I got admitted to BU but it would cost about $80K with no FA. My parents think it’s insane to pay that much for undergrad but they are willing to pay half of the amount. My plan is to become a lawyer and I don’t want to go to a lesser school which cost about 1/3 of the cost. In a long run, do you think it’s worth the cost to study at BU where I can most likely get the best internship opportunities?
Also, what kind of student loans are available? Can I even get a loan of $40K myself?
No…you cannot get a $40,000 Loan yourself.
Are you talking about $80,000 PER YEAR? If so…and your parents can’t or won’t pay at all…you are looking at $320,000 of debt for undergrad only. Sorry…but I think that is an insane amount ofmdebt for undergrad.
You do realize that beginning lawyers don’t earn THAT much per year very often, plus you will likely have three years of law school debt added on.
Here is what you can get yourself via Direct Loans…
Freshman $5500
Sophomore $6500
Junior $7500
Senior $7500
Anything above that would either need to be co-signed by your parents…or they would need to take the loans themselves.
What “lesser” schools are you talking about?
Without knowing your other “lesser”options, it is impossible to comment about internship potential.
This school is not affordable. Where else were you accepted?
absolutely NOT.
Thanks for the Info. The parents are paying up to $40K a year and yes, it’s $80 per year. I got in NYU and BU but did not do so well in CA. Got accepted to UCD, UCSC, and Cal Poly SLO
Are you an instate resident for CA? If so…the schools where you got accepted are way more affordable.
If you are not a CA resident…those schools will be at the OOS rate.
Cal Poly SLO is just a tad under $40,000 a year full cost of attendance for OOS. That is within your budget. If younare instate…even less.
The UCs will be costly as OOS, but if you are instate, they will come in under $40,000 a year as well.
Cost of attendance at BU is $73,000 a year…not $80,000 but it still sounds very unaffordable if you got no aid.
So…are you INSTATE for CA? If not…where ARE you instate.
If your parents are willing and able to pay $40,000 a year for you to go to undergrad school…then you should go to a college that costs that amount…or less…and graduate with NO debt.
Sweetie, every school you got into in California WILL PREPARE YOU FOR LAW SCHOOL !!
As far as law schools are concerned there’s really no difference between them and BU. Yes, you can get great internships going to your much more affordable CA universities. Yes, you can get into very good law schools.
Don’t start your adult life indebted up to your eyeballs. (Assuming even that you can get the loans, which is questionable.) Debt is awful. It will HAUNT you. You may be in your 50s before you finally pay it off. (The Obamas were in their 40s, and they had a lot less undergrad debt than you!) That means you might be paying a mortgage, car loans, and maybe your own children’s school/college tuition when you are still paying debt you accrued in your early 20s.
Save yourself. Go to the very good California schools you got into, do well there, and start your life free.
No, not worth it. That’s a lot of debt.
Unless things have changed a lot since I graduated, your law school admissions will depend largely on two things: your LSAT score and your undergraduate GPA, and the differences in undergraduate schools you’re talking about will not matter. For example, a former partner of mine attended a Cal State and then went on to graduate first in the class of a top 10 ranked law school, and I know someone who started at community college, went on to a Cal Poly, and then graduated from Harvard law. When we look at recruits, the law school attended matters a lot, the undergraduate institution not so much.
Definitely not worth it. If you want to go to law school, you will need money for that too. Look at how much debt you’ll have altogether and what the monthly payment is. If you are looking at lawyer salaries to see if this is all worth it, be careful. The difference between what lawyers in a Big Law/major corporations make and what other lawyers make is stunning. It is extremely hard to get a job in Big Law, but even if you do, there’s a question of whether you want that lifestyle. Don’t put yourself in a position where you will be forced to work a job you don’t like because you have to meet that loan payment.
BU has a reputation for grade deflation. Perhaps you should do a little research to see if this is really true, especially if you are considering graduate school.
Our kid is a BU alum…and there is no question…there is grade deflation. At the very least…there is no grade inflation.
Something to consider.
Instate (LA)
How about internship opportunities and experiences of studying abroad? Are they considered to be valuable experiences for getting into the top 10 law schools?
Well…if you are instate for Louisiana…then take those two UC acceptances right out of consideration. No aid at all…and their costs are higher than your parents will spend.
CalPoly SLO is within their price point of $40,000 a year…Especially if you take the $5500 Direct Loan.
Or do you mean you are from Los Angeles. Please clarify.
@ray2018 Take a look at this, which matches my understanding: https://www.quora.com/How-much-do-internships-play-into-to-the-law-school-application-process?utm_medium=organic&utm_source=google_rich_qa&utm_campaign=google_rich_qa
I think he means ‘Instate (LA)’ as Los Angeles.
Go to a California school.
It sounds like you are trying to generate support for an argument to your parents that they should either (a) spend double what they told you they could; or (b) borrow whatever they can’t pay for out of current income and savings. (You simply will not be able to get sufficient loans on your own to make up the gap, never mind the wisdom of it.)
Advocating for yourself is great. And you are doing the right thing by researching to see if there would be a return that would be worth the extra investment. But honestly, the answer is no, not even close.
No, internships and study abroad are not major or even significant factors in law school admission. See ^^. Top law school admissions is every bit as competitive as undergrad but nowhere near as holistic. There may be one short essay, but they are going to look far more at LSAT, GPA, courses taken, and maybe faculty recommendations. They also want to build diverse classes.
Assume 2 identical students, one from BU and one from UCD/UCSC/Poly. Identical majors, identical LSAT, GPA, etc. The BU kid is not going to have any “name recognition” plus over the others. There are a handful of schools that MIGHT make a difference like that, but BU isn’t one. So as far the top law schools are concerned, BU, UCD, UCSC and Cal Poly are all really good schools. They themselves might have “name” advantages over schools in lower tiers but hardly any amongst each other.
Frankly, east coast law schools would probably consider it a slight geographic plus to come from UCD, UCSC, or Poly.
I also don’t see why a kid from UCD/UCSC/Cal Poly could not study abroad or get internships, if that’s your thing.
So at the end of the day, if you take identical kids from BU and from one of your other choices, I would say their law school admissions chances are identical also. Therefore, the expected return on investment for the $160K extra spent on BU is literally zero.
And as a final matter, even if BU theoretically could provide a 5%, 10% or even 25% edge in law school admissions for an identical candidate, the payoff of going to a top law school STILL would have to be massive AND have a high probability in order for the ROI analysis to justify spending the extra on BU. But it’s not. Unless you graduate at the very top of a top law school, nobody has their pick of legal jobs anymore. The payoff of law school is determined far, far more by performance in law school and to an even greater extent one’s personal choices and abilities displayed in the working world.
As others have pointed out, the only 2 things that matter in law school admissions is LSAT and GPA.
Your parents are right that it is crazy to pay 80k more for BU.
You can major in virtually anything. The challenge with Poly sci is distinguishing yourself from all of the other Poly sci majors. If you are carrying over 100K in debt, there will be some legal jobs that you won’t be able to get because you would be considered a liability and easily compromised.
BU is not worth an extra 80k. That 80K can almost cover 2 years of tuition at UC Law Schools: Berkeley- #8, UCLA 15, UC Irvine 21 and USC (private) #19, are which all ranked higher that BU’s law school (this is what you should be concerned about).
Take advantage of the in-state tuition, do well apply to one of the California Publics and live your life.