CU Boulder 2011 Forum

[thewarflamingo]

Just withdrew and freed up 20K. Good luck to everyone waiting and to everyone who will be at CU in the fall!

[oldhippie]

sorry critracer but you stil have a chance, best of luck to you!!

and we'll miss ya warflamingo!!! it was nice waiting and agonizing with you...good luck!!

[CanadianWolf]

@thewarflamingo: You have done very well based on your numbers. In what discipline is your masters degree ?

[thewarflamingo]

@thewarflamingo: You have done very well based on your numbers. In what discipline is your masters degree ?

Thank you, my masters is in Economics.

[vastrei]

Do you guys think CU is worth $8000 more per year than DU (my current situation)?

[WinterIsComing]

Do you guys think CU is worth $8000 more per year than DU (my current situation)?

Absolutely.

[vastrei]

Let me clarify, I think my question might have been misleading. Do you think paying $8000/year more to go to CU is worth it.

[typ3]

DU Median Starting $66,600
CU Median Starting $68,500

I would suggest minimizing your debt upon graduation. As others have stated, the difference between the two in the local market is not as large as rankings would suggest. You are better off going to the school you think you can do best at.

http://blogs.forbes.com/kurtbadenhausen ... ke-160000/

It would take awhile for you to pay back that $24,000 plus interest. By the time you do, you will be far enough into your career that firms would look at your track record rather than where you graduated from to determine your pay scale / whether or not they will hire you.

[fundamentallybroken]

DU Median Starting $66,600
CU Median Starting $68,500

I would suggest minimizing your debt upon graduation. As others have stated, the difference between the two in the local market is not as large as rankings would suggest. You are better off going to the school you think you can do best at.

http://blogs.forbes.com/kurtbadenhausen ... ke-160000/

It would take awhile for you to pay back that $19,000 plus interest. By the time you do, you will be far enough into your career that firms would look at your track record rather than where you graduated from to determine your pay scale / whether or not they will hire you.

Typ makes an excellent point.

I would also suggest that the answer depends on where you want to be after school. If you want to work in the courts, or have slightly more portability, CU might be your best option. If you want to do mid or small law in Denver, DU looks better.

[franklin14]

Your debt payment on another $18,000 is not that huge compared to what you are already going to be paying. I would strongly look at where fits best for you. If you're from Denver, DU might be a good choice. I personally would have a hard time going to DU over CU, despite what anyone says, because of two reasons: 1) the class size is smaller at CU and full profs seem to teach all of the classes and 2) I would rather have the flexibility of a CU degree with the greater opportunities for clerkships. That is my biased view based on these forums and other opinions gathered.

typ3, those are all of the sectors combined. The reason they split them out is because it DOES matter what you are going into. If you do public work for a number of years, your debt will be far less than if you do private sector work. I believe totally forgiven in some cases (someone please confirm). It has been said before... DU's strength is that almost all of the grads go to mid to small law offices. However, many CU grads go into public service sectors. If I went on those two statements and the medians you gave, I would only assume that any CU grad going into private sector would make much more cash than a DU grad. That may not be the case, but it shows how relatively meaningless the information is without more facts. The author of that article also wrote "Turns out 99% of grads do not get jobs after 9 months of graduation...". That clearly doesn't come off as he intended, but it shows the shoddiness of the whole operation. Please use caution in sources when dissuading someone from choices.

[bananeez]

Your debt payment on another $18,000 is not that huge compared to what you are already going to be paying. I would strongly look at where fits best for you. If you're from Denver, DU might be a good choice. I personally would have a hard time going to DU over CU, despite what anyone says, because of two reasons: 1) the class size is smaller at CU and full profs seem to teach all of the classes and 2) I would rather have the flexibility of a CU degree with the greater opportunities for clerkships. That is my biased view based on these forums and other opinions gathered.

+1 Those two reasons were in my list of top reasons for choosing CU, along with feeling like I fit in better with the CU student body and alumni. And I'm choosing CU w/ $ over DU w/ $$$. It was not an easy decision, as I think DU is great too. Happy to talk to you more about what went into my decision, if you want to know, but a lot of it was about fit.

[typ3]

Your debt payment on another $18,000 is not that huge compared to what you are already going to be paying. I would strongly look at where fits best for you. If you're from Denver, DU might be a good choice. I personally would have a hard time going to DU over CU, despite what anyone says, because of two reasons: 1) the class size is smaller at CU and full profs seem to teach all of the classes and 2) I would rather have the flexibility of a CU degree with the greater opportunities for clerkships. That is my biased view based on these forums and other opinions gathered.

typ3, those are all of the sectors combined. The reason they split them out is because it DOES matter what you are going into. If you do public work for a number of years, your debt will be far less than if you do private sector work. I believe totally forgiven in some cases (someone please confirm). It has been said before... DU's strength is that almost all of the grads go to mid to small law offices. However, many CU grads go into public service sectors. If I went on those two statements and the medians you gave, I would only assume that any CU grad going into private sector would make much more cash than a DU grad. That may not be the case, but it shows how relatively meaningless the information is without more facts. The author of that article also wrote "Turns out 99% of grads do not get jobs after 9 months of graduation...". That clearly doesn't come off as he intended, but it shows the shoddiness of the whole operation. Please use caution in sources when dissuading someone from choices.

Payscale does divide their pay by sector.

A CU grad going into private practice does not make considerably more. Pufer and other CU students have posted that pay tends to be relative equivalent with a slight discrepancy in the top 10%.

Even so, both grads lose out at the large firms where pay is the greatest to t-14 graduates who want to come to Denver since it is such a destination city.

I have talked to graduates of both and neither make a large distinction between the two except that there are obviously more DU graduates to get jobs with and the DU career office tends to be more exhaustive in their search for post grad employment. Although it certainly is acknowledged that CU is a better academic school. However, due to supply of attorneys the salary difference isn't as large as what you would assume given the ranking difference.

[krad]

If anyone is hitting up the ASW this Friday and is interested in meeting up, PM me or come to the c/o 2014 thread where Old Hippie and I are going to discuss

[CanadianWolf]

Class sizes may be smaller at Colorado compared to DU. Student:faculty ratio is lower at Colorado.
If you prefer living in a sophisticated college setting, then $8,000 extra per year may be worth the difference.
The quality of the student body should be higher at Colorado, and all resources are devoted to full-time law students.
Basically, in my opinion, the choice depends upon one's personal preference.

[chrisbru]

Let me clarify, I think my question might have been misleading. Do you think paying $8000/year more to go to CU is worth it.

I do. However, I like to set my sights high, and the mere chance that I'll end up in the top 10% means the value of that $8k a year is quite a bit as far as salary goes. Also, Boulder > Denver.

It all depends on how hard you want to work, what your aspirations are, etc. It's a very personal decision, that really only you can make.

[LawSchoolPorFavor]

Has anyone received their financial aid package yet? I'd like to see what my loans are going to look like before I send in my first deposit...

[oldhippie]

they said today that they packages wouldn't be sent out for another week or so at least...

ETA - and they said at ASD it would not be for a while, waiting for final votes on the tuition for next year or something....

[ptblazer]

they said today that they packages wouldn't be sent out for another week or so at least...

ETA - and they said at ASD it would not be for a while, waiting for final votes on the tuition for next year or something....

Ugh... well i vote for a decrease in tuition.

[LawSchoolPorFavor]

does anyone know if they're going to extend the first deposit deadline b/c of this?

[oldhippie]

does anyone know if they're going to extend the first deposit deadline b/c of this?

i didn't hear any mention of that...

[bananeez]

does anyone know if they're going to extend the first deposit deadline b/c of this?

i didn't hear any mention of that...

As far as I know, you can figure out your loan package pretty accurately yourself, if you know your EFC number (which you can calculate on your own).

[shock259]

Overnighting my $500 seat deposit tomorrow. EEK! It's really happening.

[CanadianWolf]

Why $500 ? Have you already submitted $200 ? Or expecting upfront center orchestra seating in each class ?

[shock259]

$500 is the second seat deposit for ED students.

[CanadianWolf]

Colorado & Indiana see to be the most popular law schools this cycle.

P.S. Regular admits submit $200 by April 15th & an additional $500 in June.