Top Law Schools

So I've narrowed down my list of final offers and am very undecided about which school I will choose. A huge weight on the entire situation is that fact that I am already in 100+ K debt from undergrad. I am also unsure of where I want to end up practicing, but am open to many areas. The offers:

Michigan - 45,000/3 years
Duke - 54,000/3 years
Texas - 76,500/3 Years
WUSTL - 108,000/3 years
W&M - 60,600/3 years

Which would you choose and why? Is it a terrible idea to go into even more debt? I know wherever I go I will have to end up hopefully getting a biglaw job for the first few years to pay off everything, but obviously that is not guaranteed. Thanks for the opinions!

Those are all total scholarship offers over the entire 3 years.

Do you have a regional preference? California? Texas? Chicago? NYC? DC? Boston?

Watto wrote:So I've narrowed down my list of final offers and am very undecided about which school I will choose. A huge weight on the entire situation is that fact that I am already in 100+ K debt from undergrad. I am also unsure of where I want to end up practicing, but am open to many areas. The offers:

Michigan - 45,000/3 years
Duke - 54,000/3 years
Texas - 76,500/3 Years
WUSTL - 108,000/3 years
W&M - 60,600/3 years

Which would you choose and why? Is it a terrible idea to go into even more debt? I know wherever I go I will have to end up hopefully getting a biglaw job for the first few years to pay off everything, but obviously that is not guaranteed. Thanks for the opinions!

W&M is too low of an offer to be considered - if it was full ride, then ok, but it's less $$ than Texas! You hopefully would like biglaw, so go to the school where you have the most chances to get biglaw! Duke is 9k more than UM, and the weather would be a lot nicer...

holydonkey wrote:Do you have a regional preference? California? Texas? Chicago? NYC? DC? Boston?

Ehhh-- originally from the Northeast, went to school in the Mid-Atlantic, still have to visit Texas. I could potentially see myself in DC. Maybe come back to NY. But I have no overriding regional preference.

Watto wrote:

holydonkey wrote:Do you have a regional preference? California? Texas? Chicago? NYC? DC? Boston?

Ehhh-- originally from the Northeast, went to school in the Mid-Atlantic, still have to visit Texas. I could potentially see myself in DC. Maybe come back to NY. But I have no overriding regional preference.

For the Northeast and NYC, I'd say Michigan. For DC, I'd probably choose Duke with the money, but visit both Michigan and Duke before making a decision.

I agree with the above post that W&M should be out. WUSTL is offering a ton - I'd still consider them if money is a big issue, but they don't place extremely well outside of the midwest. Texas offer is good as well. If I wanted to move to the Southwest, I'd choose Texas. If I wanted to say in New York, it'd still be Michigan.

Visit Michigan, Duke, and Texas. Otherwise, M>D>>UT