Richmond Law (full scholly) or wait for more offers? Forum

[hermione92]

Hi guys, first time poster (although long time lurker). I have a dilemma on my hands and I'm getting conflicting advice from everyone so I thought I'd ask what you guys thought. I recently got offered a full ride to Richmond Law, but the problem is that I have to know whether I will accept my offer by April 1, which seems ridiculously early to me. I applied to about 12 schools total, and Richmond wasn't really my top choice, but I applied because I figured "why not?". I am still waiting on decisions from Arizona State, Boston University, Ohio State, GW, Boston College, and William and Mary (among a few others). I also got into Loyola Chicago and U San Diego, although I am not really planning on those either; they were my "safeties." My problem is that I took the Feb LSAT and a lot of these schools just now started looking at my file, which makes it hard to know whether I will have a decision made by April 1 or not. If more decisions don't come in by April 1, would it be irresponsible to turn down Richmond in favor of the other schools (where I might not get as much money)? Or do rankings not matter as much, since all these schools are outside of the T-14? I am trying to make a reasonable decision but finding it hard to do so as I feel I am under a lot of pressure. My numbers are 3.6 GPA/161 LSAT, and I am an immigrant, so hopefully that counts for some diversity factors.

Thank you!

[zombie mcavoy]

Unless you are from the immediate Richmond area and want to practice in the immediate region, I would not give the school even mild consideration. Almost half the graduates don't get jobs as attorneys, and as someone with no ties to the area, you're going to be in the outside looking in by default. http://www.lstscorereports.com/schools/richmond/2013/

But give us more information so we can give better advice, please.

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

[gilessanderson]

don't go to a school you didn't have a better reason for applying to than "why not?"

[rwhyAn]

I don't think you'll get anything near a full ride at any of the other schools listed. If you are ok with the Richmond area, then it's not necessarily a bad move. Richmond for free is much better than being heavily indebted at the other schools, even if it is less than ideal.

[hermione92]

-The schools you are considering
Top choices would be Arizona State, BU, BC, GW (probably won't get in though), Ohio State (although not crazy about it). Now i'm all stressed about Richmond because of the full scholarship though. Free money is tempting.

-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.
I haven't gotten decisions back from these so I can't make an accurate prediction yet. Paying full tuition + cost of living would put me over 150k in debt for each. Almost no debt if I were to go to Richmond.

-How you will be financing your COA, i.e. loans, family, or savings
Loans and some help from family for living expenses. Hoping to get some scholarship money though which would help tremendously.

-Where you are from and where you want to work, and other places where you have significant ties (if any)
I live in Ohio and go to OSU right now. I would love to live in any of the cities above mentioned, like Phoenix, Boston, or DC. I guess Columbus would be ok too, but I live here now and would like to get out. I don't have any significant ties anywhere, including Ohio, since we are an immigrant family.

-Your general career goals
I don't really want to work in BigLaw. I am interested in criminal law and immigration law, although not 100% sure yet.

-Your LSAT/GPA numbers
161/3.6

-How many times you have taken the LSAT
twice. 159 then 161. I studied for about 8 months and was aiming for 163-165, but not sure I could do better on a third retake as I felt I did my best on the second try. I started out at around a 148.

[hermione92]

I don't think you'll get anything near a full ride at any of the other schools listed. If you are ok with the Richmond area, then it's not necessarily a bad move. Richmond for free is much better than being heavily indebted at the other schools, even if it is less than ideal.

Yeah this is my problem. I have never been to Richmond so I don't know if I would like it or not. I'm visiting in 2 weeks so I guess I can see then, but I am just scared of taking an offer early without waiting to at least see what the decisions are from the other schools. Thanks for your reply!

[MarkfromWI]

It may not be best case scenario but if you're still waiting by Apr. 1, you can pay the Richmond seat deposit and keep waiting on the other schools. If you get end up getting a better offer somewhere else then you can take it, you just forfeit the seat deposit. Just because you pay the seat deposit does not force you to attend the school, it's just a way for the school to make a little (more) money off of you even if you decide to go somewhere else.

I know that sounds scary and a couple hundred bucks can seem like a big deal now but, in the grand scheme of your legal education and the potential impact it will have on your career for the next 40 years, a few hundred dollars is inconsequential.

[zombie mcavoy]

With your goals you're going to want to minimize debt as much as possible. All of the other schools listed are not worth anywhere close to the level of debt you are expecting. The safe answer as of now is either 1) Don't go, or 2) retake.

If you visit Richmond and really love it, I still would hesitate to advise you to go there. I would imagine employers take immigrant status into account when evaluating your ties, but you still need a compelling narrative to be there. You said it was basically for shits and giggles. And I don't know anything about the specific market, but I'm assuming it's pretty insular (as most markets are). And lack of ties notwithstanding: it has really bad placement. Almost half the class can't find a job nine months after graduation -- that is really bad.

It sucks, but I'd either take a year off to retake for more money in an area you're more interested in, or I'd try to pursue another profession and think about law if that path flames out. The risk/reward for your current options doesn't add up.

Good luck.

[Pequod]

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