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The schools you are considering: Berkeley w/ 94k going in plus 2L+3L need (approx. 114-128k for all 3 yrs), Northwestern w/ 165k.
-How you will be financing your COA: Hopefully external scholarships, personal savings, loans if I need to.
-Where you are from and where you want to work, and other places where you have significant ties (if any): From southern california (born and raised); Nor Cal undergrad. Want to do practice in California but may be open to DC as well.
-Your general career goals:
Cali biglaw for a couple of years (SF, LA, or SD) to save up $ and hopefully eventually lateral to a federal agency or go in-house.

I would mention stats but then would prob get "retake" messages for a shot at HYS and I'm set on starting in the fall given my career goals and scholarship offers. Had sizable offers from other schools but have already been discarded so no point in mentioning them.

Side Note: My #1 going in was Berkeley but sort of hard to turn down that full ride/being able to potentially pocket that SA $.
Please leave your comments below! All feedback is highly appreciated

Really depends how important Cali is to you. With your ties and good grades, I dont think you would have trouble with CA BigLaw. Although Berkeley does make CA a little more likely, its up to you to determine how much that is worth.

Also, look at the COA difference rather than the scholarship difference. I assume at Berkeley you would be paying in-state tuition? If so, that makes a sizeable difference.

WeeBey wrote:Really depends how important Cali is to you. With your ties and good grades, I dont think you would have trouble with CA BigLaw. Although Berkeley does make CA a little more likely, its up to you to determine how much that is worth.

Also, look at the COA difference rather than the scholarship difference. I assume at Berkeley you would be paying in-state tuition? If so, that makes a sizeable difference.

Thanks for your response; the reason why I focused solely on scholarship difference is that I would pay subsidized rent at Berkeley, therefore it would prob even out between the two schools. Also, will be doing SEO this summer at a Cali firm, which could potentially make it easier to return during 1L summer, but even then, I'm still a bit conflicted.
Any other feedback out there? would truly be appreciated