<p>How important is it to live near the law school you are attending?
I am being offered a significant scholarship at a solid school that I like, which is about 45 minutes away by car (or over an hour by public transportation).
I was wondering if I would be living too far away to get the full experience of law school, as far as being able to participate in all of the programs/groups the school offers, getting to class on time, enjoying spending time with my classmates socially, and the concern of driving 45 minutes home after 6 hours studying in the library or in a snowstorm.</p>
<p>Is that too far away to get the best law school experience?</p>
<p>I’ve been admitted to another school (which I also like) that is a 15 minute subway ride away. It is about 30 spots higher in the US NEWS Rankings, but they have offered me NO scholarship money at all.</p>
<p>I know each person is different, but does anyone have any opinions on the most importance in making decision:
scholarship offers and/or proximity to the school and/or rank</p>
<p>Wow…some cities take 45 min to cross. NO idea but i am going to locate close to campus. Socializing isn’t the big problem I don’t think. How late you work at night and an hour ride home…train schedules. Check the late night trains and then ponder.</p>
<p>30 spots is a very big jump in rankings (and the higher the ranking of the top school, the more important the difference). Depending on the field you want to go into, the quality (real or perceived) of the top school could go a long way in making up for the scholarship offered by the other school (more recruitment, better internship/job placement, higher placement in high-paying fields). That said, debt is still no fun.</p>
<p>It’s a personal call that should be based on your opinion of the importance of cost and of name-value. If you really cannot afford the closer school and you want to go into public interest law, go with the scholarship. If the scholarship is just a convenience and you want to go into corporate law, take the closer school (clearly these are gross generalizations, but the point is that it really is a very situational choice). 45 minutes is the distance I drove every day to high school, and it’s doable, but certainly inconvenient. I’m majorly turned off by an otherwise-appealing school that tells me most law students have a minimum of a half hour commute. I want walking distance! </p>
<p>I know this is no answer at all, but as long as you know the benefits and limitations of each school, I really do think it boils down to personal values and preferences.</p>
<p>One way of course is to think about that thirty-spot jump as a percentage. The gap from Yale to #30 is very large; the gap from #30 to #60 is still large; the gap from #320 to #350 probably isn’t as big a deal.</p>
<p>As to the proximity question, law school is substantially different socially than college, students tend not to live on campus, many live 45 minutes away and still have social interactions with classmates and you will find that conists mainly of class, a little out of class, and usually hitting a waterhole near the law school that is preferred by such students on Friday evenings after they have litterally killed themselves studying all week.</p>