- PowerScore Staff
- Posts: 9010
- Joined: Feb 02, 2011
- Sat Apr 22, 2017 9:10 am
#34284
What follows is the transcript of a conversation between a student, Sarah, and one of our Admissions gurus, Dave, regarding Sarah's choice between NY Law or University of Miami.
Sarah: "Hi Dave, Thank you for your help! My dilemma is between a full ride at NY Law (112) vs sticker price at University of Miami (77).
NY Law: I'll need to pay for cost of living. Also, I must qualify to renew scholarship each year.
Miami: 150K plus cost of living
I would be open to practice in NY or South Florida. I already have an MBA, so looking into corporate, but still not exactly sure what I want to do. I visited both schools and I was much more impressed with Miami's program, but it's not a top 50 school. I worry that NY Law doesn't have the connections needed in NY and there's a lot of competition in NY.
I appreciate any insight you have! Thank you!"
Dave Killoran: "Hi Sarah, Thanks for the question! The first steps here are to run the full debt and job analysis you've seen me run with other schools in the past, using LST Reports: https://www.lstreports.com/schools/. That will show you the exact costs associated with each school, and I tend to prefer the sum total of what is needed to attend a school as opposed to broad cost of living assignments (COL) because just saying COL takes away the reality of the dollars that must be paid back.
Next, look at the jobs situation. This is where I think you get the second number that affects the decision-making process: employment (the first key number is straight costs/debt). NYLS has a number that has always concerned me, which is their employment score, which is under 50%. Miami isn't fantastic, but it is better at 60.4%. I have real problems with schools under 50% because even though you are just paying COL, it's still in the six figures in NYC, and you are going to need a job afterwards. The line is very narrow at NYLS, and basically your grades need to just be awesome. there's no safety net there at all (to be fair, that's true at every school, but it's even moreso the case at NYLS if that makes sense). So, when I look at this, it's hard for me to avoid saying that despite the higher cost, Miami is the better call. You of course have to weigh all the options and see how they affect your life, but on the face of it I lean towards Miami.
By the way, the comment you made about environment is an important one to me. How you feel about where you are at is very important, and that comfort can make securing top grades easier (not easy, just easier
. The question to ask is: where do you envision yourself, and where do you see yourself performing well?
Please let me know if the above helps. Thanks!"
Sarah: "Hi Dave, Thank you for your help! My dilemma is between a full ride at NY Law (112) vs sticker price at University of Miami (77).
NY Law: I'll need to pay for cost of living. Also, I must qualify to renew scholarship each year.
Miami: 150K plus cost of living
I would be open to practice in NY or South Florida. I already have an MBA, so looking into corporate, but still not exactly sure what I want to do. I visited both schools and I was much more impressed with Miami's program, but it's not a top 50 school. I worry that NY Law doesn't have the connections needed in NY and there's a lot of competition in NY.
I appreciate any insight you have! Thank you!"
Dave Killoran: "Hi Sarah, Thanks for the question! The first steps here are to run the full debt and job analysis you've seen me run with other schools in the past, using LST Reports: https://www.lstreports.com/schools/. That will show you the exact costs associated with each school, and I tend to prefer the sum total of what is needed to attend a school as opposed to broad cost of living assignments (COL) because just saying COL takes away the reality of the dollars that must be paid back.
Next, look at the jobs situation. This is where I think you get the second number that affects the decision-making process: employment (the first key number is straight costs/debt). NYLS has a number that has always concerned me, which is their employment score, which is under 50%. Miami isn't fantastic, but it is better at 60.4%. I have real problems with schools under 50% because even though you are just paying COL, it's still in the six figures in NYC, and you are going to need a job afterwards. The line is very narrow at NYLS, and basically your grades need to just be awesome. there's no safety net there at all (to be fair, that's true at every school, but it's even moreso the case at NYLS if that makes sense). So, when I look at this, it's hard for me to avoid saying that despite the higher cost, Miami is the better call. You of course have to weigh all the options and see how they affect your life, but on the face of it I lean towards Miami.
By the way, the comment you made about environment is an important one to me. How you feel about where you are at is very important, and that comfort can make securing top grades easier (not easy, just easier
. The question to ask is: where do you envision yourself, and where do you see yourself performing well?Please let me know if the above helps. Thanks!"