Columbia vs. Duke + $ for PI? Forum

[Stubbazubba]

OK, I'm admitted to Duke's JD/LLM program and they offered me a pretty good scholarship, but that means I start in the summer, which means my deposit deadline is Friday. But Columbia just admitted me last week and I don't know what kind of scholly I might get from them. Duke sounds like a nicer environment, but I haven't been to Columbia to compare. I want to do PI, government work. I've strongly considered going for JAG.

Basically, there's a lot of things nudging me towards Duke, but I'm afraid of saying no to Columbia before I know what I'm dealing with from them. For what I want to do would Columbia be any better than Duke? Assume equal cost, and then what if Duke's a bit cheaper, like $70k cheaper?

Thanks.

[twenty]

If both are going to be equally expensive (to the extent you'd have to do PAYE/PSLF from either one), do Columbia.

For JAG and government, the difference is going to be non-existent. The only reason C > D is because of LRAPs, location, and school funding.

[n1o2c3a4c5h6e7t]

Like Twenty mentioned, Columbia is better because you will be able to intern during the year with more PI organizations that can actually hire you post-grad in NYC over Durham lol. Come back when you know exactly how much cheaper Duke will be because at equal cost this isn't worthy of discussion.

[Stubbazubba]

As I said, I can't hang around until I know how much Columbia might offer me, so it's Columbia at sticker (~$250,000+) vs. Duke JD/LLM at a total CoA of ~$175-180,000 (current offer). Would anyone's opinion change if Duke got to ~$140-150,000?

Thanks.

[twenty]

As I said, I can't hang around until I know how much Columbia might offer me, so it's Columbia at sticker (~$250,000+) vs. Duke JD/LLM at a total CoA of ~$175-180,000 (current offer). Would anyone's opinion change if Duke got to ~$140-150,000?

Thanks.

If your Duke offer was 140-150k or so, then kick the LLM and you should be at 120k(ish?). While you'll still probably go PAYE/PSLF track at this point, that's still a much more manageable number, and your PAYE payments will likely catch the entirety of the interest. So if you bailed on PI after a few years, you'd be pretty much back where you started (as opposed to owing significantly more due to negative amortization).

At some point, when you're going to definitely be on the PI track if you want to pay off your loans, it doesn't really matter if you take out 180k or 250k+ of debt. That's why if Duke doesn't go down to 120k or so, go with Columbia for the marginal benefit Columbia's LRAP/location/funding will provide.

That said, you say a lot of things are nudging you towards Duke. Duke is hardly a bad option here for PI, especially if you have ties to/want to work in the south. The LLM means nothing, your options will be more limited coming out due to location, and the LRAP is kind of shoddy, but those are all very peripheral things. If you will be objectively happier at Duke and feel like the benefit of being in the south outweighs the career advantages of Columbia, hell, go with Duke.

[chevrondeference]

If you are sure you want to do PI, Columbia will very likely be cheaper in the long run. Columbia's LRAP is fantastic. If you make less than 50k/yr, they pay your loans in full each year. If you make more than 50k, you pay about a third of the amount over 50, and they pay the rest. So say your first year you start work at a typical government salary of 65k. You will have to pay about 5k of your loans that year, Columbia will pay the rest. (about 20k, at sticker). At 75k, you're still paying less than half of your loans. I would sketch out the math - after a few years I bet you've more than made up the difference in price.

Also, if you are really dedicated to PI and do go to Columbia, get involved in the PI community and you can ultimately apply for one of their accelerated LRAP fellowships (hard to get, but they pay off all your loans as long as you make less than 100k).