Would love your advice well-meaning internet strangers (Willamette or L&C)
I (33M, 171 LSAT, 3.7 GPA) am pumped to go to law school in the fall! My situation is a little bit complicated, as I am married and have a five month old daughter.
I live in Oregon, and due to my daughters age and our incredible support network with us locally, I'm unwilling to move my family out of state. As a result, I'm limited to UofO, Lewis and Clark and Willamette. UofO offered me significantly less scholarship dollars than the other two, so I'm down to the other two.
Willamette offered me a full scholarship and L&C offered $$$, but not quite a full scholly. My goal is to work in state or local government, and both schools put people in those positions regularly. L&C is the better school, but i live in Salem, and would save 10 hours of drive time weekly if I went to Willamette. Also, there's the obvious financial benefit to Willamette.
My question is, given my relatively achievable career goals, is there any reason to go to the better ranked school that will keep me from the fam longer and will cost more? I feel like, either way, my grades will be the biggest determining factor in getting to the Oregon DOJ after I finish.
Thanks for reading!