Top Law Schools

Hey everyone, in a bit of a predicament and would appreciate some advice!

Schools considering
Berkeley - $70k scholarship, $180k debt at repay
Michigan - $120k scholarship, $150k debt at repay
UVA - $120k scholarship, $145k debt at repay

Debt numbers are rough estimates using the LS22 COA calculator.

173, 3.8x

I'll be financing almost entirely through loans, with only a bit saved up from my work experience and no family assistance. Set on working in California after graduation as all my family and friends are here, with CA biglaw as my immediate post-grad goal. I grew up in the Bay Area and attended Berkeley for undergrad, so I'm not sure if I should be too worried about "establishing ties" from either Mich/UVA?

Other factors to consider - Berk was my top choice throughout the whole process, but the $30k debt difference is a concern for me now. I tried to negotiate but my reconsideration request was denied. Visited both other schools and loved Ann Arbor, and liked Charlottesville enough but am not totally thrilled at the idea of spending 3 years there. I'm not opposed to returning to Berkeley, but am also open to a change of scenery if it comes to that.

And in case this is in any way helpful, other offers I've considered include Chicago (60k scholly), NYU (no scholly yet), USC (157k scholly).

Any and all help is appreciated! Thanks fam.

have you tried negotiating with Berk? your numbers are too good to be paying that much.

proteinshake wrote:have you tried negotiating with Berk? your numbers are too good to be paying that much.

Yep, wrote in the OP that my reconsideration request was denied. Pretty bummed about it.

Did you apply to Stanford?

CR7 wrote:Did you apply to Stanford?

Yep, got dinged a while back haha

jacks77 wrote:

proteinshake wrote:have you tried negotiating with Berk? your numbers are too good to be paying that much.

Yep, wrote in the OP that my reconsideration request was denied. Pretty bummed about it.

well then I'll leave it to the non-0Ls to give you advice

I vote Michigan. If you loved Ann Arbor it's probably worth 5k. If you end up picking Michigan, you might be able to get them to match the UVA COA. CA Biglaw should be achievable with any of the three options, particularly since you can play the "hometown hero" card. I wouldn't worry too much about missing out on connections, and perhaps you can bolster them by doing something for 1L summer in the Bay. If the COA was equal or close to equal, I'd say Berkeley. But 30k is some serious cash.

If the COA is really only 30k more despite the -50k in scholly, then I think picking Berk is defensible.

The COA is a little more than I feel super comfortable with, and I think that uva or mich are probably objectively the right choice. But I think paying an additional 10k/ a year to stay much closer to friends and family could be justifiable.

Edit: just read your post again and you seem pretty open to leaving for 3 years, so in that case I'd just go to whichever you like more of uva or Michigan.

Your ties are rock solid, so I wouldn't worry too much about that. You can do plenty of pre oci networking if you go back to CA your 1L summer.

I'm biased, but I vote Michigan.

Idk why this is a debate. I vote Berk.

Have you truly exhausted your negotiations with all three schools? I know you mentioned the Berkeley denial, but what about UVA and Mich?
I'd ask Michigan and UVA for more money to beat each other and then go back to Berkeley for one final push.

If Michigan and UVA placed as well in CA biglaw as Berk, then the votes for Michigan and UVA would make sense.

If OP wanted NYC Biglaw instead of CA big law, then the votes for Michigan and UVA would make sense.

But given that neither of those things are true, I don't really understand all the Michigan and UVA votes.

Thanks for the input everyone!

Right now I'm leaning Berkeley. I'll try to reach out more informally about upping their scholarship, but from what I understand the formal reconsideration process is a one-time final decision. Guess it can't hurt to try it out though! Anyone with thoughts or experience on that?

I'd choose Berkeley, although that scholarship does not make sense given your numbers. Did you apply late, or am I missing something?

I almost want to make a play for Chicago, since CA Biglaw is really easy to get, but that means three years in Chicago, which doesn't make much sense.

WheninLaw wrote:I'd choose Berkeley, although that scholarship does not make sense given your numbers. Did you apply late, or am I missing something?

I almost want to make a play for Chicago, since CA Biglaw is really easy to get, but that means three years in Chicago, which doesn't make much sense.

I didn't apply late or anything. Based on what I've seen around here and LSN, Berkeley's scholarships this year seem pretty unpredictable and not necessarily correlated to numbers in any way.

Yeah, I've been doing some thinking about Chicago. Will try to negotiate, but can't really justify the cost at this point.