Ohio St. vs. U Washington

[ellieroot]

Trying to decide between Ohio State and University of Washington, any insight would be appreciated.

Ohio State:
-In-state tuition all 3 years plus a very significant scholarship
-Really like the school and got a really good feeling when I visited
-No long-term interest in living in Ohio/Midwest

Washington
-Have a little scholarship money, but not a ton
-Didn't get a great feeling from the school when I visited, but they do have classes in every single area of the law I could be interested in while OSU does not
-On quarters, which seems like it could be really stressful
-Would ideally like to live on the West Coast or in the Mountain West

The other big thing factoring into my decision is that my boyfriend will graduate from law school in Oregon in a year. We both grew up in the Midwest and neither of us really want to move back there. Ohio has bad bar reciprocity, so moving there for a couple of years really isn't ideal. Since he's in Oregon, he'll definitely have more connections to jobs in the Seattle area. However, if he wasn't in the picture, I'd probably be going to OSU because of the money and because I like the school, even if I'm not thrilled about its location. 

[FalconJimmy]

No long-term interest in living in Ohio/Midwest

That's pretty much all I need to hear. 

Ohio State is a great Law School, but it is in that group of schools where the reach is largely regional.  Yes, if you're at the very top of your class, you'll have excellent prospects.  Otherwise, you should be prepared to practice in Ohio.  If I were a younger man, I'd go West.

[cutler22]

I would pick UW for sure.  I agree with the above poster that Ohio State will be largely regional and while it is an excellent university if you aren't interested in living in the area I would chose the school with more regional prowess

[bigs5068]

Yep Location, Location, Location. Washington will open up doors on the West Coast and if you don't want to live in the Midwest then don't go to school there. Best case scenario if everything works out perfectly you still be spending 3 more years in the Midwest and have no network built on the West Coast. The practical aspects will come into play when you graduate as well. If you attend Ohio State and want to start working on the West Coast unless you come from money you will be in debt even with scholarship money and in-state tuition and flying to California or any out-of-state interview will be costly plane, hotel, etc and I can't see a firm paying for your flight and expenses for an interview when there are regional schools every year. A firm might and again might cover the cost for a T14 grad i.e Harvard, Yale, Stanford, but not for an Ohio State grad and odds are if you go to Ohio State that is where you will end up.

[Hamilton]

Ditto - location.  No sense going to LS in OH if you want to live out west.

[IrrX]

If you want to live out here, Yoo-dub will definitely set you up well. In fact, it will set you up better for jobs in Oregon and Washington than your boyfriend's Oregon school (any of them) will set him up for jobs in Washington. Seattle definitely will grow on you over the course of a few years, and Portland is pretty sweet, too. But things get progressively more bleak as you go down the I-5 corridor until you get back to real civilization.