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Ok TLS:

I recently made it off two waitlists, Minnesota and George Washington. Yay! However, I'm having a hard time choosing.

The problem is this: I'm headed to law school to further my work in politics. I've been working in politics for most of a decade; I'm not moving up the ranks the way I think I should, so I decided to go this route.

Thus, GW makes a lot of sense. Unfortunately they came in with a grant of just $10K/year, and with DC living expenses they give a cost estimate around $75K. Meanwhile, MN offered $20K on an estimate of $60K.

So I'm a bit torn. Are the location advantages work $25,000 a year in greater debt, for someone a good bit older and not headed to BigLaw? Will I be better off heading to MN and being a bit of a bigger fish in a much smaller political pond anyway, and spend my summers interning in DC? If I end up doing well and transferring up, as I kind of hope to but cannot count on, am I just better off saving money? If I end up staying at either school, will GW's vaguely stronger reputation be worth anything? Et cetera.

I've asked all manner of lawyers, political professionals and political lawyers and gotten entirely conflicting advice - usually from the same person - so I figured it was time to go to anonymous strangers on the internet.

Oh one more factor: is there reasonable hope that I do better in the financial aid lottery at GW after my first year?

They are both very strong schools, but I think especially if you want to go into national politics GW is TCR, especially since it is in DC. But if MN is your home state and you want specifically to do MN politics (including perhaps running for national office as a rep of MN at some point), then I think UMN could prob be a good option.

ijk wrote: I've asked all manner of lawyers, political professionals and political lawyers and gotten entirely conflicting advice - usually from the same person - so I figured it was time to go to anonymous strangers on the internet.

I think this may be partly because there is no clear-cut answer to this. They are basically peer schools. If the money was equal, I think GW would prob be more of a clear choice if you want national politics, but even then no one can really predict which school will ultimately serve you better/ where you will best thrive IMO.