Top Law Schools

This is a little premature because I'm still waiting on CLS's need-based aid and haven't started negotiations with Duke, but I'm hoping for some insight here.

COA:
Columbia: $330K
Duke: $228K (possibly less since I think I can undercut their rent + utilities estimate)

Financing using loans

Originally from the south, living in NYC now and I'd be happy to end up in either NYC or DC though, considering my career goals, I am necessarily willing to be pretty flexible about location.

My ideal career is as a federal prosecutor and my understanding is that ties to DC are good for that and Duke places better there but I'm unsure to what extent that's self selection. From my understanding of the programs, Columbia has the better LRAP but it's hard to know how much weight to give that when it's a 100K difference in COA.

174/3.3, 2 takes.

Duke, imo. Full disclosure, current Duke student. We place well in DC, but you do have to be a competitive student (above median, maybe even top 1/3) to get DC. DC is just a very competitive market and very grade heavy. Did you get into UVA?

ticklemesilly wrote:Duke, imo. Full disclosure, current Duke student. We place well in DC, but you do have to be a competitive student (above median, maybe even top 1/3) to get DC. DC is just a very competitive market and very grade heavy. Did you get into UVA?

In at UVA but full sticker

benwyatt wrote:

ticklemesilly wrote:Duke, imo. Full disclosure, current Duke student. We place well in DC, but you do have to be a competitive student (above median, maybe even top 1/3) to get DC. DC is just a very competitive market and very grade heavy. Did you get into UVA?

In at UVA but full sticker

Then Duke seems like the clear choice. Columbia's better job stats are not worth the extra 100K. Work hard, do well at Duke, and you are not foreclosing yourself from any opportunities that could have been provided to you at Columbia.

Columbia at sticker is highly inadvisable. Hopefully Duke gets cheaper for you, but as is, it's the right choice. It's also a good outcome, though again, they need to give you some more money off. That 174 is valuable, dude.

please do not pay 330k for Columbia

Between these two options, definitely Duke. But that's still a ton of money. What about the other T14, I would assume someone would throw some good money your way. Did you apply to Northwestern? I thought they loved splitters.

These are my best options. Nothing from Michigan, NU forgot I applied, etc

benwyatt wrote:These are my best options. Nothing from Michigan, NU forgot I applied, etc

Bummer, I was gonna say you seem like a great candidate for NU ED.

fliptrip wrote:Columbia at sticker is highly inadvisable. Hopefully Duke gets cheaper for you, but as is, it's the right choice. It's also a good outcome, though again, they need to give you some more money off. That 174 is valuable, dude.

Yeah, shoot. I'm glad I applied two cycles ago. From what I've seen this cycle, being a splitter at the bottom of the LSAT attendance dip really did help with my cycle.

But yeah, I second Duke. See if you can negotiate up. Did you apply to Cornell? They are known to give $$$ to splitters and that's what I used to negotiate.

Post removed...