Cincinnati or Marquette?

[vercingetorix]

diplom privilege and debt here tilt the hand in favor of Marquette.  housing prices in Milwaukee are insane-o as well (in a good way, i have a good friend who bought a 3500 square foot home in a great neighborhood for just under 300K) so your dollar goes farther.  additionally Milwaukee is undergoing a bit of a renaissance as well with the state dumping millions of dollars into the city in an attempt to spur growth.  if you have kids look at the university school, one of the best private schools in the country.  sadly i don't know much about Cinci, but if debt is a consideration, all of the factors i mentioned above count...and the quality of life is great...and you live  less than 1 hour from Chicago. i say go to Marquette hands down. good luck

[platopotato]

diplom privilege and debt here tilt the hand in favor of Marquette.  housing prices in Milwaukee are insane-o as well (in a good way, i have a good friend who bought a 3500 square foot home in a great neighborhood for just under 300K) so your dollar goes farther.  additionally Milwaukee is undergoing a bit of a renaissance as well with the state dumping millions of dollars into the city in an attempt to spur growth.  if you have kids look at the university school, one of the best private schools in the country.  sadly i don't know much about Cinci, but if debt is a consideration, all of the factors i mentioned above count...and the quality of life is great...and you live  less than 1 hour from Chicago. i say go to Marquette hands down. good luck

Debt is my primary concern, but I am not sure that points towards Marquette. The difference of cost is only 20k and Cincinnati's graduates seem to start with significantly higher salaries. If I started around 60k having graduated from Marquette, what do you think I could be expecting to make three, five, and ten years down the road?

[vercingetorix]

clearly that depends where you end up...if you go to Foley and Lardner or Reinhart then you stand to make a salary which far exceeds the range you quoted...if you work for the DA's office like my friend who purchased the house then your starting salary will be lower...the Marquette mafia is tremendous if Milwaukee, remember a lot of attorneys go on to work for companies in shipping (huge shippind fortunes in the city), real estate (one of the largest real estate companies in the world was founded by a Marquette grad, you'll have to google him, can't remember his name) and of course breweries to name a couple.  spend 5 years in Milwaukee without taking the bar and you get grandfathered in to other states, also a plus.  the only reason i'm not going to Marquette is because i got into UW (unlike you Marquette offered me no cash), so with the GI bill i go to Madison for free (i'd rather live in Milwaukee to be honest, although Madison is very cool as well).  again i don't know Cinci but i can vouch for Milwaukee, cool place AND you are oh so close to Chicago (get a solid rep in Milwaukee and move to Chicago, a lot of Marquette grads do that so you can work connections there as well).

[ericptk2000]

I wouldn't put too much stock in the salary differential.  Since they are only reporting 48% You are probably right to knock that down a bit.  Also, I think the number is also pushed up significantly because from what I heard anyone who wants to work in Cincinnati as a lawyer better be T14 or from Cincinnati and even then it might be easier if you are from Cincinnati and did well!  I heard this both at Cincinnati as well as Toledo.  Therefore, assume some of the high paying jobs are for those who stay in the area and if you are not interested, then it might not be that big of a difference.

[Nimmy]

How did you get that kind of money out of stingy ass Marquette.  I didn't get a cent and I have family members who went there and the same LSAT score as you.  48% reporting their salaries to Cincinnati sounds really shady to me.

I didn't think they were that stingy. According to the latest ABA guide 36.7% full time students (569) are receiving grants (3.2% half to full and 3.2% full), and 63.7 % of the part times students (146) receive grants (11.6% half to full and 8.2% full). I assume the competition among students is friendly for the most part because all of Marquette's scholarships only require that you remain in good academic standing (2.0 gpa).

Well, I expected some money from them since I was above their 75% LSAT score and they didn't give me a cent.  That really frustrated me.