Top school vs. free school. Help!

[skeeball]

ALWAYS go to a better school.  10 years down the road, you will understand that the $$$ difference that appears so significant now, should NOT have been the deciding factor. 

On the other hand, you cannot reverse the damage you do to your career by going to a worse school.  This, of course, is not the same as to say that going to a better school is a sufficient condition for a very successful career.

  Don't listen to this guy. Do some research and find out what the job prospects for the schools are in the region where you want to practice. Below the Top 30, most schools are pretty much regional.  If there isn't a big difference between the two schools in terms of job placement in the market you want to practice in, don't worry about choosing the cheaper option.

[StevePirates]

Isn't 51-100 Tier 2?

People use USNews rankings for 1-100 rank and then to call schools 2nd and 3rd tier, yet people make up 51-100 being 2nd tier when USNews calls them 1st tier. I don't get it. 

USNews used to have T1,T2,T3,T4.  But then they decided to just lump in all the top 100 schools into T1.  Most people still call the 51-100 T2.

[alethea]

Pepperdine is a great school on the rise.  The campus is gorgeous.  See if you can leverage some more money out of them, but even if you can't you should still go.

[nealric]

Reply with quote
ALWAYS go to a better school.  10 years down the road, you will understand that the $$$ difference that appears so significant now, should NOT have been the deciding factor.
 

Nope. There are people with circumstances that make this bad advice. It would be sheer idiocy to turn down a school ranked #70 with a full ride in your target market for full tuition at a school ranked #60 in a market you have no interest in. Pepperdine does have cred among the neocon crowd though. Chapman is trying hard, but its still a new school without much of a reputation yet.


One thing to consider: What conditions (if any) are on the scholarship? Many (if not most) lower ranked schools have onerous conditions. Maintaining a 3.0 might not sound too bad, until you realize that getting a 3.0 involves being in the top 1/3 of your class (meaning a 2/3 chance of losing the scholarship).

USNews used to have T1,T2,T3,T4.  But then they decided to just lump in all the top 100 schools into T1.  Most people still call the 51-100 T2.

While I don't think the tier formula USNEWS means much anyways, it makes absolutely no sense to have a third tier without a second.