The Septimus Notes

Sunday, March 19, 2006

|Law School Blues (and Greens).|

I want to preface this "complaint"/"concern" with the fact that I know my "problems" are really blessings and that life could be worse.

So I had started to really get into the idea of going to Michigan after my visit. But then Wisconsin really turned up the charm this week (I asked for firm placement stats and they are sending them; I asked to speak to a gay student and one who happened to be in NYC this week had dinner with me; I then asked to speak to a student who is not from Wisconsin nor plans to live there who got into Top 10 schools but still chose UW and they had one email me [and he happens to have graduated from Columbia, class of 2000] the next day; then, kinda just for the challenge, I asked to speak to a gay, non-white student from NYC and they are having one email me; their responses have been good and immediate; oh, and the Dean of Admissions is picking me up himself from the airport when I arrive in a few weeks) and the idea of going to a awesome school that really wants me where I'd probably be top of the class and come out with literally no debt would be fantastic. And the more and more I've thought about it, the only reason I have for not going to Wisconsin (ignoring all of the hypothetical and counter factual scenarios) is that I got into higher ranked schools. And I'd like to think that's not a good enough reason not to go to Wisconsin, especially since being at the top of the class might mitigate any potential holdup due to the school's not being "Top 20," at the same time given the deference given to the rankings by other persons and institutions, it is still a valid reason not to go.

And then today, in sweeps Penn with an aid offer that, while not as nice as Wisconsin's (and no other offer will be, let's face it), includes about $24k in grant money and after federal loans and Penn's only institutional loans, I'd only actually need to take out about $8-9k in private loan money, which I'm pretty sure I could get.

And supposedly Penn is not known for being particularly generous.

Penn's money is all need-based. Other merit offers are starting to roll in from other schools (like the $22k/yr from Brooklyn and the $15k/yr from USC), and once they include need-based (assuming one doesn't negate the other), who knows what the final numbers will be. Of course, while I know from Penn and Wisconsin, other schools I really care about (NYU, Michigan and Northwestern) still have not said anything. But I'm starting to get hopeful.

Suddenly it's starting to look like this might not be a money decision, and that makes everything a whole lot harder. Better, but harder.

promulgated by SWS2.1 at 17:26.
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