Top Law Schools

So:

Schools I'm considering: Duke, Northwestern, Cornell, Michigan

Cost of attendance at each (based on really rough estimates) :

Duke: $75k scholarship, leaving approximately $55k out of pocket per year
Cornell: $120k scholarship, leaving approximately $40k out of pocket per year
Michigan: $90k scholarship, leaving approximately $44k out of pocket per year
Northwestern: $150k scholarship, leaving approximately $34k out of pocket per year

I'm from Texas, but no real desire to stay there long term. I want to do environmental law, but ideally starting at a larger firm and then moving to the government. Dream market would be DC, but I am still figuring that part out. I will be financing my education entirely on my own. I'm fortunate enough to not have undergrad debt, so I'm a bit less debt averse, but I want to minimize it if I can.

I don't see any reason to turn down Northwestern here. That said they did just give someone 180k so keep negotiating with everybody to see if you can squeeze out a little more money.

What are your stats btw?

Negotiate between the schools and then take the money and run.

Barring any future negotiations its over by halftime and Northwestern wins in a rout

All of these are sort of confirming my thoughts. Michigan is my top choice barring visiting next weekend and hating it, so I'm hoping I can get a bit more out of them

As it currently stands, NU for sure; these are peer schools for your purposes, so you should just go with the lowest cost. If Duke or Mich get down to NU's cost somehow, I'd pick Mich or especially Duke for you over NU.

I really, really like Michigan, but I'm scared of the whole tuition increase deal. At NU, my debt would mostly be living expenses, which I can semi-control.

Regardless of how much you love Michigan, it's not worth $60k+ more than Northwestern for your purposes. Northwestern seems like a perfectly agreeable place, though it lacks Michigan's idyllic setting.

So based on some discussion from another thread...I think the cost of attendance at NW may end up being way higher because of living expenses, which is probably also true for the others, to some extent. Rent in the NW area/Chicago in general will be way, way, higher than Ann Arbor, for example. So I'm conflicted on what to do.

For what it's worth, my friends in studios and 1 BR's around Northwestern seem to pay between roughly $1,000 and $1,800 per month.

kcdc1 wrote:For what it's worth, my friends in studios and 1 BR's around Northwestern seem to pay between roughly $1,000 and $1,800 per month.

See, I've got no problem paying something on the lower end of that spectrum...but $1800 hurts

herecomesthesun wrote:

kcdc1 wrote:For what it's worth, my friends in studios and 1 BR's around Northwestern seem to pay between roughly $1,000 and $1,800 per month.

See, I've got no problem paying something on the lower end of that spectrum...but $1800 hurts

Plenty of people pay less than $1000 a month for various living arrangements around Chicago that work just fine for Northwestern students. Ultimately you are going to pay more at Michigan than Northwestern, even if the tuition and COL are slightly lower at UM.

Tiago Splitter wrote:

herecomesthesun wrote:

kcdc1 wrote:For what it's worth, my friends in studios and 1 BR's around Northwestern seem to pay between roughly $1,000 and $1,800 per month.

See, I've got no problem paying something on the lower end of that spectrum...but $1800 hurts

Plenty of people pay less than $1000 a month for various living arrangements around Chicago that work just fine for Northwestern students. Ultimately you are going to pay more at Michigan than Northwestern, even if the tuition and COL are slightly lower at UM.

This is true. I was giving a general range within walking distance.

That price range is probably if you want a studio in one of the nearby buildings - you'll probably pay closer to $1800 that way. I would probably go on Craigslist to see if you can find a condo owner to rent to you. Also, try to find a roommate at ASW - that will definitely cut down your costs. I think you could get a really nice place to share with 1-2 other people and pay like $1200-$1300 a month. If you want to live a little further from the school (but along the Red line or a bus route like the 151), it might be even cheaper.

Also, I am totally biased because I went to Northwestern. But between Michigan and Northwestern (which have very similar personalities of student body I think), I would totally choose Northwestern. Being in a city makes a difference in the types of opportunities you can take advantage of. For example, you can definitely do externships for government organizations or a judge during the year. People who go to law school in cities that don't have easy access to these places have to wait until the summer, and only really have one summer to choose which one they want to do. That's actually a big plus you don't think much about. Northwestern is a quick bus ride away from all of these opportunities.

And as a recent grad, the debt is a lot more burdensome than you'd think. I'd take the money.

I definitely don't mind living further from the school, especially if I'm on a bus/rail line.

herecomesthesun wrote:So:

Schools I'm considering: Duke, Northwestern, Cornell, Michigan

Cost of attendance at each (based on really rough estimates) :

Duke: $75k scholarship, leaving approximately $55k out of pocket per year
Cornell: $120k scholarship, leaving approximately $40k out of pocket per year
Michigan: $90k scholarship, leaving approximately $44k out of pocket per year
Northwestern: $150k scholarship, leaving approximately $34k out of pocket per year

I'm from Texas, but no real desire to stay there long term. I want to do environmental law, but ideally starting at a larger firm and then moving to the government. Dream market would be DC, but I am still figuring that part out. I will be financing my education entirely on my own. I'm fortunate enough to not have undergrad debt, so I'm a bit less debt averse, but I want to minimize it if I can.

Bumping this post as I was able to get the cost at Michigan to match the cost at NU basically. Thoughts given that change?

herecomesthesun wrote:

herecomesthesun wrote:So:

Schools I'm considering: Duke, Northwestern, Cornell, Michigan

Cost of attendance at each (based on really rough estimates) :

Duke: $75k scholarship, leaving approximately $55k out of pocket per year
Cornell: $120k scholarship, leaving approximately $40k out of pocket per year
Michigan: $90k scholarship, leaving approximately $44k out of pocket per year
Northwestern: $150k scholarship, leaving approximately $34k out of pocket per year

I'm from Texas, but no real desire to stay there long term. I want to do environmental law, but ideally starting at a larger firm and then moving to the government. Dream market would be DC, but I am still figuring that part out. I will be financing my education entirely on my own. I'm fortunate enough to not have undergrad debt, so I'm a bit less debt averse, but I want to minimize it if I can.

Bumping this post as I was able to get the cost at Michigan to match the cost at NU basically. Thoughts given that change?

What about Michigan makes it your favorite?

herecomesthesun wrote:

herecomesthesun wrote:So:

Schools I'm considering: Duke, Northwestern, Cornell, Michigan

Cost of attendance at each (based on really rough estimates) :

Duke: $75k scholarship, leaving approximately $55k out of pocket per year
Cornell: $120k scholarship, leaving approximately $40k out of pocket per year
Michigan: $90k scholarship, leaving approximately $44k out of pocket per year
Northwestern: $150k scholarship, leaving approximately $34k out of pocket per year

I'm from Texas, but no real desire to stay there long term. I want to do environmental law, but ideally starting at a larger firm and then moving to the government. Dream market would be DC, but I am still figuring that part out. I will be financing my education entirely on my own. I'm fortunate enough to not have undergrad debt, so I'm a bit less debt averse, but I want to minimize it if I can.

Bumping this post as I was able to get the cost at Michigan to match the cost at NU basically. Thoughts given that change?

Either one is fine IMO.

existentialcrisis wrote:

herecomesthesun wrote:

herecomesthesun wrote:So:

Schools I'm considering: Duke, Northwestern, Cornell, Michigan

Cost of attendance at each (based on really rough estimates) :

Duke: $75k scholarship, leaving approximately $55k out of pocket per year
Cornell: $120k scholarship, leaving approximately $40k out of pocket per year
Michigan: $90k scholarship, leaving approximately $44k out of pocket per year
Northwestern: $150k scholarship, leaving approximately $34k out of pocket per year

I'm from Texas, but no real desire to stay there long term. I want to do environmental law, but ideally starting at a larger firm and then moving to the government. Dream market would be DC, but I am still figuring that part out. I will be financing my education entirely on my own. I'm fortunate enough to not have undergrad debt, so I'm a bit less debt averse, but I want to minimize it if I can.

Bumping this post as I was able to get the cost at Michigan to match the cost at NU basically. Thoughts given that change?

What about Michigan makes it your favorite?

Feel of the school mostly, and also they've got a really strong environmental law program, which is what I want to do.

herecomesthesun wrote:

existentialcrisis wrote: What about Michigan makes it your favorite?

Feel of the school mostly, and also they've got a really strong environmental law program, which is what I want to do.

I don't know about the environmental law programs at Michigan and NU, but if Michigan's is much stronger and you're confident that that's what you want to do, then Michigan is a clear choice at equal costs. Otherwise, I'm impartial to NU.

herecomesthesun wrote:

existentialcrisis wrote:

herecomesthesun wrote:

herecomesthesun wrote:So:

Schools I'm considering: Duke, Northwestern, Cornell, Michigan

Cost of attendance at each (based on really rough estimates) :

Duke: $75k scholarship, leaving approximately $55k out of pocket per year
Cornell: $120k scholarship, leaving approximately $40k out of pocket per year
Michigan: $90k scholarship, leaving approximately $44k out of pocket per year
Northwestern: $150k scholarship, leaving approximately $34k out of pocket per year

I'm from Texas, but no real desire to stay there long term. I want to do environmental law, but ideally starting at a larger firm and then moving to the government. Dream market would be DC, but I am still figuring that part out. I will be financing my education entirely on my own. I'm fortunate enough to not have undergrad debt, so I'm a bit less debt averse, but I want to minimize it if I can.

Bumping this post as I was able to get the cost at Michigan to match the cost at NU basically. Thoughts given that change?

What about Michigan makes it your favorite?

Feel of the school mostly, and also they've got a really strong environmental law program, which is what I want to do.

Michigan is a good deal here, so I think it's a fine choice. I'm not sure that if you want to practice enviornmental law a big firm is the place to start you career though. I'd assume that firms' main role in enviornmental law is defending corporate clients that are polluting and such. I don't know much of anything about enviornmental law though, so I could be totally off base with this.

My vote's Michigan. It's where you want to be and the costs are lining up nicely for you. Congrats.

Thanks everyone--solid advice and I'm glad I wasn't way off base with my choice