DePaul with scholarship or Loyola Chicago full price

[myrrheejazz]

I was recently accepted to both DePaul and Loyola.  DePaul was my first acceptance, and is offering a $4000 a year for four years (part-time) if I keep a 2.3 gpa.  Loyola is only offering student loans, and is offering no scholarship money.  My question is, given that I have a scholarship offer from DePaul (that I am not likely to lose considering the GPA requirement), should I go there over Loyola?  Would my job prospects be better graduating from Loyola?  Or would the job prospects be about the same?  I have heard that between the two schools, they are neck and neck in the rankings, so it really wouldn't matter which school I went to.  However, I had my heart set on Loyola, but I am now seriously considering DePaul because of the scholarship money.  Any thoughts would be appreciated.

[contrarian]

I was recently accepted to both DePaul and Loyola.  DePaul was my first acceptance, and is offering a $4000 a year for four years (part-time) if I keep a 2.3 gpa.  Loyola is only offering student loans, and is offering no scholarship money.  My question is, given that I have a scholarship offer from DePaul (that I am not likely to lose considering the GPA requirement), should I go there over Loyola?  Would my job prospects be better graduating from Loyola?  Or would the job prospects be about the same?  I have heard that between the two schools, they are neck and neck in the rankings, so it really wouldn't matter which school I went to.  However, I had my heart set on Loyola, but I am now seriously considering DePaul because of the scholarship money.  Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Better make sure you didn't mis-read that 2.3, or it's not a typo.

[myrrheejazz]

Better make sure you didn't mis-read that 2.3, or it's not a typo.
[/quote]


It's not a typo, the acceptance letter clearly says the scholarship is "renewable in the same amount for each academic year provided you maintain a cumulative grade point average of 2.30 at the end of each academic year."  Is the curve at DePaul really ridiculous or something?  A 2.30 at the end of each academic "year" (as opposed to "semester") seems pretty reasonable to me to keep my scholarship.  Loyola's not offering me one red cent, only loans.  Given that tuition at both schools is relatively about the same, and given that their rankings are relatively the same (Loyola 82 tied with 5 other schools and DePaul 88 tied with 6 other schools) would I be dumb not to take the scholarship offer from DePaul?  I would think that even if the letter is a typo (which I highly doubt) the fact that I have it in writing and then subsequently accept the terms of their offer would obligate them to honor the terms of the offer letter, even if it were a typo (which I highly doubt).

[azlaw09]

Is Loyola full or part time? If Loyola is full time, you'd be stupid to go to Depual part time just because of a 4k/year scholarship. When it comes down to it, 4k/yr is practically nothing so I wouldn't even figure it in and just go to the school you like better if both are pt programs. Once you get outside the top schools, comparing job prospects between schools is like splitting hairs. Any job you get coming from either Depaul or Loyola is going to require top grades, great interviewing and some networking.

[myrrheejazz]

Is Loyola full or part time? If Loyola is full time, you'd be stupid to go to Depual part time just because of a 4k/year scholarship. When it comes down to it, 4k/yr is practically nothing so I wouldn't even figure it in and just go to the school you like better if both are pt programs. Once you get outside the top schools, comparing job prospects between schools is like splitting hairs. Any job you get coming from either Depaul or Loyola is going to require top grades, great interviewing and some networking.

Both are part time programs.  Given the state of the economy, my current lifestyle, and the highly political nature of my job I could not see the benefit of giving up my six figure salary to go to law school full time, at least not initially.  After the first couple of years, I plan to assess whether or not it would make sense to go full time (perhaps at a higher ranking school depending on my grades/class rank), and leave the workforce for a couple of years to finish up, but as of right now, I am just glad to have a decent job.

[contrarian]

Do you know what kind of law you want to practice? This could make the decision a no-brainer. 

[SamE397]

Better make sure you didn't mis-read that 2.3, or it's not a typo.


It's not a typo, the acceptance letter clearly says the scholarship is "renewable in the same amount for each academic year provided you maintain a cumulative grade point average of 2.30 at the end of each academic year."  Is the curve at DePaul really ridiculous or something?  A 2.30 at the end of each academic "year" (as opposed to "semester") seems pretty reasonable to me to keep my scholarship.  Loyola's not offering me one red cent, only loans.  Given that tuition at both schools is relatively about the same, and given that their rankings are relatively the same (Loyola 82 tied with 5 other schools and DePaul 88 tied with 6 other schools) would I be dumb not to take the scholarship offer from DePaul?  I would think that even if the letter is a typo (which I highly doubt) the fact that I have it in writing and then subsequently accept the terms of their offer would obligate them to honor the terms of the offer letter, even if it were a typo (which I highly doubt).

I don't think you would be dumb but the two schools are virtually equivalent in terms of national reputation. So, I would tend to say that you should go to the one that's less expensive which is probably how most of the people on here will lean unless they know something more about the two schools which I would say is doubtful.

If there's something you really like about Loyola write them a letter saying as much and explain your situation. I'm guessing they would be willing to help you out a bit especially since you're not talking about a huge sum of money. 

[myrrheejazz]

Do you know what kind of law you want to practice? This could make the decision a no-brainer. 

Business and Tax Law.  Ideally, I would like to work for a large- to mid-sized firm.  I have quite a bit of banking experience, so I would be open to Banking Law as well, but predominantly I am interested in mostly transactional Corporate Law that focuses on tax, corporate governance and business issues/transactions.

[Mr_Killer]

I'm in the same position except they offered me 15k full time for keeping a 3.3 gpa. I visited both and I liked Loyola a lot better, I just can't decide if it's really worth it to ignore the scholarship...

[NMUZ]

If you are making six figures is the 4K scholarship enough to make or break a decision?  I would visit both and see which one you like more, if you like Loyola more go there