CLS/NYU/HLS/Fordham/Vandy? - Please advise! Forum

[bretby]

Here's my situation:

1. The schools you are considering:
In At: CLS, NYU, HLS, Fordham, Vandy, GULC
WL: Penn
Haven't Heard: Chicago

2. The total Cost of Attendance (COA) of each.
I can't access the calculator, but since I haven't heard from most of the schools about aid, let's assume none is forthcoming.
CLS: No scholarship info yet. COL covered by savings.
NYU: ditto
HLS: ditto
Fordham: full scholarship + COL covered by savings
Vandy: full scholarship + can live for free with family
GULC: I put it on here just because, but they only offered loans, no merit. COL covered by savings.

3. How you will be financing your COA, i.e. loans, family, or savings
A combination of the three, though skewed heavily towards loans.

4. Where you are from and where you want to work, and other places where you have significant ties (if any)
Grew up all over, but have family in Nashville. Have lived in Boston or New York my entire adult life. I would like to stay in a major city on the Northeast corridor.

5.Your general career goals: Public Interest, particularly NGO/Advocacy work, perhaps academia. I have a PhD and taught at an Ivy for several years in a related field. I would like to move into a position that is more closely engaged with the topics I teach and write about.

6. Your LSAT/GPA numbers
LSAT: 169, taken it twice and got the same score.
GPA: 3.73

As you can tell, I am really trying to decide between taking the money on the one hand, and taking advantage of the placement power in the kind of unicorn jobs I am interested in on the other. Given my interests, the relative strength of the various schools' LRAP programs is also a relevant factor, though I can't bank on that. Curious to hear what you all have to say - thanks for your input!

[downbeat14]

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[Indy16]

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[jbagelboy]

Harvard, unless Columbia or NYU magically came forth with half tuition scholarships. Fordham and Vanderbilt are not comparable to those schools in placement. The debt will suck for a while but if you get an LIPP supported gig you'll survive. Congrats and hope you enjoy law more than academia in your current field!

[rustyburger2]

Are you an URM, or was your personal statement just godly?

[jbagelboy]

Are you an URM, or was your personal statement just godly?

Having a PhD and academic experience in a related field makes for pretty strong "softs," the kind that help an admissions committee overlook LSAT scores and grades. Those traditional indicia of academic performance can't tell the whole story for someone like this.

[bretby]

Are you an URM, or was your personal statement just godly?

Not a URM, and while it would be nice to think my personal statement was so compelling and so elegantly written that I got in on the strength of it alone, I think jbagel's analysis is probably more on point. Plus, my undergrad grades are pretty old, which means they predate the insane grade inflation of the past 5ish years. And, as someone who has been the grade-giver as well as the grade-receiver, I can confirm that the pressure to inflate grades is very real and very hard to get around, especially as a junior. So I think that is why I outperformed my numbers, which I most certainly did.