Georgetown part time at sticker or one of numerous full time options with scholarship Forum

[Decisionmakingtime]

3.4-3.6 GPA, 163-166 LSAT

Options are as follows (all full time other than Georgetown)

• Georgetown PT @ sticker ($148k in loans)
  Notre Dame w/ 75k scholarship ($81k in loans)
  GW w/75k scholarship ($93k in loans)
  Alabama w/78k scholarship ($33k in loans)
  Waiting on Emory and BC offers, expect both to be around 75k too

From a major southern city (Houston, Atlanta, Dallas, etc.), have ties there and D.C. Would like to work in either my hometown or D.C.

Family will cover living expenses, books, etc. Loans will cover tuition.

If I went to GU PT, I'd work a certain low paying, yet moderately prestigious/well-connecting gov job throughout the four years.

I'm not hellbent on biglaw, but I'd take the opportunity if it came. Interested in government affairs, public policy, etc.

Would it be idiotic to go to Georgetown part time at sticker?

Edit: Retake not possible

[UVA2B]

You're not hellbent on biglaw, but would welcome the opportunity? What does that mean? Assuming you didn't do biglaw, what would you want to do with the degree? Or do you actually want biglaw, but don't want people to warn about your at best 40% chance of biglaw from GULC? We need much better clarity about what you want out of a JD from any of these schools, but in a vacuum, GULC PT is the best option with your ambiguously stated goals.

Your estimated loans are pre-interest and fees I'm guessing? The numbers just seem kinda low to me, assuming tuition only for loans.

TL:DR need more info

[UVA2B]

Edit: Retake not possible

I'll let this slide, but I doubt this is actually true.

[Decisionmakingtime]

You're not hellbent on biglaw, but would welcome the opportunity? What does that mean? Assuming you didn't do biglaw, what would you want to do with the degree? Or do you actually want biglaw, but don't want people to warn about your at best 40% chance of biglaw from GULC? We need much better clarity about what you want out of a JD from any of these schools, but in a vacuum, GULC PT is the best option with your ambiguously stated goals.

Your estimated loans are pre-interest and fees I'm guessing? The numbers just seem kinda low to me, assuming tuition only for loans.

TL:DR need more info

Thanks for the response.

My phrasing regarding biglaw was sloppy. I will shoot for biglaw wherever I go, but I wouldn't be distraught if I can't lock down a biglaw job. I understand that biglaw is far from a guarantee at any of my options. I also understand that my chances would be less than FT students if I did GULC PT, seeing as I probably wouldn't be able to take time off my regular job for summer associate gigs.

If I don't get biglaw, I'd look to get some kind of government job, ideally on the Hill as counsel on a committee or something similar. That's where GULC PT would be advantageous I think.

Loans are rough estimates of tuition only pre-interest, yes.

TL;DR - Aware that there's less than a 50% chance of getting biglaw from any of my options. I'm fine with that, and I'd shoot for gov work as a backup.

[UVA2B]

You're not hellbent on biglaw, but would welcome the opportunity? What does that mean? Assuming you didn't do biglaw, what would you want to do with the degree? Or do you actually want biglaw, but don't want people to warn about your at best 40% chance of biglaw from GULC? We need much better clarity about what you want out of a JD from any of these schools, but in a vacuum, GULC PT is the best option with your ambiguously stated goals.

Your estimated loans are pre-interest and fees I'm guessing? The numbers just seem kinda low to me, assuming tuition only for loans.

TL:DR need more info

Thanks for the response.

My phrasing regarding biglaw was sloppy. I will shoot for biglaw wherever I go, but I wouldn't be distraught if I can't lock down a biglaw job. I understand that biglaw is far from a guarantee at any of my options. I also understand that my chances would be less than FT students if I did GULC PT, seeing as I probably wouldn't be able to take time off my regular job for summer associate gigs.

If I don't get biglaw, I'd look to get some kind of government job, ideally on the Hill as counsel on a committee or something similar. That's where GULC PT would be advantageous I think.

Loans are rough estimates of tuition only pre-interest, yes.

TL;DR - Aware that there's less than a 50% chance of getting biglaw from any of my options. I'm fine with that, and I'd shoot for gov work as a backup.

Put simply, if you're not doing an SA, you won't get Biglaw. I was working under the assumption you would take a leave of absence from your job to do an SA at the appropriate time. Without that, no Biglaw firms will hire you because they won't be able to vet you through interviews+your SA performance. Just realize you're limiting yourself to hopefully snagging incredibly difficult to get government jobs if you go PT and don't have the opportunity to do an SA. It's a tough choice, but that's the situation you're facing.

[BlendedUnicorn]

I don't think your backup plans are really backup plans but maybe that depends on your connections in DC. I would retake.

[cavalier1138]

I don't think your backup plans are really backup plans...

This. 100% this.

Federal positions are just as hard to come by as biglaw. That's like saying that you'd like to do biglaw, but you'll take an ACLU fellowship if that doesn't work out.

Without details about your home city (which seems like a stupid thing to not mention, because if you're in Texas, you have a very obvious alternate choice) and your actual GPA/LSAT, it's impossible to evaluate your choices more clearly, but there are a few general points to make. You should not go to a part-time program if you have anything resembling a difficult/high-stakes job. I generally don't think that there's any benefit to going part-time at all, but the only exception I could see in your case is if your "moderately prestigious" department was also offering you a guaranteed legal job after completing school. Your other school choices just don't make any sense, because you're applying to regional schools all over the map, while your career goals indicate that your only desired regions are DC or your hometown. Unless you have a very broad definition of "hometown", you need to have a much more focused application strategy.

I know that a retake is impossible (no, it isn't), but you need to retake and reapply next cycle with a better idea of how the legal job market works.

[TLSModBot]

A. Negotiate with GULC for scholarship $ for part-time program. With falling class sizes GULC is getting desperate (PT classes for the past 4 years have been half of what they once were).

B. Do not go to GULC part time at sticker. Source: went to GULC part time at sticker.

C. Seriously, retake