks for the help in advance!

Retake. But failing that...

Have you taken your offer from Dayton to OSU? Even bumping that shit up to 15k a year would mean that much less debt; it's worth a shot. Honestly, you're not going to get biglaw from either, though, so I would say Dayton. It's not a good school, but it's got almost 50% employment and if it's free, so it's not going to kill you to go there. It's the less dangerous of the two options.

Man, I don't know. If you're going to do something, do it right. I would say retake, get a bitching scholarship, and go to OSU or somewhere else.

Do higher ranked schools actually take lower ranked schools scholarships into consideration? Do you know if OSU negotiates schollys at all? I also have a full ride at penn state, Toledo, and akron, as well as 40,000 (3 year total) from Cincinnati. Would that help my odds at increasing any?

Yeah, but as everyone has said, retake is your best option. Everything is negotiable until you sign upon the line that is dotted. I'm not saying they're going to give you an increase. I am saying the worse possible response is "no" and then you're right back here anyway. If there's a 1% chance of an increase, might as well take it.

But since you should definitely retake anyway, completely disregard what I said and get fucking studying.

Apply to Cincinnati and Case. They actually have some people getting lawyer jobs, and they're giving out full rides like candy. I don't think a full ride to either of those schools is a complete waste of time, unlike Dayton.

OSU with a partial scholly is better than Dayton. Dayton is not good at all.

JJ123 wrote:Apply to Cincinnati and Case. They actually have some people getting lawyer jobs, and they're giving out full rides like candy. I don't think a full ride to either of those schools is a complete waste of time, unlike Dayton.

OSU with a partial scholly is better than Dayton. Dayton is not good at all.

I did apply to cincy and got a half scholly.

OSU is the best non T14 for Ohio. Provided you recognize that you're not going to make a lot of money when you start working in Columbus or Cleveland or Cincinnati, OSU is an ok school.

You're going to get a lot of advice to retake, because so few graduating students from these schools end up making real money.