Would I be an idiot for attending NYU with minimal scholarship? Forum

[granolagoddess1]

Hello! As the title suggests, I was accepted to NYU but only received a $15,000/yr scholarship. My other option is UVA with a 30k/yr scholarship. I REALLY want to attend NYU for the following reasons:

1. I already live in NYC, my partner and I live together, and my entire life is in the Northeast
2. I love the vibe of NYU, the PI focus, and the NYC connections
3. I am not opposed to biglaw to pay off my debt
4. I CANNOT R&R because I am a GRE applicant and I over-performed by stats

I am tempted to attend NYU even if my scholarship negotiations fail. I can live frugally (I know this because I live here already) and am highly motivated to attend school this fall.

Am I an idiot? Please weigh in.

[Anon-non-anon]

This is justifiable. NYU is a bit higher ranked than UVA, and suspect big law is more of a guarantee if you're willing to do it for a while (guessing here and prob a lot of self selection from both).

Also, you'll save money between you and SO on rent, travel back and forth, accommodations for summer gigs (assume if you go to UVA, you'll want to summer in NYC, though guess you could still live with SO). More importantly, long distance sucks and while $45k is a lot of money, it's not that huge an amount for your mental health and doing what you really want.

[Big Red]

Yes, this is fine.