<p>Hey!
I've received about a free ride to a small, liberal arts college; however, I plan on attending law school and I'm thinking its name may be rather obscure to the universities I have my eye on. In order to attend my state university, I would graduate $40,000 in debt. Although my state school may be more recognizable, I'm not sure if going into debt would be the smarter option. What would you guys recommend?</p>
<p>Debt=bad $40,000 in debt=really bad. I can’t answer as to how much name recognition plays into law school admissions, but I believe that LACs offer, on the whole, really good education. I think you could work hard at the LAC, do good on the LSATs, and make it into a good law school, but I don’t know much. It might be better to listen to someone else and do more research on the LAC and law school admissions. Any recent grads go to law school? Where?
Also, law school will probably cost you, which is another reason to consider the LAC. But again, this is me guessing that you’d have a pretty good chance to get into a good law school, assuming you worked hard.</p>
<p>This really depends on factors unknown to us i.e. the relative quality of the schools under consideration and the profile of the law schools you “have your eye on”. It may be that for (insert prestigious law school name here) even your better known school puts you on poor footing, so why go in debt?</p>
<p>It might help to know which small LAC we’re talking about, but in general I’d say if you do very well in school and get very good LSAT scores, you should get into law school whether you’re coming from state U or a small, relatively unknown LAC. I went to a college that most people have never heard of and got into every law school to which I applied, including 3 top-10 schools. Save your money for law school and take the free ride.</p>
<p>What is the LAC in question?</p>
<p>Wow, thanks for your responses!</p>
<p>The LAC is Drew University in Madison, NJ and the state school is TCNJ (The College of New Jersey).</p>
<p>TCNJ is not worth 40k extra in debt.</p>
<p>Sorry, but NO local state school is worth 40k in debt.</p>
<p>TCNJ- definitely not worth $40 more.</p>
<p>Drew may not be a school that most people would consider “elite” in the same way that the “potted ivies” (Williams, Swarthmore, Amherst, etc.) are elite, but its name will not be obscure to any law school admissions committee.</p>
<p>Easy answer - go to Drew and use the money for law school and the best LSAT prep course you can find. The rest will fall into place.</p>
<p>Knowing the actual schools really helps - definitely take the scholarship at Drew. Neither the education you get nor any difference in law school admissions (I don’t think there will be any at all) is worth anywhere close to $40,000.</p>
<p>Yep. Drew it is.</p>
<p>First, congrats on your obvious success with the application process!</p>
<p>I have to agree with most of the posters here. Financially, this decision should be a no-brainer for you. But let me approach this from a slightly different angle. You indicated that you were concerned that Drew is “obscure” and TCNJ would be better known by law schools you apply to. I think you are probably starting out with a false premise here. I’ve personally heard nice things about TCNJ, but it is virtually unknown in my part of the world (i.e., New England). Drew, on the other hand, is fairly well known up here, especially in academic circles. FWIW if you look at the USNWR rankings, Drew has consistently been ranked in the top 75 LACs in the country. It has a very strong political science department (a route often taken by pre-law students), and it offers semesters at the UN, on Wall St, and in DC; as well as many internship and international opportunities. On top of that, it’s only a 45-50 minute train ride into NYC. Honestly, given the two choices you named, I don’t see how you could go wrong by going to Drew.</p>
<p>NO QUESTION! Take the money and the prestige of winning a full scholarship at Drew and run with it! Congratulations!</p>
<p>A quick follow-up on my previous post…</p>
<p>I went to Drew’s “outcomes” page ([Think</a> beyond graduation - Drew University](<a href=“http://www.drew.edu/ThinkBeyond/Outcomes.aspx]Think”>http://www.drew.edu/ThinkBeyond/Outcomes.aspx)) to see whether they reported anything about law school. Here are some law schools where Drew students have been accepted:</p>
<h1>American University</h1>
<h1>Boston College</h1>
<h1>College of William and Mary</h1>
<h1>Fordham University</h1>
<h1>Georgetown University</h1>
<h1>Harvard University</h1>
<h1>Michigan State University</h1>
<h1>Seton Hall University</h1>
<h1>Stanford University</h1>
<h1>Syracuse University</h1>
<h1>Temple University</h1>
<h1>University of Miami</h1>
<h1>University of Michigan</h1>
<h1>University of San Diego</h1>
<h1>Villanova University</h1>
<h1>Washington and Lee University</h1>