SO... the decisions are in. Most of them, anyway.
I've officially been accepted to my three back up schools, two of my three target schools, and two (of three) reach schools! The reach I'm waiting on is where I go now for undergrad, but I'm pretty sure I dont have a chance in hell of getting in.
Is it bad that I'm leaning towards the lowest ranked school I've been accepted to?? They are offering me the the biggest scholarship, we already have a good house option in that city, my husband has great job opportunities there, and there are nice daycares close by for JV.
But their the lowest ranked school I've been accepted to.
Dilemma.
One thing to consider: check the employment statistics for median students @ your reaches and at your low ranking one.
ReplyDeleteIf a school (I'm not saying your low ranking one does) has poor employment prospects, a full scholly will not defeat the stressful realization that you need to pull some amazing grades in order to come out of law school as a competitive and employable candidate.
It makes a world of difference to know you can be employed at the median than having to get in the top 10% to have a realistic chance of employment.
Of course, I'm assuming there is a difference between your reach and low ranking one in this regard.
congratulations!
ReplyDeleteI second I Don't Wear Skinny Jeans. Granted, I'm not a law student. But I went through this process with my husband.
I don't know what sort of rank you are looking at, but there is a point in the system down lower where moving up or down 30 schools does not much affect employment opportunities, so I would carefully compare employment stats from reach, target and safety schools. There is also a point in the rankings (up a lot higher) where moving up or down a few spots also does not much affect your employment opportunities. When choosing between four very similar schools, my husband found very, very little difference in the number of students who went on to Top 250 firms, who made more than $X, etc., so we went to the most affordable school within that very similar range.
Also, again me not knowing where you currently live or where you might want to live, look at what percent of grads go on to practice in-state or out-of-state, and avoid schools with high percents of in-state grads if it's not a state you see yourself living in for the next 30 years.
Lastly, try taking your scholarship offers from School A to School B's financial aid office and try to get their offers increased. This only works for schools who consider themselves peer schools/competition, but my husband took offers from several schools, including several full rides, to the schools he wanted to attend more, and had his offers increased in almost every instance.
Good luck!