Opinions on debt at T14 vs scholly at T30 Forum

[mandrewsf]

If your goal is biglaw, the difference between a T14 and a non-T14 is that at a T14, people who strike out almost all have nobody to blame but themselves, while at non T14s, many people who do everything right nevertheless strike out. I personally think it's worth paying more money for the guarantee that comes with T14 for biglaw.

[talons2250]

Don't choose a lower ranked school on the assumption that you will be at the top of the class and that will in turn make you competitive for biglaw. The risk of doing that is worse than the certainty of the debt in my opinion.

Just blanket the T14 and see what happens, and throw in a couple of T30s to be safe. It's possible that you could get a scholarship at a lower T14. You have a basically perfect UGPA and an LSAT score within the 25th to 50th percentile at all the T14 schools except HYS, Columbia, and NYU. I know someone (also not a URM) who got a $45K scholarship at an MVPB ($15K per year) with numbers similar to yours.

[ehwhitemamba]

Don't choose a lower ranked school on the assumption that you will be at the top of the class and that will in turn make you competitive for biglaw. The risk of doing that is worse than the certainty of the debt in my opinion.

Just blanket the T14 and see what happens, and throw in a couple of T30s to be safe. It's possible that you could get a scholarship at a lower T14. You have a basically perfect UGPA and an LSAT score within the 25th to 50th percentile at all the T14 schools except HYS, Columbia, and NYU. I know someone (also not a URM) who got a $45K scholarship at an MVPB ($15K per year) with numbers similar to yours.

What's an MVPB?

[talons2250]

Don't choose a lower ranked school on the assumption that you will be at the top of the class and that will in turn make you competitive for biglaw. The risk of doing that is worse than the certainty of the debt in my opinion.

Just blanket the T14 and see what happens, and throw in a couple of T30s to be safe. It's possible that you could get a scholarship at a lower T14. You have a basically perfect UGPA and an LSAT score within the 25th to 50th percentile at all the T14 schools except HYS, Columbia, and NYU. I know someone (also not a URM) who got a $45K scholarship at an MVPB ($15K per year) with numbers similar to yours.

What's an MVPB?

Michigan Virginia Penn Berkeley

[johndooley]

Go to the lower ranked school for free. See where you stand after a year and go through OCI. If you don’t have any offers then drop out. You’ve only lost a year of income and time.

[Access]

If you have a 3.98 and are that close to 170+, it's almost criminal to apply with a 169. A little bit of extra work and $215 will get you a 6 digit scholarship at a T14. Seems worth it to try.

[Wild Card]

If you're a New Yorker intending to stay there, it would make sense to turn down $350,000 in debt from a lower T14 for a full ride to Fordham or Cardozo.