What would you do?

migaluna

Hi everyone. I am in a huge dilemma. Chapman Law offered me full ride scholarship. It is close to my house and better drive. Loyola offered me 102k which means around 47k out of pocket. Loyola is obviously better ranked and more well-known.
Another dilemma is that i will be having a baby this august right when the programm starts. If i were to take a year off i would have to reapply and may or may not get the same offers. If u were me which school and what year would u choose to go and why? Help me with ur opinions please

ddakjiking

I am not in your position but if I were to be an expecting mother, I would withdraw and reapply in the future. It sounds like starting your first year of law school with an infant just months old would be way too much of a time commitment.

What are your career goals?

Nilesh S

Its a personal decision... what do YOU hope to get out of law school? what are the prospects from Chapman for this outcome v. those from Loyola? How much does debt mean to you as far as attending school goes? How much do you care for brand value? Where would you want to go if you decided to wait a year? Could you/ would you give the test again? Are higher ranked schools an option for you? How comfortable are you with the idea of foregoing law school for a year? These are questions which only you have the answers to... I could tell you what I would do... (not go, give the test again and try for a T14 or UCLA/USC/UCI) but that may not mirror your situation at all... it would be very callous on anyones part to provide you with general boilerplate solutions without understanding your motivations and constraints fully... And it would be a disservice to you.

emli1000

I would agree with @ddakjiking but then again if you have support from your family to help you out it may be a bit easier. I would also say that the school that is offering you the most money would be the best bet since you'll have a newborn, and newborns are EXPENSIVE! I wouldn't want any other debt after I graduated. But again, this is a personal choice. You can always reapply and maybe get an even better offer if you apply early in the cycle?

LSATman1

You could also request to defer admissions by a year.

Jengibre

If I were in your position, I would take a year off to focus on the baby, possibly retake the LSAT in June if you feel you can improve, and reply early next cycle. Good luck with whatever you decide!

jdawg113

1L is supposed to be a toughy (funny BC ask of LS is) i would think it might be better to have an extra year to really adapt to the changes in your life that are incoming before taking on such a huge difficult and time consuming thing

DumbHollywoodActor

As a dad, I can tell you my wife and I were pretty useless the first year our kids were born. That first month, at least, entails a huge amount of sleep deprivation, and Sleep is a necessary condition to learning. You'd really be putting yourself at a huge disadvantage during your 1L year, when your grades are hugely important for future job prospects.

nicole.hopkins

@DumbHollywoodActor sage advice. It's so important that babies have the devoted emotional and physical attention of their primary care givers—especially the mother. To my mind, 1L almost universally creates an environment most hostile to anyone's wellbeing, let alone that of an infant's primary caregiver. Especially given how close the due date is to the beginning of school ... the potential for (possibly ... ) irreparable damage and years of regret begs caution.

I can only imagine the difficulty of your dilemma, but it does seem like wisdom is strongly in favor of one direction over (and against) the other.

You should reach out to admissions, @migaluna —they may be more understanding than you suppose. All best to you.

Nilesh S

Yes @migaluna , @nicole.hopkins makes a good point... you could ask them if they would be willing to let you defer a year with your schol in tact... i know that a lot of schools do that... UCI gave me a non binding deferral last year with my schol in tact... and BU wanted to give me a binding deferral with my schol in tact.... I chose the former because of the freedom it provided. But ask Chapman or Loyola if they could do something like this if you are really set you want to go to either of those schools. Schools generally want to hold on to candidates and yours is more than valid grounds for a deferral.

nicole.hopkins

@"Nilesh S" exactly— @migaluna I believe the best of all options is yet before you! Don't lose hope, an excellent solution may well be within your grasp. I would call them on Monday morning.