Top Law Schools

I'm on the WL at Fordham and BC. I was recently accepted to BU with a merit scholarship between 15-20k per year. I'm dead set on working in NYC in the long run, though.

Do you think I'll see any $ from Fordham if I send a LOCI and update them on my situation? Is F that much better than BU for NYC big law?

Or do I go to BU with the $ and aim for the top? (Knowing that this, of course, isn't easy or practical.)

Or do I retake and reapply? It's always an option. But I've been out of school for a while and was really planning on going this year, so retaking is somewhat undesirable.

In the end, I understand that T14 is the way to go but I didn't get in to any of them so I'm working with that I've got.

That scholarship isn't enough to make BU practical. It sounds like you are very well aware of your situation and options, so most advice probably won't be useful. If I were in your shoes, I'd retake or take another, lower-cost alternative. Did you apply anywhere else?

I would leverage BU acceptance with BC and Fordham. I considered all 3 schools, and after 3 scholarship enhancements, decided on BU. Just met with career services yesterday, NYC out of BU IS very possible, basically if you're in the top third of your (or our i guess i should say) class you have a good shot. BU is much better for NYC than BC, met with their career services as well. BC=Boston Big Law and not much else (but dominates Boston) BU = Boston (much lesser extent than BC) NYC, DC, Cali (over 12%)

Ngoblue2014 wrote:I would leverage BU acceptance with BC and Fordham. I considered all 3 schools, and after 3 scholarship enhancements, decided on BU. Just met with career services yesterday, NYC out of BU IS very possible, basically if you're in the top third of your (or our i guess i should say) class you have a good shot. BU is much better for NYC than BC, met with their career services as well. BC=Boston Big Law and not much else (but dominates Boston) BU = Boston (much lesser extent than BC) NYC, DC, Cali (over 12%)

This is good advice - leverage and negotiate as much as possible. BU at 20k/year is iffy, so retaking is your best option. Outside of that, do whatever you can to get that scholarship up.

Thanks Melon, I would say given the exorbitant cost of living in Boston (I'm paying over 1600/month per person in a two bedroom, though it is literally across from the tower) you need at least 25k a year at BU to make it "viable." Unless of course your family is paying, you have a college fund etc. Yes you can live in cheaper places but i challenge you to find a two bedroom for less than 1000 per person, food is more expensive, cabs, parking is insane, entertainment. Im coming from Michigan, and Boston makes Ann Arbor look like a dollar store town.

Ngoblue2014 wrote:Thanks Melon, I would say given the exorbitant cost of living in Boston (I'm paying over 1600/month per person in a two bedroom, though it is literally across from the tower) you need at least 25k a year at BU to make it "viable." Unless of course your family is paying, you have a college fund etc. Yes you can live in cheaper places but i challenge you to find a two bedroom for less than 1000 per person, food is more expensive, cabs, parking is insane, entertainment. Im coming from Michigan, and Boston makes Ann Arbor look like a dollar store town.

You're paying way too much for that area. I lived in a nice 2 br/2.5 bath on Beacon Hill for less than that.

Really? Would you mind PMing the details? Were in a high rise though, concierge service, gym etc. "full service" and most importantly central air haha i heard the summers can be brutal

Ngoblue2014 wrote:Thanks Melon, I would say given the exorbitant cost of living in Boston (I'm paying over 1600/month per person in a two bedroom, though it is literally across from the tower) you need at least 25k a year at BU to make it "viable." Unless of course your family is paying, you have a college fund etc. Yes you can live in cheaper places but i challenge you to find a two bedroom for less than 1000 per person, food is more expensive, cabs, parking is insane, entertainment. Im coming from Michigan, and Boston makes Ann Arbor look like a dollar store town.

That is insanity. A lot of my friends were at BU and paid maybe $1000(ish) for the Brighton area. It's off the same T line that BU is on, so there's no reason to be paying that much for a shared apartment.

As for the original post, Fordham and BU are pretty comparable for NYC placement (and Fordham is ridiculously stingy with money...it was *the* reason I said no to them).

yea i agree but were not taking the T line we can throw a ball to the foot of the tower. my apartment is neither here nor there in this conversation haha Boston is expensive, that was the point of my addition of the rent, for instance if he was going to UNC or UGA or something like that it would be like 4-500 a month rent and everything overall would on average be less expensive

Brighton isn't a great idea either. The B line is unreliable and slow as fuck once you get past Packard's (and you no longer have the 57 Bus as a backup). But there are plenty of Allston/Kenmore/Fenway places within walking distance for around $1000 per person.

do you go to BU?

Nope.

redsox wrote:Brighton isn't a great idea either. The B line is unreliable and slow as fuck once you get past Packard's (and you no longer have the 57 Bus as a backup). But there are plenty of Allston/Kenmore/Fenway places within walking distance for around $1000 per person.

You still have the 57 if you live in Brighton Center, along Washington Street.

redsoxfan1989 wrote:

redsox wrote:Brighton isn't a great idea either. The B line is unreliable and slow as fuck once you get past Packard's (and you no longer have the 57 Bus as a backup). But there are plenty of Allston/Kenmore/Fenway places within walking distance for around $1000 per person.

You still have the 57 if you live in Brighton Center, along Washington Street.

Yeah but you need to pick which one to walk to.

redsox wrote:

redsoxfan1989 wrote:

redsox wrote:Brighton isn't a great idea either. The B line is unreliable and slow as fuck once you get past Packard's (and you no longer have the 57 Bus as a backup). But there are plenty of Allston/Kenmore/Fenway places within walking distance for around $1000 per person.

You still have the 57 if you live in Brighton Center, along Washington Street.

Yeah but you need to pick which one to walk to.

You can time the bus with various apps. The B line is admittedly unpredictable and is the only MBTA line without GPS tracking (I do this commute every day to work in Back Bay).

Ngoblue2014 wrote:Thanks Melon, I would say given the exorbitant cost of living in Boston (I'm paying over 1600/month per person in a two bedroom, though it is literally across from the tower) you need at least 25k a year at BU to make it "viable." Unless of course your family is paying, you have a college fund etc. Yes you can live in cheaper places but i challenge you to find a two bedroom for less than 1000 per person, food is more expensive, cabs, parking is insane, entertainment. Im coming from Michigan, and Boston makes Ann Arbor look like a dollar store town.

If you're willing to lower your SOL, you can do much better. I paid 600$/month for a bed in a 3 bed 1 bath. Of course, the place was absolutely terrible - but its nice now that I'm debt free.

The B line can definitely be a problem, but I've known a lot of BU kids living off of it. Certainly for much cheaper than what OP is currently paying.

You can live off whatever T line you want when you take a year off to reapply, which you will do, correct?

ETA: That was a little too snarky to be helpful. If you're testing in the 160s, IMO you should definitely retake.

BU at that cost is just brutal. It'd be a borderline case for a school that would definitely get you to NYC, but for BU... I just wouldn't.

OP you have a 3.9. Retake.

BU with $ is a decent option for NYC, and better than most non-T14 schools.
I would try and get off the waitlists at BC and Fordham which place better in NYC biglaw, but BU is a decent option if you don't get off the waitlist.

BU is much better for NYC Big Law than BC, BC is superior in Boston however

With $15k/year, you're looking at $185k debt at repayment, according to lawschool22's cost calculator. Considering BU's biglaw+fedclerk is 26.6% and your stated goal is NYC biglaw, I'd say this option is extremely risky.

Ngoblue2014 wrote:BU is much better for NYC Big Law than BC, BC is superior in Boston however

A couple percentage points either way doesn't mean much duder. Why would an NYC firm look more favorably on one over the other? Because it's a university instead of a college?

They're the peeriest of peers, parsing out the data this finely is silly.

BigZuck wrote:

Ngoblue2014 wrote:BU is much better for NYC Big Law than BC, BC is superior in Boston however

A couple percentage points either way doesn't mean much duder. Why would an NYC firm look more favorably on one over the other? Because it's a university instead of a college?

They're the peeriest of peers, parsing out the data this finely is silly.

Coming from a BU grad, I agree. I think its also self-selection. Seems like top of the class at BC prefers Ropes/Wilmer, and the top of the class at BU prefers big NY firms. Placement stats for each school also flips around each year.

oh god not this debate again

BU = BC and pretending otherwise is rank idiocy. Ngoblue doesn't have a clue what he's talking about.

OP you're paying too much for BU, it's not good for your goals, and you have a 3.9. Retake is the obvious correct answer here.