Will You Take the "Best" School Or Follow The Money? Forum

[Jacques]

Curious to get folks' impression on this topic:

Traditional TLS logic says to take the "best" school you get into (a.k.a. best ranked), debt be damned.

With the economy still suffering, and law jobs as scarce as ever, will merit scholarship money play a part in your decision-making process this year?

It's interesting to consider, if only because conservative action by students who would usually pay ticket price at T14 schools would have a butterfly effect all the way down the ABA rankings.

For example, let's say a student has two admissions offers: One is sticker at Michigan, the other a half-scholly at Texas. If the student takes the Texas offer, all of the sudden, the next-tier student who would have previously gotten in by the skin of their teeth at Texas now gets shut out, and is stuck between the choice of Illinois at sticker, or George Mason at half-off. And let's say that student takes the GM offer...

You can see where this goes.

Of course, certain schools (looking at you HYS) will always be in incredible demand. This won't apply to them. For many schools though, this could represent a radical dynamic shift, prematurely inflating GPA/LSAT 25th/75th numbers across the board, and making many schools much harder to get into.

The question is this: Do you think this will happen, and, if so, what will be the number ranking (or school) where people start to pass up sticker admission for big piles of money?

[kittenmittons]

Curious to get folks' impression on this topic:

Traditional TLS logic says to take the "best" school you get into (a.k.a. best ranked), debt be damned.

With the economy still suffering, and law jobs as scarce as ever, will merit scholarship money play a part in your decision-making process this year?

It's interesting to consider, if only because conservative action by students who would usually pay ticket price at T14 schools would have a butterfly effect all the way down the ABA rankings.

For example, let's say a student has two admissions offers: One is sticker at Michigan, the other a half-scholly at Texas. If the student takes the Texas offer, all of the sudden, the next-tier student who would have previously gotten in by the skin of their teeth at TU now gets shut out, and is stuck between the choice of Illinois at sticker, or George Mason at half-off. And let's say that student takes the GM offer...

You can see where this goes.

Of course, certain schools (looking at you HYS) will always be in incredible demand. This won't apply to them. For many schools though, this could represent a radical dynamic shift, prematurely inflating GPA/LSAT 25th/75th numbers across the board, and making many schools much harder to get into.

The question is this: Do you think this will happen, and, if so, what will be the number ranking (or school) where people start to pass up sticker admission for big piles of money?

Subtle anti-Texas/pro-Texas A&M trolling

[Mickey Quicknumbers]

I really wish employment statistics would freaking come out for the class of 2009 so we could make some more educated decisions as to whether picking the dream school would be worth it.

[Jacques]

I really wish employment statistics would freaking come out for the class of 2009 so we could make some more educated decisions as to whether picking the dream school would be worth it.

What really needs to happen is a change in the way schools report jobs. Freelance, part-time jobs, when counted as part of the "employed in the legal field" tally, totally misrepresent the job market and the opportunities afforded by having a JD.

[Sauer Grapes]

....

[njskatchmo]

This will depend greatly on your range. If you are in at all t14 - HYS, with full at gtown, I would be really tempted to do gtown. However if I was in at all t14 - HYS and my only full was at school ranked 50, it would be different.

[NayBoer]

As a sub-3 splitter, none of my scholarships offered even half tuition, even at McGeorge. I got basically the same tuition offer there (currently ranked 3rd tier) as at UIUC (T25). I'm just not in a great position to get a pile of money anywhere, even though I'll be going T14.

I also think that HYS is worth at least $200k more than Georgetown, for my goals anyway.

[yune]

Even thought employment data is misleading, does anyone know when the 2009 data will be available?

[342848386278]

All a matter of whether I can get into my dream school. Seems more realistic that I'll end up following a good financial offer, but if Berkeley or UPenn calls me I'll melt and merrily pay loan payments for the rest of my life.

[PlugInBaby]

I went to nearby state schools and took all the grants and scholarships I could to graduated debt free from undergrad, now I want to shoot for the best.

[dakatz]

Ug I have this exact dilemma. Got into Chicago and Cornell, but have really nice scholarship offers from BU and GW, both of which are in cities I'd be happy to study in. I have no clue how I'm supposed to make this decision.

[too old for this sh*]

I am one of those handful that voted to follow the money. However, the qualifier to my response is that I already have offers of employment in my area of expertise once the JD was obtained and Bar Card was firmly in hand. As a result, I have less of an issue with needing pedigree to help in making up the money I will be losing during the reduced work hours that take place while GETTING the JD...

[UFMatt]

The way my cycle worked, I got great offers until the point that I hit a wall of WLs. Doesn't look like I'll get into my reaches, so quite happily I'll be taking a half tuition scholarship to one of my high-end targets. The caveat in my choice is that I'm lined up for IP law, so I don't feel quite the onus to attend the highest ranked school possible.

I doubt I would've paid sticker for anywhere except Yale or Harvard.

[RMstratosphere]

Highest ranked school with full $.

[insidethetwenty]

I'm not even sure I'm going to get into my "soft reaches" (i.e. the ones I'd probably have to pay sticker for). So it will probably be a target school with $$ or a safety if a safety comes through with a full ride...

[KimmyGibbler]

I got into BU, Fordham, and BC at sticker, but I think I will instead be going to Temple for about $10k a year. I wont be going to Drexel for free, even though I have the option. I'm from Philly and am happy to settle down here, which makes the decision easier