Kansas ($$) vs. Denver

[bufflover]

Denver ---> lots of debt, good facilities, close to home, good bus. law program
Kansas ---> 12,500 in scholarship (+5K additional in the following years assuming i maintain a 2.5), a bit higher in rank, good business law program


I live in CO, but that doesn't help because DU is private and from what I hear, quite low on scholarship money. I was pretty set on DU.. now it seems like I need to reconsider.

I am doing some research, but input would be greatly appreciated!

What's the better option (considering $, bar passage, career prospects, etc..)?? Is there an obvious decision that I'm failing to see?

Discuss!

[anzianomike]

My only authority in responding to this question is that I am from Kansas and considered going to KU. The real problem with KU is that (I'm assuming you want a firm job) there are only a half dozen or so "big firms" in Kansas City, and KC is really the only "big market" that KU feeds into (the "" implies that those words are relative terms). So in a given year there may be 20 firm jobs to be had in KC, and there are a lot of schools in the area. Both Iowa and WUSTL feed into KC and any other cities KU people would go to. To me that's a fast way to not find a job, unless you are 100% sure you'd be top in your class (which, how could you be 100% sure of anything?). If you're from CO then I'm sure you have more connections there. At least you could go to a firm in Denver and, although there may not be many more jobs than are in KC, convince the firm that you really want to be there. The money seems confusing but here's my logic: you're going to school to get a job. The difference between being $50k in debt or $80k (or $100k vs $200k for that matter) is not so substantial that you can justify going to a school where your best hope is to get a government job making $50k versus a firm job in Denver that pays (?) $100k. You'll have to do that math, but don't let $12,500 pull you away from a situation that has better job prospects. Of course, if it were me, I'd go to a lower-ranked school in a bigger market like TX to improve your job prospects, but that's not for everyone.

[upgrade]

It really depends where you want to work after graduation.

[somanyquestions]

It really depends where you want to work after graduation.

I agree 100%

I don't know anything about KU so I can't comment.

Here's some info that maybe helpful for you.
  DU has a very active business law society, corpoate internship program, support from area law firms/companies/etc, jd/mba, www.theracetothebottom.org, a decent amount of law firms in Denver, nice building, ample scholarship opportunities once a student (go to fin aid webpage) and so on and so forth.
  EXPENSIVE