Top Law Schools

Scholarships:
Berkeley- (still waiting on initial $ offer, submitted Cornell matching app), $52,116 tuition
UVA- $40k/ yr out of $54,800 tuition
Cornell- $50k/ yr out of $59,950 tuition
Northwestern- $50k/ yr out of $56,134 tuition
Duke- $25k/ yr out of $55,548 tuition (possible $ offer reconsideration)

How you will be financing your COA, i.e. loans, family, or savings:
Family, maybe loans

Where you are from and where you want to work, and other places where you have significant ties (if any):
From Portland, OR area, undergrad in SoCal. Open to where I want to work, but like West Coast

Your general career goals:
Private/biglaw, leaning towards transactional, but not entirely sure. Possible clerking.

Your LSAT/GPA numbers:
169, 3.82

How many times you have taken the LSAT:
2...my testing abilities are a bit lacking...

Really liked Berkeley and UVA when visited. Have not/unable to visit Northwestern and Cornell. Neutral feelings about Duke during visit, so am wondering if it's worth to try and get an increased offer from them?
For Berkeley I am still waiting on scholarship info, which will be a very important deciding factor, especially given Berkeley's West Coast strength. I haven't heard too many positive things on their scholarship generosity though.
UVA is out of funds for negotiation, Cornell's offer has been increased from $45k /yr, and Northwestern's is an initial offer.
Charlottesville's and Durham's cheap cost of living is great. Paying only ~$6k tuition per year at Northwestern is tempting though.

I like Northwestern here (assuming Berk doesn't come through with big cash). Duke is out because of cost. I think UVA is too. NU places more grads into CA than Cornell and is cheaper. Congrats on the good options OP.

Hopefully Berk comes through for you because it sounds like that would be your best option. I think Cornell, NU, and UVA are all legitimate choices.

Winston1984 wrote:I like Northwestern here (assuming Berk doesn't come through with big cash). Duke is out because of cost. I think UVA is too. NU places more grads into CA than Cornell and is cheaper. Congrats on the good options OP.

Sensible advice, but I think UVA would be fine too. Once you factor in the slightly lower tuition and COL, your total COA over three years at UVA would be just about $15K - 20K more than at Northwestern.

Wow, Cornell's tuition is nuts.

I agree that Berkeley would be best if they come through with a comparable offer. If they don't, though, I think NU is your best option. UVA is also a fine choice, but you won't get significantly better odds at your desired outcome(s) there, so unless you have a strong preference for it over NU, I think NU wins out at that price. Duke could be the better choice if they double their offer, but that is unlikely, and since you weren't thrilled with the visit, I would still say NU. Cornell wouldn't make much sense here.

Congrats on these great options, and good luck at whatever school you choose!

Cornell, UVA, and NU will have similar costs due to tuition/COL. CA placement power is probably similar too.

Thanks for all your input! Hopefully Berkeley gets back to me soon...

For UVA vs Northwestern, does UVA have a greater level of prestige that would make any difference in terms of employment opps, or are the two schools similar enough in how firms perceive them? Also, I've heard UVA is fairly generous with its grading curve (about a B+), but does anyone know about Northwestern's?

sssa511 wrote:Thanks for all your input! Hopefully Berkeley gets back to me soon...

For UVA vs Northwestern, does UVA have a greater level of prestige that would make any difference in terms of employment opps, or are the two schools similar enough in how firms perceive them? Also, I've heard UVA is fairly generous with its grading curve (about a B+), but does anyone know about Northwestern's?

Northwestern has an absurdly generous grading curve. It seems like, by the time you're a 3L, median is 3.6 or something. The judge I clerked for all but stopped looking at Northwestern apps because the grades were so inflated.

As for "prestige," I think UVA probably has a better rep in DC. And UVA certainly has more alumni there. But in California, any difference is probably too slight to worry about.

Winston1984 wrote:I like Northwestern here (assuming Berk doesn't come through with big cash). Duke is out because of cost. I think UVA is too. NU places more grads into CA than Cornell and is cheaper. Congrats on the good options OP.

Doesn't the COL difference of Cville and Chicago balance out the ~26000 tuition difference between the two schools? I'd go with UVA.

commandercup wrote:

Winston1984 wrote:I like Northwestern here (assuming Berk doesn't come through with big cash). Duke is out because of cost. I think UVA is too. NU places more grads into CA than Cornell and is cheaper. Congrats on the good options OP.

Doesn't the COL difference of Cville and Chicago balance out the ~26000 tuition difference between the two schools? I'd go with UVA.

You can live pretty cheap in Chicago, I wouldn't say there's a 10k yr difference

Unless I've misread the initial post, Northwestern seems to be the easy choice based on cost & OP's preference for biglaw.

Mack.Hambleton wrote:

commandercup wrote:

Winston1984 wrote:I like Northwestern here (assuming Berk doesn't come through with big cash). Duke is out because of cost. I think UVA is too. NU places more grads into CA than Cornell and is cheaper. Congrats on the good options OP.

Doesn't the COL difference of Cville and Chicago balance out the ~26000 tuition difference between the two schools? I'd go with UVA.

You can live pretty cheap in Chicago, I wouldn't say there's a 10k yr difference

Idk man.