Top Law Schools

-The schools you are considering
School - Scholarship (COA)
WUSTL - Dean's Fellowship ($65K)
Harvard - ? (<180K)
Chicago - 60K (180K)
Duke - 105K (125K)

-How you will be financing your COA, i.e. loans, family, or savings
I will be living with my SO if I go to Harvard, so that will remove COL expenses if I go there. Everything else will be loans.

-Where you are from and where you want to work, and other places where you have significant ties (if any)
From a Midwest state that has no legal market. Want to end up either in the Midwest or in the Northeast. For personal and professional reasons, would prefer to reside near a large city.

-Your general career goals
Spend a few years in big law to help pay off debt before transitioning to a nonprofit or PI. Would love a clerkship along the way if I could get one. Like to focus on IP law. Since I don't know ultimately where I want to end up, flexibility is huge for me.

-Your LSAT/GPA numbers
174 (2nd try)/3.88

I blanketed the T14 save for Columbia, Berkeley, Stanford, and GULC. Waitlisted at Michigan, yet to hear back from Virginia, Northwestern, and Cornell (am expecting waitlists/dings).

I have yet to receive my aid package from Harvard. Based on my assets and my parent's assets, I would anticipate a substantial award, but I am reluctant to rely on that. Moreover, I'll have to decide on my WUSTL offer before I get my Harvard award anyway. The 180K is the maximum I would have to take out in loans for Harvard, with the actual amount depending on financial aid.

harvard for less than 200K i'd do that

Lol man, so many WUSTL Dean's Fellow questions lately! I'm guessing they just released these all at once? And Harvard OP. You want a clerkship, you want PI long term = not WUSTL, and since COA at Harvard is the same (edit: similar) as your non-Harvard options... Harvard!

Harvard

No one should be going to wustl with those stats

Yeah, a few years in biglaw to pay back $180k seems well worth the combo of more opportunities from going to Harvard and living with SO during the three years of law school.

Mack.Hambleton wrote:Harvard

No one should be going to wustl with those stats

Another important point. Did you really put all that work into retaking and get a 174 to go to WUSTL? (Which is a great school and all, no disrespect intended to them, they're just not 174 great).

Harvard. Go be with your SO, while going to the school that gives you the best chance to attain your goals at a relatively reasonable price. Good luck!

start a poll, but HLS is no-brainer.

Mack.Hambleton wrote:Harvard

No one should be going to wustl with those stats

WUSTL is ridiculous bc you have amazing stats
I actually think H is maybe the best choice bc your SO is there (180k is a lot of money, but the economy is improving, the school reputation is amazing, and you will be able to get big law).

As everyone's pointed out, Harvard is easy here

Negotiate. See if you can get WashUStL to throw in a medical degree & a housing stipend before rejecting them.

On a more serious note, Harvard because your stats, while impressive, do not assure you of placing in the top half of WashUStL.

Thanks for the input everyone. I've been pretty much leaning towards Harvard; it's just nice to hear from outside opinions to make sure I'm not being an idiot for taking on 100K+ more in debt for HLS.