Penn v. NU v. Chicago Forum

[daisy_miller]

Hi,

After some pondering, I've narrowed down my choices to:

NU-165k scholly
Chicago-45k scholly
Penn-105k scholly

I am potentially interested in doing big law in either NYC or Chicago. I am from Chicago so I have slightly more logical reasons to end up there (family, friends, etc.) aside from loving the city in its own right. However, I also love NYC and I know it is an unparalleled legal market.

I have visited all three schools and prefer the culture of Penn, then NU, then (by far least) Chicago. It feels hard to turn down a full ride to NU, especially considering I am from the area, but I don't know how much it will hurt my opportunities to do a lower, Midwestern T14, especially since I am likely interested in doing a clerkship before entering big law. I also got 90k from Michigan, 105k from Duke, 150k from Cornell, and 25k from NYU. I was waitlisted at Harvard and have not heard from Columbia and Stanford yet (blech).

If anyone could speak to their experiences taking a lower T14 over a higher T14, that'd be helpful. Other than that, I would just like to know what others would do in my position. Thanks!

[Nomo]

Can you give us the total debt at graduation for each school? This should include tuition, living expenses, loan origination fees, accruing interest, and 3 years of tuition increases. There are many calculators that can help you figure this out.

Its really hard to give good advice without knowing how much money you're going to be borrowing. (If you're paying with cash then we would want to know how much money you're paying in total).

[Nomo]

Regardless of the COA's, I wouldn't recommend choosing a law school based on its ability to get you a clerkship. Clerkships are one year jobs - you should really be focusing on your long-term career goals.

That doesn't mean you shouldn't apply for clerkships if you have the right grades. I just don't think you should spend extra money just for a better chance at a clerkship.

[Clemenceau]

Northwestern.

[Mack.Hambleton]

Easily NW

[KMart]

NU, this isn't even close. Great job on the offer at the school.

[WeeBey]

Whose smoking crack and chose Penn at $60k + interest more than NU?

[2014]

Whose smoking crack and chose Penn at $60k + interest more than NU?

I didn't, but you could justify that preference depending on where he falls on the preferring NYC or Chi spectrum. NU's NY placement is quite a bit worse than Penn's.

I'd probably go NU here tho.