Top Law Schools

Thanks in advance for anyone who's willing to offer advice.

I've received admission to GW (90K scholly, no stips from what I can tell), NU (no word on $ yet), and GULC (no word on $ yet). I'm expecting at least a bit at NU/GULC, but nowhere in the range of 90K. Main objective is to get a job after school to pay off debt and then hopefully move into public service back home (which is in the Southeast).

Someone told me all three of these schools are "functionally the same," in that I'd have a good shot of obtaining employment after graduation. The numbers don't seem to support this claim fully, as GULC and NU have better employment scores than GW (and further, NU's numbers > GULC). However, I'm open to the notion that your prospects/law school experience are what you make of it, and not entirely dependent on the prestige of the school.

Visiting NU soon to see what the vibe is like. Visited GULC already, and liked it, and have been impressed w/ the dean of admission's accessibility. Visited GW as well.

What's the deal in this situation? I'm still awaiting news from Chi, NYU, Columbia, Michigan, and Stanford. If I can get into one of those, I would probably think about paying sticker, but for now I'm going to assume NU/GULC/GWU are the most realistic options.

Thanks in advance.

Congrats on NU - negotiate your scholarships up at GULC and NU and if you can get at least 60k+ then let us know - otherwise there's no real advise we can really give at the moment other than stating the obvious that NU and GULC at Sticker Price are not good options at 270k+ COA.

Edit: P.S. No there are definitely not functionally the same not even close.

School/Big Law/Fed Clerkship/Optimal Employment Outcome
Northwestern: 55.6 + 7.7 = 63.4%
GULC: 41.4 + 5.1 = 46.5%
GW: 28.0 + 4.8 = 32.8%

Ha, thanks for that! Yeah, debt is scary, and I'm trying hard not to let the prestige of the T14 affect me.

So just to be clear--is the general thinking that ~60K for NU/GULC is worth it, potentially? I know it depends on a lot of factors, but 60K is a good chunk, and I wouldn't be displeased w/ that.

Yea 60k obviously would not be ideal but if you live frugally and get a 2L Big Law gig then you should graduate with less than 200k with a school like Northwestern with stellar employment placement where literally more than half the class ~144/280 get 500+ law firm placement it's definitely a great option if sufficiently discounted to make the debt manageable. If you debt is sticker price though forget about it 270, 280 or 290k with that interest rate pumping the debt ever higher I think it becomes untenable at that point.

OP are you patent bar eligible

androstan wrote:OP are you patent bar eligible

Unfortunately not patent bar eligible; GW would be more attractive if I was!

BA414 wrote:

androstan wrote:OP are you patent bar eligible

Unfortunately not patent bar eligible; GW would be more attractive if I was!

I cannot personally advocate any of these options under these circumstances.

But if I had to pick 1 it would be NU clearly.