Top Law Schools

ok.. I know similar threads exist... but I need help!

I am a Southern California resident and I was admitted to UC Hastings. I have paid my deposit for tuition and housing and blah blah. Today, I was surprised to discover I was admitted to GWU (I have a 157 lsat and a 4.03 GPA from ucla, and I'm not URM). This has placed me into a very stressful situation because I don't know what to do. Both schools aren't offering me merit scholarships. Hastings has given me a $12,600 hastings grant (I don't know if I will get it every year), but that's it. Hastings tuition is 41k vs. GW tuition at 44k. I called GW today and they told me I was unlikely to receive any grant money and that it would probably be all loans. Ultimately, I am pretty open to working in California or New York. I would prefer New York and I was wondering if going to GWU would help me find a job there. If you guys were in this situation, what would you do!!??? Oh yea, and if I went to GW, I would lose about $1,400.00 in deposit fees (not a big deal I guess). Is the 22-spot ranking difference significant enough for me to choose GW??

A 4.03 GPA and a 157 LSAT... that screams RETAKE. You can have so much more than now.

I also think you should retake/reapply because without any SIGNIFICANT money both of these schools are not worth it: too much money and time invested for the potential salary and career prospects. Think about it. GWU (and probably Hastings) are going to cost you about 220K under these terms! It's going to be very hard, if not impossible, to pay back that debt.

Also, ask an admin to move this thread to the "Choosing a law school" forum.