Merit aid vs Better Ranking Forum

[notsolawful]

Hi, this is my first time posting on TLS, have been lurking for a while. I'm still a naive 0L, applying to law school next year and was wondering what the reasons of choosing a school better ranked in the T14 with little money over doing something like Early Decision to Northwestern and getting 150k? Is the job placement between Northwestern and let's say NYU or Chicago enough to justify an extra 100k? I know this is all subjective, but I would like to see an argument of why you should choose a higher ranked school over cheaper education.
Best,
Notsolawful

[star fox]

Are you a giant prestige whore/special snowflake who thinks he's going to be a supreme court justice?

[Tiago Splitter]

If you're poor enough to get max grant aid from HYS then the cost difference isn't that big. And if you have HYS numbers there's a pretty good chance you can get a full ride or close to it from another T-14 so applying ED and limiting your options isn't really necessary. But pretty much everyone with non-HYS but still T-14 numbers should be applying ED to Northwestern these days.

[notsolawful]

No. Just wanna do Big law for a few years, then see what comes after that. I just think that 200k+ of debt will take a long time to pay off, making the higher salary of law not so high for the first 5-10 years of paying it. But it seems that a good amount of people would go to Columbia over getting 150k at Northwestern and I was just wondering what I was missing.

Ya, I don't have GPA for HYS. I have a good LSAT though, so I think I have a decent chance at CCN, as well as a good shot at NU ED

[star fox]

fyi, you don't need to ED Northwestern to be in the running for big merit aid. If you can get a Ruby then I think that's the best option in the law school admissions game. But I think full-rides from lower T14s like northwestern or cornell is pretty manageable for a lot of people with in at CCN type numbers.

[star fox]

No. Just wanna do Big law for a few years, then see what comes after that. I just think that 200k+ of debt will take a long time to pay off, making the higher salary of law not so high for the first 5-10 years of paying it. But it seems that a good amount of people would go to Columbia over getting 150k at Northwestern and I was just wondering what I was missing.

Ya, I don't have GPA for HYS. I have a good LSAT though, so I think I have a decent chance at CCN, as well as a good shot at NU ED

Some combo of A) prestige whores B) rich parents C) don't actually give consideration to what 200K of debt means I would guess.

[Lebrarian_Booker]

No. Just wanna do Big law for a few years, then see what comes after that. I just think that 200k+ of debt will take a long time to pay off, making the higher salary of law not so high for the first 5-10 years of paying it. But it seems that a good amount of people would go to Columbia over getting 150k at Northwestern and I was just wondering what I was missing.

Ya, I don't have GPA for HYS. I have a good LSAT though, so I think I have a decent chance at CCN, as well as a good shot at NU ED

Some combo of A) prestige whores B) rich parents C) don't actually give consideration to what 200K of debt means I would guess.

[Mullens]

Hi, this is my first time posting on TLS, have been lurking for a while. I'm still a naive 0L, applying to law school next year and was wondering what the reasons of choosing a school better ranked in the T14 with little money over doing something like Early Decision to Northwestern and getting 150k? Is the job placement between Northwestern and let's say NYU or Chicago enough to justify an extra 100k? I know this is all subjective, but I would like to see an argument of why you should choose a higher ranked school over cheaper education.
Best,
Notsolawful

Whether you should ED Northwestern or not probably depends on your specific numbers. If you have HYS/Ruby/Hamilton numbers it would be dumb because you'd be foregoing bigger money at better schools. If you have numbers at or over both medians at lower T14 schools it would be dumb because you would probably get several full rides at lower T14s (which is more than a $20k difference with ED NU if you account for tuition increases) if you convincingly jump through all the hoops. If you're a splitter I think it's a good idea because it might be the most scholarship money you get. At least that's the gamble I took.

Do I think NYU or UChi is worth $100k more than Northwestern? Absolutely not, but I'm sure some people might disagree.

[03152016]

on no planet is uchi or nyu worth $100k more than nu
this isn't monopoly money
i feel like sometimes people forget that $100k is actually $100k