Submitted Question:

Jane:

LSU! I know New Orleans is only an hour from Baton Rouge, but the relationship will be stressed enough as you both seek graduate degrees – don’t put an hour drive between you two. I know you are concerned about the being able to balance your 1L load with the relationship, but the space will increase your relationship woes, not decrease them. Also, LSU’s placement in Louisiana is only slightly worse than Tulane’s and will cost $60,000 less! True, you will be pigeonholed into Louisiana with your LSU degree and Civil Law certificate, but the extra $60,000 and easy access to your significant-other outweigh your missed Texas opportunities.

Winner:

Corey:

As Jane said, assuming you retain the scholarship, Tulane will cost ~$60k more than LSU. The normal metric (big firm placement) is not particularly useful here, as few firms in Louisiana pop-up in the NLJ 250. Speaking with students at both schools, market paying Louisiana firms appear to go ~10% deeper into the Tulane class, although the school is hurt by an “outsider image.” Tulane also travels quite well, especially into Texas. LSU’s placement outside of Louisiana is non-existant. So…are Tulane’s superior post-graduate options worth the $60k? Not for you. Your Louisiana connections are too strong, LSU will serve you well.

Winner:

Submitted Question:

Corey:

When comparing two schools in the same market, the NLJ 250 placement data is of some value. (I’m starting to sound like a broken record!) In the most recent NLJ 250 placement report, USC edged UCLA by ~4.5%. This report was actually a bit of a surprise, as UCLA has historically held a slight placement edge over USC. Even so, given that the placement difference is quite small – this decision really comes down to cost. USC is private and will cost $20,000 or $30,000 more than UCLA – depending on whether the student starts UCLA as a California resident or gains residency as a 2L. Go Bruins!

Winner:

Jane:

Similar to my advice on choosing between NYU and Columbia, I think this decision hinges on a campus visit. The schools have many similarities, but they find themselves in drastically different parts of LA, and while USC has a nice campus, the surrounding area leaves much to be desired.

Winner:

Submitted Question:

Corey:

Both of these schools place very well in all areas, neither choice is wrong. Columbia, though, has a slight edge in NLJ 250 placement and Supreme Court Clerk placement. Columbia is also part of the Ivy League, if such things matter to you, and – in my limited opinion – has more comfortable housing.

Winner:

Jane:

Cost is similar. Placement is similar. Atmosphere is different. Visit both schools before you make this decision! At least you only have to purchase one flight. You are going to do wonderfully coming out of either school. I appreciate NYU’s public interest focus and prefer their city location.

Winner:

Submitted Question:

Corey:

These schools run a dead heat in post-graduation placement; cost should be your deciding factor. UNC is a state-supported law school and you can apply for instate tuition after living in North Carolina for twelve months. Assuming you get instate tuition, you will save over $50,000 attending UNC. With placement being virtually the same, you cannot spend the extra $50,000 to attend Wake Forest.

Winner:

Jane:

Visit both schools! Make sure you are actually comfortable attending both of the schools before making this huge decision. Of course, as long you are comfortable attending either, I agree with Corey. If you are using loans to pay for law school, the $50,000 will become more than $75,000 by the time you pay it off. Don’t throw $75,000 away!

Winner:

Submitted Question:

Corey:

The AAMPLE program at Nova Southeastern allows applicants who could not otherwise obtain admission an alternative admissions path. The prospective students who enter AAMPLE take two law school classes at Nova over the summer and those who obtain a 2.5 or better GPA are offered admission to Nova Southeastern. According to the AAMPLE website, 20-50% of the prospective students who enter the AAMPLE program obtain the required GPA and, therefore, admittance to Nove Southeastern Law School. The program costs $3500 and, no matter how well you do, you are not awarded credits for the classes.

My employment agreement with zeroL requires me to pick a school, but I want to say that, for the record, each of these options will likely result in a great deal of debt and limited employment opportunities. With that said, do not risk your time or money with AAMPLE. It is my understanding that AAMPLE grading is not subjected to a curve and Nova Southeastern adjusts the amount of AAMPLE admissions based on the greater campus needs. AAMPLE may or may not be an accurate assessment of your law school abilities, depending largely on how many students Nova Southeastern needs when the program ends. Getting accepted through AAMPLE does not, in itself, mean that you will succeed in law school, and, likewise, failing AAMPLE does not mean that you would not have succeeded. You are already accepted to Cooley, and as you have no preference as to where you will practice law, the location of your law school is relatively unimportant. The difference in employment placement between Cooley and Nova is negligible. Send in your deposit to Cooley.

Winner:

Jane:

AAMPLE might be expensive in both time and money, but it allows the participants a chance to test their scholastic abilities before committing themselves to a full year of law school. Both schools have notoriously high academic attrition rates, but Cooley’s (~15%) is nearly twice Nova’s (~8%). Over three-hundred first year Cooley law students are forced to quit every year. Give AAMPLE a try. If you do not make the cut, the $3,000 test run probably saved you $27,000 at Cooley. If you do make the cut, you know you have the skills to succeed at Nova.

Winner:

Submitted Question:

Jane:

There will be classmates with you at Harvard who were not awarded the Darrow, but they will be your classmates at Harvard nonetheless. The Darrow scholarship includes full tuition and a stipend for all three years you would have been a student at Michigan, and you are right to be tempted away from Harvard, but the Harvard JD will be $130,000 well spent. If you do well at Michigan, many legal paths will be open to you; but if you do well at Harvard, all legal paths will be open to you.

Winner:

Corey:

I have anecdotal evidence that suggests multiple second year students at the University of Michigan could not find a job that would pay the market biglaw salary, and despite speaking with dozens of Harvard second year students, none suffered from a similar problem. Admittedly, the Darrow carries its own prestige, but it is nothing compared to what the Harvard name carries. Graduating at the bottom of the Harvard class will present significantly better job prospects than graduating at the bottom of Michigan. And, as Jane said, graduating at the top of Harvard will open you up to any legal career path. You are 7.5 times more likely to be a US Supreme Court Clerk graduating from Harvard compared to Michigan. Your law school will follow you for the rest of your life, and at the end of the day, Harvard is worth the extra $130,000.

Winner:

Submitted Question:

Jane:

The Fordham rejection is shocking, I’m truly sorry. Your Tulane scholarship requires you to maintain a 3.0 GPA, which means you will lose your scholarship if you are not in the top 55% of your class. At this point, you do not know how well you will do in law school and losing the Tulane scholarship would be devastating. Boston University places very well in New York City and you will not be burdened with the added scholarship pressure as a 1L.

Winner:

Corey:

Scholarship retention at Tulane has decreased in recent years, but it is still quite high (greater than 70%). Tulane also uses a graduated scholarship reduction system, not a “poof” scholarship gone system. This really comes down to how well you could tolerate not living in NYC after law school. While Tulane places well up north, NYC firms go quite a bit deeper into the BU class. Still, neither school guarantees that you will end up at your NYC dream job. If you could deal with ending up in the south (think Houston, NOLA, Atlanta), go to Tulane. If, and only if, you need NYC above all else, go to BU.

Winner: