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I go to a TT, and recently was approved for a scholarship taking a chunk of money off of a month-long summer program in Croatia studying international commercial law. It's worth 5 credits, and the grades (which I am told are basically A's and A-'s) transfer to my transcript. Sounds like a pretty sweet deal right? Except, the price: around $8000 total (taking into account the scholly) including tuition, living expenses, plane ticket, alcohol fund, etc... My question: would I be better off working for the Department of City Planning as a legal intern all summer for credit, or would it be better to put on my resume that I studied international law in Croatia for a summer? Basically, I don't want to take out a GradPLUS loan on something that won't REALLY stick out on a resume. All advice, opinions, and thoughts are appreciated. Thank you.

Take the job. No one will be impressed by a short study abroad.

I always laugh when I see people doing study abroad as their summer "work" in law school. You're not in college anymore, its time to start putting real work experience on your resume. No one is going to be very impressed with the study abroad. Seriously, in a market this tight every little thing you can do may help. Its insane to study abroad in law school over the summer in my book.

It's only a month and worth 5 legal credits, so I could technically take the job as well for the first few months this summer.

The Croatian coast is SICK georgeous (I had no idea until I visited on a cruise) and depending on where you're living, it could be an awesome trip regardless of whether the resume line is helpful or not. And if this is a 1L summer gig, just try and line up something else back home for once you get back.

whatsEwingdoing wrote:It's only a month and worth 5 legal credits, so I could technically take the job as well for the first few months this summer.

There you go sport, you've got yourself a plan. I say do it, fuck it, it IS unique.

whatsEwingdoing wrote:It's only a month and worth 5 legal credits, so I could technically take the job as well for the first few months this summer.

Just take a vacation to Croatia. That will cost you far less than 8k.

Very true. Well 8 grand is a lot of money. I suppose I have some thinking to do.

8 grand is a ton of money and the credit earned is basically meaningless unless it allows you to graduate a semester early or otherwise save tuition during the regular term.

You should do a summer program in Ukraine, I heard its a riot.

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how much debt will law school cost you? Why add more debt?

My entire debt from law school, including UG, will be 95k, give or take a little on the interest. Yeah, the grades for the program (5 credits) transfer to my transcript.

Study Abroad seems like a great option but only if you can supplement it with a summer job. If Croatia is only ~1 month, then find a job you can spend working at during the other two months of summer. Nothing can serve as a substitute for work experience. But if you can get that in addition to Croatia, then I think your resume stands out a bit more and serves as a nice discussion piece in future interviews. But before you worry about Croatia, you gotta get a summer job first.