Help me decide Duke JD/LLM question Forum

[Stubbazubba]

About me:
3.55/173, non-URM, fluent in Mandarin Chinese

Schools- (apps sent in Feb. 1)
Columbia - (expecting quick denial)
NYU - (kind of the same)
UVA - Waitlisted (this was a little surprising, I think it's because I applied so late)
Duke - Admitted to JD/LLM + almost 1/2 tuition scholarship
Cornell -
Georgetown -
William & Mary - Admitted with 1/2 scholarship + Graduate Scholar Grant
Notre Dame - Admitted with 1/2 scholarship
BYU (undergrad) - Admitted with rank-conditional full scholarship

Career aspirations: I would love to be a prosecutor. After studying law in China on a government study-abroad program, I lost my interest in international law. Criminal law has always been attractive and the more I talk to people who do it, the more their interests line up very well with mine. One path that has interested me is the JAG corps. JAG has its perks that no other prosecutor position can match: very attractive starting salary + monthly stipend, and the possibility of living overseas. Fun stuff. But besides that, I would be equally satisfied in a regular DA's office.

Dilemma: As you may have guessed, my strongest credentials were in the international law sphere, so I marketed myself in that direction. That included applying to Duke's JD/LLM in C&I Law. Well, that came back a positive and with benefits, which I definitely was not expecting. But that program starts early, so they want a decision by April 11th. I haven't even heard back from most of the top schools I applied to, and there's no guarantee that I will before that date.

My career goals, however, only tangentially benefit from that, if at all: I had heard that the Navy often sends their JAGs back to school to get an LLM in C&I Law, so I asked Navy JAG's hiring website and they said yes, the LLM would be helpful on a JAG application. But that's a lot of time, effort, and money spent for a little help on one application to a super-selective position.

I'm not really that interested in international law, I'd be doing the dual-degree thing purely for an edge on a single career path. That seems unwise, especially considering the extra expense. While I'm a good enough student, I don't think I'd end up at the very high end of Duke's ranking. So I could go to Duke, sit through a summer or two of extra international law courses and shoulder more debt for that, and finally graduate hopefully in the top half, all to look good for JAG.

Right now, my other option is go to William & Mary with hopefully a full tuition scholarship leveraged from the Duke offer, work hard and hopefully get in the top 20% or even 10%, and apply to JAG and DA's offices without looking more attractive for one or the other. This cuts my losses in the worst-case scenario and would spare me the commitment during school to a field of law I'm not interested in. However, the prestige of W&M's brand is a far cry from Duke's.

tl;dr - Admitted to a dual-degree program at Duke, it doesn't sound super interesting, but it would help land my dream job. I could also go to W&M for very little, focus on what I really want to do, and have reasonable prospects for lots of jobs, just not stand out very much to dream job.

Question: What's better - top half at Duke or top 10-20% at W&M? If being in the top half of Duke is better than top 10-20% at W&M, then I'll take the less-than-stellar dual degree and the debt. But if top 10 or 20% at W&M is actually better generally, then I think I'd be better off with cheaper/no tuition and not paying for extra classes I'm not actually that interested in.

What would you do?