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This should be a no-brainer, but I really liked Columbia and a professor there who is in the field I'm interested in pursuing (public international law) has kind of adopted me and has been strongly advocating for me to come to CLS to work with him (and has actually been advocating for me with financial aid office).

I'm planning on going into federal government work after, so should be able to take advantage of both schools' LRAPs.

Is trading a guaranteed mentor/advocate for $65k worth it?

blessup wrote:This should be a no-brainer, but I really liked Columbia and a professor there who is in the field I'm interested in pursuing (public international law) has kind of adopted me and has been strongly advocating for me to come to CLS to work with him (and has actually been advocating for me with financial aid office).


I'm planning on going into federal government work after, so should be able to take advantage of both schools' LRAPs.

Is trading a guaranteed mentor/advocate for $65k worth it?

You say this as if it's a matter of fact. And to your question, no.

Keep in mind that for NYU if you make more than $15k in your 2L summer, your financial aid award for 3L will be cut in half. Assuming you wanted to make some money to pay down your loans during your time in law school, you're really weighing a ~$55k discount at NYU versus the connections and comfort of CLS at sticker.

If it were me I'd go with CLS in this situation, but more debt-averse people may disagree.

armc808 wrote:Keep in mind that for NYU if you make more than $15k in your 2L summer, your financial aid award for 3L will be cut in half. Assuming you wanted to make some money to pay down your loans during your time in law school, you're really weighing a ~$55k discount at NYU versus the connections and comfort of CLS at sticker.

Yeah, the $65 number was assuming the deduction. The offer was actually $75/$65k.

Thanks for the input. I think mostly I'm trying to get comfortable with the idea that it's fine to turn down the money and go to CLS.

blessup wrote:This should be a no-brainer, but I really liked Columbia and a professor there who is in the field I'm interested in pursuing (public international law) has kind of adopted me and has been strongly advocating for me to come to CLS to work with him (and has actually been advocating for me with financial aid office).

If you have 65K from NYU, you probably also have a pretty good sized scholarship from lower t-14's, and you have a professor who's pushing hard for you to get financial aid. You should be able to negotiate some scholarship money out of that. If you can get something there, then Columbia will probably be worth it. If you can't, NYU with a 65K scholarship is a very good option.

I mean you're going to be relying heavily on LRAP at either at that point, so sure why not.