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Not entirely sure which area I want to go in, but would not be opposed to big law or something that has a Loan Repayment Plan.

Other than that its pretty self-explanatory.

It might help if you name the tier three law school & note any scholarship stipulations. There is a significant difference between St. Louis law school & Creighton law, for example, although I suspect that it may be John Marshall in Chicago. St. Thomas has strong support in the area. With 10 tier 3 mid-western law schools & no idea of your preferred location, it is difficult to offer meaningful advice. It would also be helpful to know of your geographic preference for practicing law.
Do you think that biglaw is a reasonable possibility from a Midwestern tier 3 law school ?

I left Midwest $ (not close to your offer, though T2) to do Tulane sticker and am confident in what the outcome will be .. go for it and go to GW!! Because I say so! Haha

Don't go to GW because I want your spot!

Seriously though, GW will give you better employment prospects but it's also going to cost more to attend that most other law schools in the country, given the high tuition and high COL in DC. If you aren't that debt averse, go to GW because it might prove better in the long run. You'll obviously have a better shot at BigLaw from GW over a midwest T3.

What is the Midwestern T3, and are there scholly stips?

Not really sure why the midwest school matters. I thought a t3 is a t3..its not in Chicago though. I'd like to keep a level of separation on the net ya know not trying to be difficult.
And the scholly has a 2.5 stipulation on it. I'd be paying just under 10k a year plus COL. Depending on if I get a scholarship or not (and lets assume not), I'd be taking out roughly 25k a year for everything. Putting me at about 75k in the hole depending on scholarship/employment.
And I believe biglaw may be possible from t3 school, have a vague connection to a few places to get my foot in the door and midlaw recruits the school decently.

things fall apart wrote:Not really sure why the midwest school matters. I thought a t3 is a t3..its not in Chicago though. I'd like to keep a level of separation on the net ya know not trying to be difficult.

TTT's are not created equal. Some of them send 60% of their grads into full time jobs as lawyers, some of them send 25% of their grads into jobs as lawyers. If you could give us this percentage (which is on http://www.lawschooltransparency.com) it would be helpful.

That being said, I think both of these options are risky. On one hand you will be taking out minimal debt at the TTT but you will probably only have a 50% chance of actually getting a full time job as a lawyer. On the other hand you have GW which will cost you $200,000+ in debt.

Do not pay sticker at GW. Bad investment.

If you can hold your scholly at the T3, and it places decently, it might be worth it. If you lose your scholly, plan on dropping out. T3 is absolutely not worth sticker unless you have a guaranteed job at graduation that pays as much as the debt you incur to get it.

Unless the T3 is public and you are paying in-state, which makes a big difference depending on how much it is.

things fall apart wrote:I thought a t3 is a t3

Not true at all. There are cheap TTTs, and there are expensive TTTs. There are respectable TTTs with a niche in a decent market, and there are TTTs that are dominated by other local T1s. So not all T3s are the same, not by any stretch. There are some that you should always avoid, and some that are justifiable depending on the situation.

While I do respect your concern for anonymity on TLS, I really doubt anyone will be able to figure out who you are from saying you were one of the hundreds of people to get into X School. And even if they could figure it out, I doubt they'd really care. But without knowing your T3, it is hard to give you any sound advice.

It might also help to tell us more about what you want to do with your degree when you graduate...you mention being not opposed to biglaw, but is it something that you're serious about, or just something you might consider?

This is probably going to come off rude, and I don't mean it this way at all, but...you've basically given us no information about your goals or one of the schools you're considering. It's going to be tough for anyone to do a cost-benefit analysis with out really knowing what the costs or benefits are.