Top Law Schools

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It depends on where you want to work, those schools feed into different markets. GW to DC, BU to Boston, Emory into Atlanta. Don't go to GW or BU for those prices try to negotiate a higher scholarship by using Emory's scholarship.

BertYoo wrote:So I'm having a bit of trouble deciding between these three schools. My interests are varied, and I go back and forth between BigLaw, Crim and Constitutional law. What would be your thoughts and recommendations given that schools have given me:

Emory - $99K
BU - $60K
GW - $60K

I am in the process of negotiating BU and GW, but assuming nothing changes is there a clear choice that you would make? Any advice is much appreciated!!!

Constitutional Law is something for people at the top of their class at HYS, not from any of these schools. Big Law is possible from all 3, but not the likely outcome. When you say crim, do you mean DA or PD or something else? Also, what is the COA and your LSAT/GPA? Where do you want to end up location wise?

I'd say retake likely, but need more info

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BertYoo wrote:Thanks for the responses! My stats are 165/3.48. Yes, that is pretty much what I had in mind for criminal, but again my interests aren't as focused yet! From what I found online, COA are:

Emory: $73K
BU: $65K
GW: $78K

Ideally, I would like to stay in NYC, Boston, DC which makes Emory less appealing to me. I've also been waitlisted at Georgetown, UCLA, Columbia (highly unlikely with my GPA). I didn't know schools still considered June LSATs?

They do for scholarship purposes. If you want to be in Boston, BU at that COA is very reasonable, but are you just counting tuition and not living expenses? That would add 60-80k.

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BertYoo wrote:So I'm having a bit of trouble deciding between these three schools. My interests are varied, and I go back and forth between BigLaw, Crim and Constitutional law. What would be your thoughts and recommendations given that schools have given me:

Emory - $99K
BU - $60K
GW - $60K

I am in the process of negotiating BU and GW, but assuming nothing changes is there a clear choice that you would make? Any advice is much appreciated!!!

First, we have no way to give you truly helpful advice:

In order to receive the best feedback in this forum, please provide as much of the following information in your original post as possible:

-The schools you are considering
-The total Cost of Attendance (COA) of each. COA = cost of tuition + fees + books + cost of living (COL) + accumulated interest - scholarships. Here is a helpful calculator.
-How you will be financing your COA, i.e. loans, family, or savings
-Where you are from and where you want to work, and other places where you have significant ties (if any)
-Your general career goals
-Your LSAT/GPA numbers
-How many times you have taken the LSAT

Second, because you appear to have picked these schools not for geographic reasons but because they are the "best" schools you can get into and get scholarships from, given your stats, read this: http://top-law-schools.com/forums/viewt ... 1&t=244746

Third, constitutional law as you understand it is not a thing, for our purposes. If you want biglaw, none of these schools will work: none place well enough in biglaw to justify the immense debt loads they would entail. If you want crim law, none of these schools will work: they require far too much debt and do not have LRAPs -- a crim law gunner should plan to graduate with 60K debt, tops.

You need to give us more information, but understand that the best move here is almost certainly going to be one of the following:
- change your goals and consider only small regionals in your preferred market that give you close to full rides
- retake the LSAT
- find another profession

BertYoo wrote:

thebobs1987 wrote:
They do for scholarship purposes. If you want to be in Boston, BU at that COA is very reasonable, but are you just counting tuition and not living expenses? That would add 60-80k.

Oh wow, I had no idea!! I have to double check, but I do believe that is counting living expenses as I recall tuition coming to around $49K.

How are you doing your math? Based on your scholarship numbers that can't be correct

thebobs1987 wrote:

BertYoo wrote:

thebobs1987 wrote:
They do for scholarship purposes. If you want to be in Boston, BU at that COA is very reasonable, but are you just counting tuition and not living expenses? That would add 60-80k.

Oh wow, I had no idea!! I have to double check, but I do believe that is counting living expenses as I recall tuition coming to around $49K.

How are you doing your math? Based on your scholarship numbers that can't be correct

he listed every school's self-reported estimated cost of attendance for one academic year.

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BertYoo wrote:If I do retake the LSAT in June, and bring it to a 170+, would that substantially increase scholarship from BU or would it be better to work another year, retake the LSAT and reapply for the next cycle?

after reading the updated OP, I would not advise attending any of the three. Gun to my head, I would go to BU, but I would strongly err on the side of calling the shooters bluff: this is an irresponsible amount to debt to take out for the job prospects BU offers. Many schools have an LRAP, but outside the T14 they're pretty much useless and not something you can count on.

Emory doesn't make any sense for your goals, and that's a suicidal level of debt to take out at GW.

Yes, getting a 170 would give you much better options and a better scholarship from BU, and working another year would help to mitigate the COA when you do matriculate.

Good luck.

zombie mcavoy wrote:

BertYoo wrote:If I do retake the LSAT in June, and bring it to a 170+, would that substantially increase scholarship from BU or would it be better to work another year, retake the LSAT and reapply for the next cycle?

after reading the updated OP, I would not advise attending any of the three. Gun to my head, I would go to BU, but I would strongly err on the side of calling the shooters bluff: this is an irresponsible amount to debt to take out for the job prospects BU offers. Many schools have an LRAP, but outside the T14 they're pretty much useless and not something you can count on.

Emory doesn't make any sense for your goals, and that's a suicidal level of debt to take out at GW.

Yes, getting a 170 would give you much better options and a better scholarship from BU, and working another year would help to mitigate the COA when you do matriculate.

Good luck.

Agree to all this. Good luck OP