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Hi all, looking for advice on this decision. I have a seat deposit down at Gtown and Penn. (Waitlist at H and Colombia if that is important)

COA
Gtown = $155k // Estimated yearly $76,500 x3 = $230k (minus 75k scholarship)
Penn = $237k // Estimated yearly $79,000 x3 at full sticker price

FUNDING
I will be funding this out of pocket. I inherited a large sum and will have enough to cover Penn and graduate debt-free with $150k in the bank.

BACKGROUND
I am from outside Washington DC. I went to UMD for my undergrad and MPP. I like the city and would enjoy working here, but NYC is a first priority. I am 21 years old and planning on going straight through to law school.

GOALS
I want to start with a clerkship, and then I would hopefully move to a biglaw associate position and work my way up. Eventually see myself working as general counsel for a corporation. I'm interested in business/M&A and have an interest in getting an MBA one day (shift from law to business after general counsel). Lofty aspirations that may be unreasonable, but that's the game plan as of now.

NUMBERS
3.91 GPA / 168 LSAT. One LSAT take. Very, very low interest in taking the LSAT again.

QUESTION
As of now, I am leaning toward Penn. From my limited knowledge, it appears to be a better school for academics and job placement (albeit only slightly). The big question is whether the ~80k difference is big enough to justify saying no to Penn. I've turned down larger scholarships already - this decision, to me, is about getting the best education and best job possible, not saving money. I'm very fortunate to avoid the need for loans, but $80k is $80k no matter who you are. Is the difference between Penn and Gtown large enough to justify choosing Penn?

I think you're better off with Penn (for the goals of clerking, academics, etc... not biglaw), but try to go to a T6 if you can.

Do you realize how sweet life could be with $400k in the bank? I would strongly, strongly urge you to retake with that GPA. You could easily get a full ride at a T14 or go out-of-pocket for something more like Columbia.

If you are dead set on going now, it seems like Penn is the right option for you. You can afford it and you want to go there. But it seems like you want to go there because of prestige and job security, so again why not retake and go to a T6? You could have a nice year to relax a bit and save yourself hundreds of thousands you could be investing.

Lots of good reasons to sit out:

1) With another point or two on the LSAT you could be looking at significantly improved options, but even with your current numbers, you should be able to get a pretty substantial scholarship at a T-14.

2) Related to 1, it looks like you didn't apply to enough schools. A big key to getting more money is to apply broadly and negotiate scholarships against one another, even if you aren't especially interested in some of the schools.

3) You are very young, and work experience helps when interviewing for jobs. It also helps with applications, especially at a place like Harvard.

4) Your goals are all over the place. Wanting to start with a clerkship and then finish with an MBA is a little bizarre and suggests you might want to take some time off to narrow things down.

Thanks for the replies.

(1) On the topic of scholarships in T14: I applied to a lot this cycle and turned down a lot of scholarships. I turned down some lower T20-T14 options around 120-150k because I want to have the best job choice. I turned down Mich 90k, UVA 60k, because I want to live in a big city. Neither really struck me as the best option. That left me with Chicago w/15k and U Penn with an unknown scholarship. Chic is a binding deposit (and I don't really have as high an interest there - weather and student culture were huge factors for me) so I decided to deposit at Penn (top choice) and Gtown (other top choice, plus scholarship) to have options.

(2) The idea of taking the LSAT again sounds unpleasant for 2 reasons. First, I just finished a dual BA/MPP degree in 4 years while working throughout. I'm exhausted and am looking forward to a summer of not working before law school. Spending it prepping for the LSAT sounds painful, though that may just be the post-semester burnout. However, I guess I've missed my chance for June so that would mean dropping out of this years cycle. Second, I'm worried that by passing up these opportunities this cycle I may not have them next cycle. Is that a real concern or am I just being naive? If my score didn't go up and I reapplied for 2017, would that hurt my chances? I would hate to retake the LSAT, reapply to Penn, and then not get in.

(3) My goals do seem a bit all over the place. I 100% agree that I need to narrow that down more, but I fear that I wouldn't know what I want most until I'm already at 2L or 3L.

Any further advice is much appreciated.

Lots of people march the drums beat of retaking the LSAT, but it has benefits (although if you don't want to, you don't want to).

You can still apply this cycle by taking the Oct or even Dec. LSAT.

If are wanting academic, you should really consider going to a higher ranked school than Penn.

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I see you're waitlisted at Columbia but did you not apply to NYU?

You could retake, score just a couple points higher, attend those same schools for free while your inheritance continues to grow, and retire maybe five years out of law school. Why would you throw that opportunity away?

(1) My highest PT score was a 171. Would scoring that really give me that much of a bonus for scholarships?

If I do retake..

(2) For what cycle would that make most sense?

(3) Would I be able to apply next year with the same info? Or would I have to rewrite personal statement, etc.?

(4) Would schools that I've said no to already have a lower chance of accepting me?

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Definitely don't go to gtown. You're a kjd without a great lsat that was waitlisted at H and have the money to study and volunteer for a year. Next year your choices could be H for what Penn would cost this year and penn/Columbia for less than what gtown would cost this year. Whatever you do, though, don't go to gtown

I think one of the things that needs to be addressed is the way you're treating your nest egg. That shit isn't monopoly money dude. I know it can feel that way because you inherited it as opposed to earned/saved it.

But, as someone who's in his early 30's and has worked (hard)/saved/invested for over a decade, the amount your holding onto is equivalent to a decade of effort on my part. You need to think long and hard before you say "ehhh, I can afford to blow it going to Penn because I want a big-city lifestyle and dat preftige."

Seriously, that sum has the ability to compound itself into serious money in only 15-20 years if you don't fuck with it. At average doubling rates (not optimistic, average) your 400K in 14 years is $1.6M. In 21 years it's $3.2M. That's enough to retire and draw $100K a year for life and have almost zero risk of going bust.

Think about that, 100K for life by taking your nest egg, putting it in a safe market-diversified portfolio and forgetting you have it for 21 years. Blowing that money for a 21 year old's big-city, big-lights fantasy is a waste of epic proportions.

Retake the LSAT, get a 170+ (very doable for you) and go to UVA/Mich/GULC for freebies and allow your money to work harder for you than you can ever work for yourself. You'll thank me later.

Meerkat is wise. That money will do more for you if you invest it than if you spend it on law school.
Beating a dead horse, but a few more LSAT points would save you so much more of that money. Plus a year of real work experience might help you narrow down your goals. I'd kill you have your GPA; don't waste it.

Turning down those good Mich and UVA schollies for worse options wasn't the best idea. But the rich can afford to make mistakes I guess.

Sorry for the late reply - thank you all for the input.

I've spent the day thinking about this (just one of many to come) and I'm very strongly considering retaking the LSAT. A lot of good reasons to do so mentioned here and in other threads. Waiting until next cycle had not occurred to me as an option, but I'm starting to think its the best one.

Any advice as to how this is viewed from admissions offices? Both at Gtown and Penn (where I would be removing my seat deposits if I left) or in general. Is a valuable internship a must during this year? Any way that this would disadvantage me if I were to score lower or the same on my retake?

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After sitting out consider Cornell with $$$ they have similar stats to Penn and save that money

Mack.Hambleton wrote:After sitting out consider Cornell with $$$ they have similar stats to Penn and save that money

But college towns are icky!

Rigo wrote:

Mack.Hambleton wrote:After sitting out consider Cornell with $$$ they have similar stats to Penn and save that money

But college towns are icky!

Law students have a lot of free time to go out and enjoy the city, gotta be priority number one

Mack.Hambleton wrote:

Rigo wrote:

Mack.Hambleton wrote:After sitting out consider Cornell with $$$ they have similar stats to Penn and save that money

But college towns are icky!

Law students have a lot of free time to go out and enjoy the city, gotta be priority number one

I mean you definitely do. If you don't, you're either working wrong or at the wrong school. At both of these schools OP will absolutely have time to enjoy the city, and it is a valid consideration. That being said, a retake is the right call, but depending on how stubborn you wanna be, Penn is the move.

I had stats VERY similar to yours, and got big scholarships from Cornell, Northwestern, and Michigan, as well as money from Duke as well.