UVA vs OSU vs AU

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Virginia
1

<p>Hi, I am a current high school senior trying to decide between 3 schools: University of Virginia, American University, and Ohio State University. In order to make a decision, I made a pro and cons list but I really want to hear from people who are in these universities. </p>

<p>OSU:
-pros: very cheap with my scholarships, would only cost me about 11k a year. got accepted into the Politics, Society and Law program, would be able to finish school in 3 years due to various AP credits, special/nicer dorms for PSL students
-cons: far away from home (i live in maryland), flight is expensive, school is HUGE (40,000), although PSL is a great program, OSU itself is a very safety school for me as most of the population isn't as intellectually active as I am</p>

<p>American:
-pros: relatively cheap (30k), near home, in DC which would have GREAT internships, usually only 2 people per dorm, got into both law scholars and honors, would be able to finish school in 3 years due to the scholars BA requirements for policy and law majors, great mock trial team
-cons: maybe too close to home (only 30 min away), again a safety school for me, the school is REALLY small (1,600 per class) - I feel like I'll know everyone, the campus isn't that nice, I've heard many people there are a little big headed</p>

<p>Virginia:
-pros: GREAT school!, high on Harvard Law school (future dream) feeder schools list, beautiful campus, lively social life, not too large or too small, not too far from home
-cons: expensive!!!, no special law program like the ones in American and OSU, not a great mock trial team, I would have to go to school for 4 full years</p>

<p>Ok so that's my list. As you can see, law is a huge part of my life. I hope to someday go to Harvard Law school and I want to make sure my undergraduate college helps me get there. For UVA, I really want to know if it's worth paying $50k a year for 4 years as opposed to my other two options (30k and 11k) especially considering I'm not in any special program. As for OSU and American, I feel like they are so similar at the moment so I need help! anything you can add would be great! thanks!</p>

2

<p>Law School comes down to GPA and LSATs, EC’s and essay are important but not as much as the first two. So go where you can get the 4.0 and study for the LSAT’s. T-14 schools are what you want to shoot for. Those are the graduates getting jobs after law school. </p>

<p>Law school is expensive so I would not go into debt undergrad and then have a huge debt for law school. You can always do internships for a semester in DC or even during the summer.
Which you really need to do for experience and exposure to the different types of law to make a decision as to which area to concentrate in.</p>

<p>Last, the country is saturated with law students right now. So you need to do whatever you can to stand out to get into a good law school, which in turn will get you a good job to pay off your law school debt. </p>

<p>You also need to be happy wherever you land. If you have not visited the schools you should. </p>

<p>Hope this helps!</p>

3

<p>jengold311, I’m trying to figure out why you wouldn’t be able to graduate early from UVa if you have a lot of AP credits. Also, have you heard of UVA’s 3+1 program? Do you have an interest at all in public policy? That’s one of the 3+1 programs. If you have to be at UVa for 4 years, graduating with both a bachelors & masters will definitely help you stand out for law school along with strong LSAT scores and grades.</p>

<p>[3+1</a> Degree Option, Executive Vice President & Provost, University of Virginia](<a href=“http://www.virginia.edu/provost/3+1/]3+1”>http://www.virginia.edu/provost/3+1/)</p>

4

<p>A couple tidbits - as of a couple years ago, I heard bad things about many American U. residence halls. They are working on some new residence halls, but the neighbors fought them for years, and they might not be ready while you are there. Off-campus housing would be necessary for some of your time, and it is unusually expensive in the parts of the DC area that are not dangerous, and commuting costs add up very quickly. Keep in mind that everything is much more expensive in DC, including meals and entertainment.</p>

<p>If you can find a way to graduate from UVa early, it may offset the added costs. UVa is expanding its accelerated bachelors-masters programs. UVa is stricter in granting AP credit than some schools, but last time I looked, there was no maximum amt. of AP credit that could be achieved.</p>

<p>I’d also investigate alternatives to Law School - there may be greater employment opportunities with much less debt by developing expertise in a key field (with a masters) than with a generic law degree. The law field is not only bad because of reductions in job opportunities, but also because there was a huge increase in the number of law school graduates. Most law schools are at the top of the tuition scale, while many colleges (including UVa) charge less for grad school than for undergrad. Grad out of state tuition is about 2/3rds of undergrad OOS tuition for UVa., and there are more opportunities for aid because grad students are considered independent of their parents. </p>

<p>Take a look at job offerings on a site like Monsters.com to see what types of skills people are actually looking for. You may also find that studying for a masters degree to be much more interesting to you than having to memorize every single type of court case. (I’m not an attorney, but I work with a specialized area of municipal law, and having to study criminal law would bore the hell out of me). People usually do much better academically and professionally in fields that interest them.</p>

<p>Last, consider where you might eventually want to work, if you don’t go to Law School. Alumni networking and internships often lead to a person’s first professional job. If you want to stay on the east coast, Ohio State’s connections and internship opportunities would be less valuable in that regard.</p>

5

<p>Don’t put too much emphasis on the law thing. Good chance you won’t wind up being interested in that 4 years from now. Second, even if you are still interested, law school works out badly for most who attend. My standard advice – isn’t there a more fun way to put yourself into personal bankruptcy than 3 years of law school?</p>

<p>But if you really are contemplating law school though, cost is going to be a HUGE issue. Just tuition at UVA law school is $51.5 OOS, $46.5 in state. Yikes!! If that’s what you really really want to do, save your dough, go to OSU, get a 4.0 GPA, study like crazy for the LSAT. A high GPA and LSAT score from just about any college will get you into a top law school. Take at least one year off to work as a para-legal to make doubly sure. Don’t go at all unless you get into a T-14 law school or if you can spend very little on law school (due to scholarships, in-state tuition, etc.). Hint: if you work for a year in DC and live across the river, you can apply to UVA law in-state. That will save some dough and also assist you in admissions.</p>

6

<p>Not to pile on and dash the dreams of the OP, but I heartily agree with northwesty on the current value of a law degree. Having observed the changes in the demand for lawyers over the past 30+ years, I don’t think the market will every swing back to when jobs for new lawyers were plentiful. </p>

<p>Unless your family (or someone else) has a position waiting for you upon law school graduation, it is hard to justify the price of law school today. Even T-14 schools are feeling the pinch of the major changes in the legal market leading some to shrink the sizes of their classes.</p>

<p>If one remains convinced he or she can defy the odds and become fully employed and compensated in today’s legal climate, he or she should definitely plan to work a could years before applying to law school. Not just to determine if the practice of law is for him/her, but also because top law schools take very few students directly from undergraduate studies (although that could change as the pool of law school applicants continues to shrink).</p>

<p>Good luck to the OP. I don’t think any commenters are looking to dash your dreams – rather we want to make sure your eyes are opened to the current reality of the legal world.</p>

7

<p>How much are your parents willing to provide for your education? Will they be willing to pay for your post-grad degree?</p>

<p>My answer to your question is going to heavily rely on that. Even if we assume your plans change and you don’t go to law school, I would find it very hard to recommend choosing UVA over Ohio State. $200K is a lot to pay for an education, especially when you could get a great one in Columbus for $75K or so (assuming the $11K number you gave is for tuition).</p>

<p>I wouldn’t worry about flight costs if you go to Ohio State, you aren’t spending an extra $30,000/year on your education so you will be able to afford flying home for breaks. And Columbus is only ~6 hours away by driving from where you live (I looked at distance to DC). </p>

<p>And you will find people that are intellectually similar to you. I find this is many students’ biggest fear when heading off to a big state school. The fact is that if you are admitted to some of these programs like the PSL one you mentioned, that is going to go a long way into matching you with similar people and making a big school feel small.</p>

<p>Even if you have parents that can afford to pay the full OOS cost of UVA, I would talk to them about potentially covering some of your future grad school costs if you choose a cheaper school like Ohio State.</p>

<p>I love UVA, but I don’t think it is the smart choice for you given what you have told us right now.</p>

8

<p>One more thing. Imo, no college is significantly better than any other in getting you into a top law school. Kids don’t get into HLS because they went to UVA undergrad. Or even because they went to HYPS for undergrad.</p>

<p>There are gobs of Ivy undergrads who populate T-14 law schools. But that’s not CAUSED by where they went for undergrad; it is CORRELATED with where they got accepted for undergrad.</p>

<p>Kids who attend very selective undergrad schools (by definition) were able to get accepted by those fancy schools. One big reason why they were accepted was because they had outstanding SAT scores. </p>

<p>Outstanding LSAT scores are the number 1 requirement for admission to a top law school. So no surprise that kids who are outstanding SAT takers at age 16/17 are very likely to be among the best LSAT test takers at age 21/22. Regardless of what college they attend or what that college teaches them in four years. The HYPS undergrads who got into HLS probably would still get into HLS even if they had chosen to attend OSU instead of HYPS (or UVA).</p>

9

<p>As much as I hate to endorse OSU, that price difference is definitely something to strongly consider.</p>