162/3.7 Texas Schools Forum

[Titleist]

To be honest I'm not considering either school. Both are safety schools that I plan on using as scholarship leverage.
It's basically going to come down to UH, Baylor and SMU.

Thoughts on Baylor at 30k a year compared to UH with possibly no scholarship or around 5-10k?

Hey, UH will negotiate. I got a great scholarship from SMU and nothing from UH. I called UH and told them "with the amount SMU is offering, it will be cheaper for me to go there than to go to UH." I got a scholarship offer via email about an hour later.

/in full disclosure, the offer was just enough to make them about even or a little cheaper than SMU. I chose SMU because it offered better opportunities and I didn't like the UH campus.

But SMU is higher ranked than UH, doesn't that play a role in the negotiation?

I have 30k from Baylor making it only around 12k per year. Will UH come close to matching a scholarship making it comparable to Baylor?

Obviously they will not give me 30k, their tuition is only 28k.

[kalvano]

Don't go to law school in Texas unless you can go to UT, SMU or UofH.

[Titleist]

How bad of an idea is SMU over UH w/ no scholarship?

[kalvano]

I don't feel that SMU is worth full sticker, and UofH certainly isn't.

Baylor for free (and I mean even COL covered) might be worth it. Maybe. But even then, I'm not sure being utterly miserable for 3 years is still worth it.

[b.gump81]

So basically if you are not in the ~10% at UH you will have the same job prospects as a Tech grad?

Horseshit.

Not according to Gump.


Too many conflicting opinions.

Where did I say that? I don't think that is true, but I would say that if the job they are applying for is in Houston or is biglaw, it would be about top 20-25% for uh student and would take top 10-15% for tech student. But outside Houston and biglaw, the prestige will matter less, and experience, decent rank, journal, etc will matter more

[Titleist]

Besides biglaw, the numbers suggest there really isn't that much of a difference

[b.gump81]

"besides biglaw" =\= top 10%

[Lord Randolph McDuff]

If you don't really want biglaw, why would you consider spending an extra $75,000-100,000 ITE to attend smu or uh over Baylor or tech? I'm not trying to be rude or anything. Just curious

Baylor hate is irrational if you have a nice scholarship that you likely will not lose. I think BU gets a bad rap because 1. religion 2. TTT scholly stips.

1. was really never true-- BU is as religious or as non-religious as you want. (though Waco is lame, how much time are you really going to spend partying it up in LS)
2. apparently isn't true anymore? you tell me.

Tech is a good school too. If you can interview well and have median or better grades at either of these schools, especially BU, then you can find full time legal employment. If dood doesn't want big law and has cheap Tech/Baylor options, why all the hate?

Anecdotal time-- Family member graduated from Tech Law in the last few years, mediansih, 100k salary for a private firm in San Antonio. He/she can interview well though.

[eaper]

If you don't really want biglaw, why would you consider spending an extra $75,000-100,000 ITE to attend smu or uh over Baylor or tech? I'm not trying to be rude or anything. Just curious

Baylor hate is irrational if you have a nice scholarship that you likely will not lose. I think BU gets a bad rap because 1. religion 2. TTT scholly stips.

1. was really never true-- BU is as religious or as non-religious as you want. (though Waco is lame, how much time are you really going to spend partying it up in LS)
2. apparently isn't true anymore? you tell me.

Tech is a good school too. If you can interview well and have median or better grades at either of these schools, especially BU, then you can find full time legal employment. If dood doesn't want big law and has cheap Tech/Baylor options, why all the hate?

Anecdotal time-- Family member graduated from Tech Law in the last few years, mediansih, 100k salary for a private firm in San Antonio. He/she can interview well though.

No, the TTT stips (which I think they're getting rid of this year?) is only part of it and I don't think religion has too much to do with it. It gets a bad rap for being a terrible atmosphere in the law schools (I.E. the people ripping pages out of your books) and for a notoriously (and worthlessly) difficult 3L. Also, they lack a home market, so it's more difficult to get a job than SMU or U of H, which, after UT, dominate two large markets.


Also- U of H is reallllllly stingy about scholarships and negotiations from what current students are saying, so don't expect too much help from there.

[Titleist]

Would I be successful with negotiating my 90k scholarship from Baylor to a full ride?

[kalvano]

If you have a school that's comparable to Baylor that would allow you to negotiate, just go to that school. I understand being debt-averse, but you can carry it too far.