Top Law Schools

The schools you are considering

Right now, NYU, UVA, Duke, Gtown. WL at Harvard and Penn, both of which I'll be pursuing. Still waiting from Columbia, Cornell, and Michigan....

I loved all of the schools that I have visited, especially NYU and UVA. But I'm having trouble determining if UVA is worth THAT much money over Duke for NYC biglaw, or even if NYU is.

The total Cost of Attendance (COA) of each.

I am still very much in the process of negotiating. I don't want to give exact scholarship information, but after deducting current scholarships and what my parents are contributing, it will be about
$200k for NYU
$110k for UVA
$66k for Duke
$40k for GULC (factoring in living at home outside of DC, which doesn't sound very exciting).

How you will be financing your COA, i.e. loans, family, or savings

The above costs will be paid for with loans.

Where you are from and where you want to work, and other places where you have significant ties (if any)

I am from DC. Working in NYC vs. DC is pretty even for me, but I will shoot for NYC, since I have heard it is a bit easier to land, and I would prefer to do transactional law, for example, on M&A type deals.

Your general career goals

Almost positive I want to work in biglaw.

Your LSAT/GPA numbers

171/3.82; can no longer retake.

If you wanted DC, UVA might be justifiable. But for NYC, I would go with lower debt. A 45k difference is pretty substantial in terms of debt repayment. Also, Duke will give you a better chance at NYC biglaw than GULC. Voted Duke.

Even if you wanted DC, UVA isn't justifiable here.

Duke is the option.

Duke. Graduating with such little debt is phenomenal.

UVA is not worth 50k over Duke even for DC. Gtown should not be considered unless it is at least 100k cheaper than another T14.

hcrimson2014 wrote:UVA is not worth 50k over Duke even for DC.

This. Duke seems to be the right answer here, pretty clearly.

Duke. And at 40k, GULC is not a bad bargain.