Top Law Schools

Deposit deadlines are coming up soon, and I'm still undecided. Looking for some advice!

-The schools you are considering:
UCLA ($120K scholarship), Northwestern ($135K scholarship), Duke ($48K scholarship)

-The total Cost of Attendance (COA) of each.
According to an LST report I ran (assuming all loans and tuition/living expense increases):
UCLA: $100,815
Northwestern: $83,742
Duke: $180,660

-How you will be financing your COA, i.e. loans, family, or savings.
Financing with loans. Parents have offered to try and help pay for living expenses, but the amount is TBD and I don't want to count on it.

-Where you are from and where you want to work, and other places where you have significant ties (if any).
No ties in any major markets. From a small, rural town. After graduation, I really want to work in Miami, FL.

-Your general career goals
Hoping to work at a law firm in Miami (preferably Big Law). I'm interested in international business and sports/entertainment law. Working in LA, Dallas, Houston, Birmingham, Atlanta wouldn't be out of the question. No DC or NYC for me though. Edit: DC or NYC not my preference, but I realize it might have to be an option.

-Your LSAT/GPA numbers
167/4.2 GPA

-How many times you have taken the LSAT
Once, not planning to retake.

Looking for some advice here. I went to ASW for all three schools. I loved Duke--if COA wasn't an issue, it would be my first choice. Northwestern offered a great scholarship, and has a great JD/MBA program. The downside to Northwestern is that I'm really concerned about the cold weather/quality of life/if I will be happy in Chicago. Really liked UCLA and LA also offers a number of opportunities for externships in the sports/ent. industry which is a plus.

Trying to decide if I can justify the extra $$ at Duke vs. my other options. Is a degree from Duke worth the extra investment? I tried negotiating with Duke using Northwestern scholarship, and they increased my offer by only $6K.

Thoughts?

With how things stand I would say Northwestern without a doubt. UCLA will limit you to SoCal. Duke is not worth $100k more than Northwestern.

I would send Duke another email saying that while you favor Duke over Northwestern, financially you would not be able to deposit/attend. I did that with one of my schools after they had initially asked me to deposit before they would reevaluate my offer. After sending the 2nd email they came back with a larger offer.

You have challenging goals. Of the big law markets you're interested in, the only sizable one is Los Angeles. The rest (save perhaps Houston) are all regional, and yet you don't have ties to any of them. Because you're pursuing a strategy that carries a decent risk of striking out, I think minimizing debt is particularly important.

I think NU is the right answer. But, yeah, you'll be cold.

I don't think I'd go to law school until you've made your peace with NYC big law. Applying to random markets you have zero ties to and saying "No" to NYC altogether has way too high a probability of striking out for law school to make sense, IMO.

BigZuck wrote:I don't think I'd go to law school until you've made your peace with NYC big law. Applying to random markets you have zero ties to and saying "No" to NYC altogether has way too high a probability of striking out for law school to make sense, IMO.

Yup. If you cross out NYC, then you have to at least have ties to another major market, which you don't. Also, Miami has so few biglaw jobs, and none of the schools you listed are big feeders.

In most cases it's very inadvisable to choose your law school based on dreams of entertainment and sports law.

It's dumb that Duke's offering you so much less, I'm happy that they're moving up in the rankings but they're definitely abusing it here.

That's an obscene offer at NU for a below median LSAT. Either go there or retake for HYSCCN.

Man I don't know how you did it, but you totally got over on Northwestern. As others have indicated, take it and never look back.