Top Law Schools

Hey all,

The info you're looking for is below:

-The schools you are considering
Harvard and Chicago (or insert here)
-The total Cost of Attendance (COA) of each. COA = cost of tuition + fees + books + cost of living (COL) + accumulated interest - scholarships. Here is a helpful calculator.
Haven't applied yet; assuming sticker for Harvard and probably near sticker for Chicago; definitely no less than half tuition.
-How you will be financing your COA, i.e. loans, family, or savings
Family; I don't expect any debt at graduation.
-Where you are from and where you want to work, and other places where you have significant ties (if any)
From the Midwest, currently living in Massachusetts. Decent ties to both places, but open to working anywhere.
-Your general career goals
Immigration (what I'm doing now), or PI, though I'm open to BigLaw
-Your LSAT/GPA numbers
GPA: ~3.7
LSAT: 180
-How many times you have taken the LSAT
2ce.

So... I am currently in a relationship that has been going on for 5 years. It's very serious, to the extent that we would be engaged/married already if I had the money to buy a ring (I'm planning on financing that on my own). Both of us are Ivy-league grads; she's planning on going for a PhD in a hard science, which she expects will take her anywhere between 4-6 years to complete. We will both be applying this coming fall.

She has said that she's willing to go into any PhD program near the best school that I get into with my numbers (I'm not realistically expecting Y or S, but from a previous post of mine, people think that I have a shot at H). Thing is, though, her GPA is very low for the typical PhD applicant, and so we're expecting that her choices in the end will be somewhat limited. It's possible that she might not get into a Massachusetts school, which would mean that I would have to decide between going long distance for three years or following her. Along with that, once I graduate, I would be going wherever she was, since she would still need to finish school for a few more years.

My primary wish is to have the freedom to work anywhere, since I really don't know where we will end up having to go in the end, and to have as many opportunities open to me as possible (if I decide during law school that BigLaw interests me, I want a good shot at that). I don't want to feel like my compromise will hurt my chances for successful employment in the long-term.

So my question is: how exactly do schools outside the top 3 compare to the quality of education/accessibility to markets/strength of opportunities that those schools provide? Would I basically be getting the same sort of experience at a T6 school (like Chicago?) How about a T10 (Virginia)? T14 (Northwestern?)

Thanks for reading. Appreciate it.

.

what in the world

The experiences will be different, but not better or worse - Chicago has a very small class, Harvard a very large one; Hyde Park is not like Cambridgen ect; very different grading systems; Chicago is on the quarter system and Harvard on semesters, which has its pluses and minuses.

Educationally the schools have different academic specialties but you'll have the same quality of education at each and similar opportunities to engage in law school like (Harvard as a larger school offers more variety, but thereks a benefit to a smallern tighter knit community as well).

There are some employers that will pull deeper into Harvard's class than Chicago's, but not by very much. Opportunities in the private sector are comparable; Harvard has better placement into DC and certain government positions. It's not that different though.

Come back in a year with real numbers and admissions and scholarship info and see. For now, apply broadly with your SO -- my SO and I did something similar (me law, her grad school) and managed to match locations, even though it meant making some tough choices and giving up some schools to be together. Feel free to PM

Wait until you're accepted for this

I want to highlight something bagel mentioned: You will both need to apply quite broadly in order to have a fighting chance of being in the same location with an awesome outcome. And as a personal and entirely unsolicited piece of personal advice I will add that LDRs suck and should be avoided if at all possible.

Is that 180 a real 180
Like if your talking about practice tests please take that bullshit elsewhere

XD Yes, it's very early to be thinking about this. I was just worried because we've had a good amount of "close calls" per se throughout our relationship, like after graduation, where it seemed like we wouldn't find employment in the same location and so on. We got through that by worrying early and dealing with it early, although I guess I'm planning way too early, considering apps aren't even open yet.

@JBagelboy and TasmanianToucan: Thanks for the info. I will definitely avoid the LDR; I've experienced that before (on a previous relationship) and it ended pretty catastrophically.

PoopNpants wrote:Is that 180 a real 180
Like if your talking about practice tests please take that bullshit elsewhere

Real 180. First take (Oct. of 2013) I got a 170, then retook Feb of 2014 and got a 180.

JusPassItToWill wrote:

PoopNpants wrote:Is that 180 a real 180
Like if your talking about practice tests please take that bullshit elsewhere

Real 180. First take (Oct. of 2013) I got a 170, then retook Feb of 2014 and got a 180.

Dope. Should get H at the very least, good work

dude just come back once you actually have offers. not only do we not know which schools have accepted you and their offers, but we don't even know what your SO's offers are.

retake before applying dont sell yourself short

At first I was like "How do they know they are going to get into Harvard?" and then I saw the LSAT score

My primary wish is to have the freedom to work anywhere,

The law is a really shitty field for this, and so is academia. I were you and my primary goal was to stay in the same place as my SO I would rethink the law (or ask them to rethink the PhD.)

retake

JusPassItToWill wrote:
"We would be engaged/married already if I had the money to buy a ring.

Got ya covered.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CRD ... 1000870101