- PowerScore Staff
- Posts: 9010
- Joined: Feb 02, 2011
- Fri Apr 10, 2020 12:59 pm
#74765
Below is a law school admissions question from a student, Alex, and a response by PowerScore CEO Dave Killoran:
Alex: "Hi Dave,
I put off school for another year after last cycle where I had a $32k per year scholarship offer from CWRU and full tuition at Cleveland-Marshall (these are the only schools on my radar since I plan to remain in Cleveland for the foreseeable future). I’m expecting similar offers from both schools this cycle so I wanted to get your input.
I’m an older/nontraditional student and I’ve worked the last few years as a paralegal at a legal services organization. I’m planning to remain in the public sector after I get my JD, and my current employer made an informal offer for me to return as an attorney after graduating (sounds great to me and is Plan A, but nothing is in writing so I know I’ll need to keep my options open). I can also live with family during school so no worries about living expenses. CWRU’s tuition is about $52k so I’d be about $60k in debt total after three years compared to $0 if I go to Cleveland-Marshall.
Is CWRU worth the extra debt, especially since I plan to remain in Cleveland anyway? There is a big Cleveland-Marshall alumni network in this city and obviously the full tuition sounds great, but CWRU is ranked a lot higher (71 vs 126) and it has better name recognition outside of Cleveland. However, neither of them are ranked high overall so I’m not sure if the rankings even matter that much once you’re this deep in the numbers.
Cleveland-Marshall sounds like the obvious choice after typing all of this out but CWRU was my dream school growing up and some of my relatives have suggested for me to go there due to the prestige/name recognition. I don’t think the sentimental/prestige reasons are worth that much debt but I can’t shake the feeling that I’d be passing up an opportunity at CWRU.
Thanks!
Alex"
Dave Killoran: "Hey Alex,
Thanks for the message! I get the feeling you have kind of answered your own question here at the end when you said that, “Cleveland-Marshall sounds like the obvious choice.” While $60K isn’t the biggest debt, is it worth moving up 55 spaces? I’d say yes if you were moving into the T25. But that’s not the case here, and you would be moving into a school that is not at all well-known outside Cleveland. Now, if you think that Case name would help you in Cleveland (and I’d ask some of your legal services organization contacts just that), then I could see it. But otherwise, if it were me I’d take the money and not look back.
Please let us know what you decide!"
Alex: "Thank you! I appreciate your thoughts."
Alex: "Hi Dave,
I put off school for another year after last cycle where I had a $32k per year scholarship offer from CWRU and full tuition at Cleveland-Marshall (these are the only schools on my radar since I plan to remain in Cleveland for the foreseeable future). I’m expecting similar offers from both schools this cycle so I wanted to get your input.
I’m an older/nontraditional student and I’ve worked the last few years as a paralegal at a legal services organization. I’m planning to remain in the public sector after I get my JD, and my current employer made an informal offer for me to return as an attorney after graduating (sounds great to me and is Plan A, but nothing is in writing so I know I’ll need to keep my options open). I can also live with family during school so no worries about living expenses. CWRU’s tuition is about $52k so I’d be about $60k in debt total after three years compared to $0 if I go to Cleveland-Marshall.
Is CWRU worth the extra debt, especially since I plan to remain in Cleveland anyway? There is a big Cleveland-Marshall alumni network in this city and obviously the full tuition sounds great, but CWRU is ranked a lot higher (71 vs 126) and it has better name recognition outside of Cleveland. However, neither of them are ranked high overall so I’m not sure if the rankings even matter that much once you’re this deep in the numbers.
Cleveland-Marshall sounds like the obvious choice after typing all of this out but CWRU was my dream school growing up and some of my relatives have suggested for me to go there due to the prestige/name recognition. I don’t think the sentimental/prestige reasons are worth that much debt but I can’t shake the feeling that I’d be passing up an opportunity at CWRU.
Thanks!
Alex"
Dave Killoran: "Hey Alex,
Thanks for the message! I get the feeling you have kind of answered your own question here at the end when you said that, “Cleveland-Marshall sounds like the obvious choice.” While $60K isn’t the biggest debt, is it worth moving up 55 spaces? I’d say yes if you were moving into the T25. But that’s not the case here, and you would be moving into a school that is not at all well-known outside Cleveland. Now, if you think that Case name would help you in Cleveland (and I’d ask some of your legal services organization contacts just that), then I could see it. But otherwise, if it were me I’d take the money and not look back.
Please let us know what you decide!"
Alex: "Thank you! I appreciate your thoughts."