Vanderbilt vs BC (+ waitlist possibilities) Forum

[amjam]

[Removed]

[candidlatke]

I'm a New Yorker, born and bred, hoping to return to the NYC area after law school. Right now I'm interested in BigLaw and Corporate Law, but I'm KJD so I recognize my goals may change once I get into law school and get more experience. What won't change is my desire to be close to my NY-based family and to pay off my law school debt as quickly as I can.

I've just been accepted to Vandy and need to make a quick decision if I'm going to give up my spot at BC and deposit at Vandy.

Scholarships:
$13k/yr at BC
$15k/yr at Vandy
This basically evens out the difference in tuition between the two. Yes, I know it isn't great.

Wrench: I'm still waiting to hear back from 5 other schools--all of which are higher ranked than BC and Vandy. I am not enthused about the possibility of losing more deposits.

Should I take the plunge and deposit at Vandy because it's higher ranked, or should I sit tight at BC because it's in the NE and I'd be close to my family even if I'm not in NY?

Thanks for your help!

i don't see any reason to take BC over vandy unless you need to stay close to family during the school year

both are pretty expensive but vandy's been rockin it in the employment %'s lately

[existentialcrisis]

I'm a New Yorker, born and bred, hoping to return to the NYC area after law school. Right now I'm interested in BigLaw and Corporate Law, but I'm KJD so I recognize my goals may change once I get into law school and get more experience. What won't change is my desire to be close to my NY-based family and to pay off my law school debt as quickly as I can.

I've just been accepted to Vandy and need to make a quick decision if I'm going to give up my spot at BC and deposit at Vandy.

Scholarships:
$13k/yr at BC
$15k/yr at Vandy
This basically evens out the difference in tuition between the two. Yes, I know it isn't great.

Wrench: I'm still waiting to hear back from 5 other schools--all of which are higher ranked than BC and Vandy. I am not enthused about the possibility of losing more deposits.

Should I take the plunge and deposit at Vandy because it's higher ranked, or should I sit tight at BC because it's in the NE and I'd be close to my family even if I'm not in NY?

Thanks for your help!

These are both too expensive. Take some time off and retake. Going K-JD is probably a bad idea regardless.

[cavalier1138]

I don't see any reason to take either.

Take some time off school, retake and reapply for schools that give you a better shot at your goals. Vanderbilt can place you in NYC biglaw, but it's too expensive with your current scholarship offer. What are your stats?

[amjam]

I don't see any reason to take either.

Take some time off school, retake and reapply for schools that give you a better shot at your goals. Vanderbilt can place you in NYC biglaw, but it's too expensive with your current scholarship offer. What are your stats?

I'm a reverse splitter for most schools-- 3.87/161. I basically flopped the LSAT and only had one opportunity to take it before the start of this cycle due to an abroad semester.

What would I do for a year off? I haven't even really considered taking a year and don't know what I would do for work.

[cavalier1138]

I don't see any reason to take either.

Take some time off school, retake and reapply for schools that give you a better shot at your goals. Vanderbilt can place you in NYC biglaw, but it's too expensive with your current scholarship offer. What are your stats?

I'm a reverse splitter for most schools-- 3.87/161. I basically flopped the LSAT and only had one opportunity to take it before the start of this cycle due to an abroad semester.

What would I do for a year off? I haven't even really considered taking a year and don't know what I would do for work.

Retake.

Get a job at some random office in New York. Or deliver food. Or anything. There is literally no reason that you should be rushing yourself into law school.

[existentialcrisis]

I don't see any reason to take either.

Take some time off school, retake and reapply for schools that give you a better shot at your goals. Vanderbilt can place you in NYC biglaw, but it's too expensive with your current scholarship offer. What are your stats?

I'm a reverse splitter for most schools-- 3.87/161. I basically flopped the LSAT and only had one opportunity to take it before the start of this cycle due to an abroad semester.

What would I do for a year off? I haven't even really considered taking a year and don't know what I would do for work.

You NEED to sit out at least this cycle and retake. You have a great GPA and seem to think you can do much better on the LSAT. Take any job that will allow you to support yourself and spend time studying for the LSAT. Law schools won't care what job you get.

[guynourmin]

What would I do for a year off? I haven't even really considered taking a year and don't know what I would do for work.

To be clear, you're talking about debt financing your life for the next couple years. Who cares what you'll do for the next year. Do you have the option to live with family? If you're leaving LSAT points on the table you may also be leaving $100,000 on the table. Just because you haven't put any thought into this much better idea isn't a reason not to do it.

Put your best self out there. If a 161 is your best self, fine, but it sounds like you don't think it is so idk why you'd go $200k+ in debt for Vandy.

[waldorf]

I agree with what other posters have said.

I actually was in the exact same situation as you are a year and a half ago, except I didn't go through with actually applying to schools. I had almost a 4.0 from undergrad, took the October 2015 LSAT, and got a 163. I knew I may get in to the schools I was interested in but probably wouldn't get much money, so I ended up deciding to take a year off (family circumstances kept me from retaking in December of 2015).

I had always wanted to go to law school and had NO clue what I would do for a year. I was pretty devastated about taking a year off and felt lost. I ended up working on political campaigns until Election Day, retook in December and significantly improved my score, got a full ride to a T20 (accepted to some higher ranked schools as well but chose mine due to location and $$), and took a job as a paralegal to get me through the next 7 months. Overall, the experience has been great. I have matured ten years in the past one, I am more sure than I was before that law is what I want to do, and I'll be graduating debt free. I'm very grateful that I ended up taking a gap year.

TLDR: I was absolutely devastated when I decided that I was going to have to take a year off. I had no clue what I was going to do. Now, I'm so grateful I did.

[favabeansoup]

Under these circumstances, you should never go to BC over Vandy with similar debt outcomes. Vandy wins there.

However, yes, you should wait a cycle and retake for a few higher points.

A few points can save you hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt and interest.

As for what you should do in the off-time. Literally anything. Go try being a paralegal (big firms hire a ton of recent grads), if possible live with parents and volunteer somewhere, hell flip burgers somewhere.

Anxiety over what to do for 1 year should not influence a decision that will affect your next 40 years of a career.

Edit: To emphasize this point made earlier. Law schools won't care about what you do during that gap year, and neither will biglaw firms once you get to that.

[chargers21]

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