USC over Duke/GULC (I need advice)

[kitakatt]

I am still in the middle of negotiating money from all three schools. So not taking into account scholarship money that I do not have yet...

which would you choose given these facts below:

1. Boyfriend with either be in San Diego if I choose USC (2 hours away), or St.Louis if I choose Duke/GULC (a timezone apart).

2. Generous offer already from Duke. Supposedly received money from USC, but it probably won't be (without negotiating) comparable to Duke's offer. GULC may or may not match the offer.

3. LA v. Durham v. DC (DC I am not thrilled about, however)

4. Interest in clerking (not sure how realistic this is, I've heard from some that it's very difficult to obtain a clerkship, others act like it's possible, rather than impossible) - interest in working in the public sector. Duke's loan repayment program is superb (isn't it??).

5. Small class size is a good thing - both USC and Duke offer that.

6. COL is lower in Durham. But, I truly think QOL is higher in LA. I really want to live in an apartment alone the first semester... and I would be able to do that at Duke, but may have to room with someone at USC.

7. Have a decent interest in practicing in California (my sister is there), but really don't want to commit to a city this early on. I just don't know. Duke and GULC degrees would travel relatively easily to Cali, no?

8. Professors are respectable at all three schools. Students at Duke seem down to earth - perhaps a bit homogenous. While students at USC/GULC seemed more diverse, and for me, seemed more upbeat. But given that I like a more personal environment, USC has the upper-hand over GULC.


Thoughts? Feel free to comment on GULC, but I'm really interested in USC v. Duke.

Anything you can comment on would be great. Because I am really undecided about where and what I want to practice, I am thinking that I need to make the choice that will leave my options open upon graduation - meaning go to a great school with many opportunities.

[jimmyp]

What did you pick?

[Sones83]

I was deciding between some of the same schools..I visited all 3, and ruled out Duke right away even though they offered me 30K, mostly because of location (Durham is awful if you've lived in Chicago all your life!) and - like you said - the homogenous student body.  I did love the professors at Duke, but students definitely seemed nerdier at Duke compared to both GULC and USC, even though they're probably all pretty equally intelligent. USC seemed nice (the campus is beautiful) and people were pretty cool..def. the place to go if you like the smaller class sizes, b/c you know GULC's are out of control!!  Got 30K from them too, but decided on GULC (w/ zero $!!) oh well..
Good luck w/ the decision.

[Nizzy]

I was deciding between some of the same schools..I visited all 3, and ruled out Duke right away even though they offered me 30K, mostly because of location (Durham is awful if you've lived in Chicago all your life!) and - like you said - the homogenous student body.  I did love the professors at Duke, but students definitely seemed nerdier at Duke compared to both GULC and USC, even though they're probably all pretty equally intelligent. USC seemed nice (the campus is beautiful) and people were pretty cool..def. the place to go if you like the smaller class sizes, b/c you know GULC's are out of control!!  Got 30K from them too, but decided on GULC (w/ zero $!!) oh well..
Good luck w/ the decision.

I love how Georgetown went from barely in the decision making process to where you are going.  I suppose that says somethin for the school.  Either way, see you next year.

[kitakatt]

What did you pick?

My original post is the thought process I go through each day. And things are always changing! I'm actually down now between Duke and Penn. And still wondering what I can do to get off the UVA waitlist (and still wondering, if I got off, would I accept?).

Oy.

I ruled out GULC. I just cant do a class size that large. I want to run into a fellow alum and think "wow you too?" and feel some sort of warmth, not think "yeah I don't know you, heck there were a lot of ppl I didn't know". And I've always been more of the small group, or one-on-one type. Kinda quiet. But honestly, I enjoyed GULC's admit day more than any other - for some reason it felt a lil like the b.schoool at Emory, the classrooms and all. I think if GULC was located where the undergrad is, or if it were a smaller class size, it'd have been perfect for me. Instead I've got two choices, small less costly rural school v. small expensive city school.

I hope I can make a decision soon though. I'm a lil neurotic due to my indecision.   

[kitakatt]

I was deciding between some of the same schools..I visited all 3, and ruled out Duke right away even though they offered me 30K, mostly because of location (Durham is awful if you've lived in Chicago all your life!) and - like you said - the homogenous student body.  I did love the professors at Duke, but students definitely seemed nerdier at Duke compared to both GULC and USC, even though they're probably all pretty equally intelligent. USC seemed nice (the campus is beautiful) and people were pretty cool..def. the place to go if you like the smaller class sizes, b/c you know GULC's are out of control!!  Got 30K from them too, but decided on GULC (w/ zero $!!) oh well..
Good luck w/ the decision.

Haha nerdier. Someone had to say it.
I liked the ppl at USC the most, I think. Friendly, and funny! But then again, I only talked to a couple of ppl. One guy wanted GULC so badly, but it didn't happen for him. The other guy was weighing Columbia and USC. Mmm hmm.

I've talked to a couple of Penn ppl online and through email and they seem cool too. Okay it's a bad time to be writing this message b/c I'm at my worst moment - I'm so confused I don't know which school I want. Argh.

[whostheguy]

People at Georgetown, cool? Hhahaahhahahahahah

[Sones83]

I was deciding between some of the same schools..I visited all 3, and ruled out Duke right away even though they offered me 30K, mostly because of location (Durham is awful if you've lived in Chicago all your life!) and - like you said - the homogenous student body.  I did love the professors at Duke, but students definitely seemed nerdier at Duke compared to both GULC and USC, even though they're probably all pretty equally intelligent. USC seemed nice (the campus is beautiful) and people were pretty cool..def. the place to go if you like the smaller class sizes, b/c you know GULC's are out of control!!  Got 30K from them too, but decided on GULC (w/ zero $!!) oh well..
Good luck w/ the decision.

I love how Georgetown went from barely in the decision making process to where you are going.  I suppose that says somethin for the school.  Either way, see you next year.

Well the person writing the original post said she was mostly deciding between Duke and USC...so I didn't want to go into all of the Georgetown stuff.. but yeah I guess I chose GULC by process of elimination. hopefully that works too, right?

and to whostheguy, I wasn't saying ppl at GULC were "cool"...just that in comparison to a school like Duke, it definitely seems like it.

[jdw112]

Not questioning your choice of GULC over Duke: Did you at least try to leverage the Duke money at GULC??

I was deciding between some of the same schools..I visited all 3, and ruled out Duke right away even though they offered me 30K, mostly because of location (Durham is awful if you've lived in Chicago all your life!) and - like you said - the homogenous student body.  I did love the professors at Duke, but students definitely seemed nerdier at Duke compared to both GULC and USC, even though they're probably all pretty equally intelligent. USC seemed nice (the campus is beautiful) and people were pretty cool..def. the place to go if you like the smaller class sizes, b/c you know GULC's are out of control!!  Got 30K from them too, but decided on GULC (w/ zero $!!) oh well..
Good luck w/ the decision.

[Sones83]

Yeah, definitely.  At admitted students weekend I even talked to the dean about it, and he was like yeah i'm sure we have some extra money if that will be the deciding factor of you coming or not - just send me an email when you get home. 

But to no avail!     
...I didn't want money to be a huge issue, so the personal preference of GULC totally outweighed the extra $$