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I am a 1L at UCLA and some personal circumstances have changed since I chose schools, and I want to move back home to Chicago. I'd hope to be there after school too. I'll be applying to UC, but I'm trying to decide whether Northwestern would be worth it if I don't get in to UC.

We can conservatively assume I'll be top ~20% after spring grades. I am on pace to graduate with ~60K debt. My COL and non-tuition expenses are paid wherever I go, and I might be able to arrange some lower interest loans to avoid Gradplus interest. So at Northwestern I'd graduate with ~140K tops. Also as all expenses are paid, assuming I don't strike out, 2L summer salary would go straight to debt, so I'd graduate with a good bit less than 140. Same goes for first year in practice, as my spouse can still cover COL.

want to start in biglaw, ideally lit, then go mid/smalllaw or govt long-term. Ideally want to be in chicago but would be happy in most other midwest cities. Wouldn't complain about a short stint in NYC.

would it make sense?

What are your goals? I'm NU bound, and I'd say 140k is at the top end of what I would consider acceptable debt, but that's for me. Wanting to practice in Chicago, NU isn't a bad option at all, but how much debt is worth it is going to depend pretty heavily on what you want to do/what you realistically will be able to do after graduation.

[moved to op]

Then, yeah, I think NU for 140K debt at graduation is about as good as you're going to get in your circumstances. You'd have a hard time arguing that NU's placement in Chicago isn't every bit as good as UChi's, and I wouldn't trust any other Chicago law school to land you biglaw.

Thanks for your feedback. Are you a 0L? (not to discount your advice)

With connections to the area and the low amount of debt you'd accumulate, I think transferring is a solid option for you. Transfers did fine at OCI for my class.

bjsesq wrote:With connections to the area and the low amount of debt you'd accumulate, I think transferring is a solid option for you. Transfers did fine at OCI for my class.

cool, thanks for your feedback