ND, Georgetown, UCLA, or Wake Forum

[Kjohn9233]

New to this site (and pretty much everything to do with law school as well).

Recently I’ve been accepted into several law schools. However, I’ve found making the choice of which school to attend has become almost impossible. I don’t come from a family of lawyers, and supportive as they are, my immediate family and friends cannot offer any true insight into choosing the correct school. I currently live on the west coast and so does my entire family, so I imagine that’s where I’ll go into law practice-but honestly I am very flexible on that, so location for me is not the biggest concern. I’m also looking at doing criminal law, eventually prosecution. So with all that in mind, here it goes, accepted schools:
Duke sticker
Georgetown with 25,000 scholarship
Notre Dame with 105,000 scholarship
UCLA with a 50,000 scholarship
Wake Forest with a full tuition scholarship

I’m trying to stay away from amassing massive debt as I graduated debt free from undergrad and it has given me a ton of mobility. With that said however, I’m wondering if taking Georgetown or Duke for the name and number is worth it in the long run, with an inevitable try at Big Law? Notre Dane is also attractive since I don’t really know where I want to practice when I graduate, and they have a pretty good system for job placements across the country post graduation. UCLA is in the west, which is near my family, and Wake would be a free degree after FAFSA.

I’d appreciate any feedback, and I apologize for any spelling errors-typed this out on my mobile.

Thanks!

[jsnow212]

UCLA is technically 100kish cheaper, given its lower COA, than Duke. It is about equal to ND, again, given UCLA's lower COA.

Even though it is the best choice in my opinion out of this set, you are still looking at 200k debt at graduation out of UCLA, which is very expensive for that degree and not worth it from a cost/outcome standpoint.

Have you tried negotiating with UCLA to bring that scholarship up?
Have you considered retaking/reapplying? Assuming your GPA is decent, a few more points on the LSAT could net you a full-ride to UCLA and perhaps substantial dollars to Duke.

[cavalier1138]

What are you stats, and how many times did you take the LSAT?

Notre Dane is also attractive since I don’t really know where I want to practice when I graduate, and they have a pretty good system for job placements across the country post graduation.

This is not how it works. Everyone school on your list except Duke and Georgetown is regional. Notre Dame will only realistically place you in the Midwest (and possibly back in California, since it sounds like you're from there). So if you want regional flexibility, you might want to go for a better scholarship at a T13 next cycle, depending on your current numbers.