<p>I have enough $ saved up for 4 yrs of private uni, and the statistics to potentially get me into top 20 schools.</p>
<p>I want to either be a doctor or professor when I grow up. If I was sure I wanted to be a lawyer, well, then I'd stay in state to save up money for a good law school. But there is the possibility of being a professor, and to excel in that I understand that your undergraduate is pretty important.</p>
<p>So, should I go ahead and aim for top unis for undergrad? And then, if I do decide to become a lawyer after that, deal with taking out loans and potentially accumulating over 100k in debt? Or should I stay in state, and risk not getting into a good PhD program...</p>
<p>I’m assuming this is a typo and you want to be a lawyer (maybe) not a doctor.</p>
<p>Regardless…leaving undergrad school with little to no debt is a gift REGARDLESS of your future studies. In my opinion, if you have the stats to go to a top 20 school, you also might garner some merit aid at a very good school that offers merit aid. This would reduce your costs and would leave you with some of that savings for your future.</p>
<p>OR you could go to your instate public and really save your money. You could use it then for grad school or the like in your future. Believe me, you will feel so lucky not to have debt issues in the future.</p>
<p>I have spoken to several doctors who are friends of ours and unfortunately my own, They all say the same thing it does not matter where you go to undergraduate school, What matters is what you do when you get there. The school doesn’t make the doctor, the person does. Most of them that I talked to went to small colleges for undergraduate.</p>
<p>^^^
He may mean that his has enough saved for college.</p>
<p>It doesn’t matter where you go for undergrad for law or med school. It also doesn’t matter where you went to undergrad if you want to be a prof.</p>
<p>I’ve looked at the CVs of many full professors at various colleges (we had the same concern) and many went to regular undergrads, then went to better grad schools for their masters or PhDs.</p>
<p>“So, should I go ahead and aim for top unis for undergrad? And then, if I do decide to become a lawyer after that, deal with taking out loans and potentially accumulating over 100k in debt? Or should I stay in state, and risk not getting into a good PhD program…”</p>
<p>If you have high stats, then you may have other options as well. You could go to a good school out of state and get a good scholarship. </p>
<p>As for law school, if you go to a top law school, you’re likely going to need more than $100k. I may be wrong, but I think your costs will be closer to $175k or more for 3 years at a good law school. I think COA is probably about 75k per year or so.</p>
<p>I’m assuming this is a typo and you want to be a lawyer (maybe) not a doctor.</p>
<p>Yeah, i’m thinking either lawyer/prof.</p>
<p>I’d be very interested in hearing about how you managed to save up enough money for 4 years at a private school… </p>
<p>^ parents and summer jobs (but mostly parents of course!)</p>
<p>your costs will be closer to $175k or more for 3 years at a good law school</p>
<p>Yeah, that would be about right. I’d have to pay for all of law school myself if i went to a private uni for undergrad, which of course scares me b/c it’s so darn expensive… at the same time i would really like having a fantastic undergraduate education.</p>
<p>In my opinion, if you have the stats to go to a top 20 school, you also might garner some merit aid at a very good school that offers merit aid. This would reduce your costs and would leave you with some of that savings for your future.</p>
<p>Hmm I don’t know, I feel like my stats are good enough that if I apply to a multitude of top 20 schools I’ll def get into a few, but I’m not really “scholarship material” for anywhere worth going. GPA/SAT are fine & I write well, but my EC’s are patchy.</p>
<p>Then you don’t have the stats to get into an Ivy League school. There are a lot of wonderful schools out there that DO offer merit aid to high achieving students (those are the ones who get accepted to Ivy and Ivy type schools). Again I say…if you have the credentials to be a possible admit for the Ivies, there are PLENTY of schools where you could garner merit aid.</p>
<p>I’m going to give you MY free advice. Save your savings for law school. Go to a less expensive (yes, give up that “prestige” mentality) school for undergrad and put your effort and time into getting the best possible GPA and the best possilble LSAT scores…then use your money to pay for a law degree at a top school. In the end, where you get your LAW degree will matter far more than where you got your undergrad degree.</p>
<p>Then you don’t have the stats to get into an Ivy League school. There are a lot of wonderful schools out there that DO offer merit aid to high achieving students (those are the ones who get accepted to Ivy and Ivy type schools). Again I say…if you have the credentials to be a possible admit for the Ivies, there are PLENTY of schools where you could garner merit aid.</p>
<p>i’ve gotten some scholarship offers from schools ranked in the upper 30s+… i’m just not particularly interested in them. like, i’d rather stay in-state. and i do think i can get into some prestigious schools, not harvard/yale/princeton/etc., but potentially duke, northwestern. i mean it’ll be tough but i’m around there. </p>
<p>where you get your LAW degree will matter far more than where you got your undergrad degree. </p>
<p>yes, i know that, & thats what i’ve been prepared to do, but what about PHD? bachelors matters there</p>
<p>*yes, i know that, & thats what i’ve been prepared to do, but what about PHD? bachelors matters there *</p>
<p>Not really. </p>
<p>*I’ve looked at the CVs of many full professors at various colleges (we had the same concern) and many went to regular undergrads, then went to better grad schools for their masters or PhDs. *</p>
<p>And, when I went to the honors awards last April at my sons’ flagship, it was announced where the soon-to-be grads were going to grad school…many were going to top, elite grad schools…including ivies.</p>
<p>NO…conventional wisdom…YOUR FINAL SCHOOL…the one where you get your terminal degree (law, medicine, PhD, teaching, anything) is the school that matters the most.</p>