Im a senior undergraduate (mechanical engineering) and I am facing a dilemma. I have been accepted to a top tier school, second tiers schools with some money, and a full tuition to a tier three. The tier three is a nice school with a good environment and profs, and its close enough to home. I want to work in public policy and I am scared I will never achieve my goals because of the third tier school. But if I have a huge debt load I probably will not make it into public policy either: because of the loans to pay off, Id probably take a well paid firm job, then get attached to the salary and never get out. Any advice?

The Schools:
Indiana University -Bloomington (top tier) scholarship $8,500
American University no $
Temple no $
Seton Hall $18,000 (which is half tuition)
Quinnipiac (third tier #116) full ride

If I were in your shoes with those choices, I would definitely go to Indiana. I certainly understand the importance of finances in your decision, but Indiana will open more doors for you than a T3 school ever could. Temple and Seton Hall aren't bad schools, particularly if you want to end up in the North East--but Indiana is clearly a better school.

Something to consider: just because you have high grades and a high LSAT does not guarantee you will be the top of your class at a T3 school. You may get there and do great, but you are taking a huge risk if you settle for a lower ranked school assuming you will be in the top 5% or even 10% (which is what you would need from a tier three school to open many doors).

Realistically, with regard to your listed top four tier 1 ranked schools (Indiana, American, Temple and Seton Hall), your chances for Biglaw are essentially nil unless you graduate near the top of the class. So don't base your decision on the premise that if you attend the highest ranked school (Indiana, ranked # 36) you will make gobs of money when you graduate in a Biglaw law firm. Getting Biglaw outside of the top 20 law schools is very difficult. Based on what you apparently want in a legal career, your 2 realistic options, in my opinion, are Indiana and Quinnipiac. What you need to do is calculate how much debt you will have when you graduate from both Indiana (which may have a lower tuition rate because it is a state school) and Quinnipiac (assuming that your full ride is for all three years and not based on maintaining a certain GPA), the anticipated amount of your loan repayment and the anticipated amount of your public policy salary. If the numbers work, attend Indiana. If the number do not work for Indiana, choose Quinnipiac. Except for Biglaw, I really don't think where you went to law school matters once you get your first law job. I have friends who went to T4 schools and are doing fine as lawyers.

I dont know about public policy, but Quinnipaic is a good school with a nice environment. They have some really great people also. They have been moving up in the rankings every year, so that may be something to consider. Outside of New England, however, they are not very well known. Also, I would consider that you may change your mind about what you would like to do after going to law school. This happens frequently.

I know it's quite possible you've already made your choice. However, I hope that this will benefit you or anyone else who may read this message. Faced with a similar situation, I chose not to attend the higher ranked school, but instead chose the school that gave me the better financial package. It was not full tuition, but was a rather substantial grant. In any event, I graduated two years ago and have been a prosecutor in a major city since that time. I certainly worked hard in law school and had "biglaw" opportunities. Instead, however, I chose to go the route of public service. I have never regretted it. I cannot tell you how happy I am to not carry the debt load that would have been associated with the higher ranked school.

I have gained by reading of the above opinions. Please provide your valuable advice about chosing a school from :

(a) Tier I, ranking 16 - 20 (MO, TN, MN, MA) without scholarship; and

(b) Tier I, ranking 45 - 55 with partial scholarship (IN NY, DC, OH)

for an International LL.M applicant.