Monday, March 24, 2008
(Originally published on Scrineblog. Reprinted by kind permission of Keith, the architect of the PTMYB template and all-around swell guy.)
In the great “Bay Area v. Boston” geographic smackdown, I do not intend to fight fair.—‘mouse
So noted, sir… 
1. Tuition, room/board, expenses.
Bay Area and Beantown charge approximately the same tuition and on-campus room/board. Living expenses are also approximately the same. Draw.
2. Financial aid.
Beantown has awarded me a scholarship that will cover approximately 22% of my tuition costs over three years. Bay Area has sent me paperwork to apply for a scholarship that will cover about 15% of my tuition costs over three years—assuming that I am one of the lucky scholarship recipients in the first place. Advantage: Beantown.
3. Job opportunities.
Bay Area does not allow first-year students to work. [Edit: ‘mouse, who is a Bay Area alum, has questioned this. I am reinvestigating. It’s possible that first-year students are merely discouraged from working, in accordance with the American Bar Association recommendations.] However, Bay Area’s campus is close to the office of an attorney who has suggested that there might be work available for me in the area. Beantown has a co-op program embedded in its curriculum: students attend classes for 11 weeks, then work for the co-op for 11 weeks. Depending on where the co-op places the student, pay ranges from fairly low (for public service work such as with the public defender’s or district attorney’s offices) to almost livable (for big corporate Satan-on-a-retainer firms). Draw.
4. Accessibility to off-campus amenities.
Bay Area has a public transit system, but so far it is an unknown quantity; the school literature says only that it’s *possible* to attend school for three years without requiring a car. Beantown has the T. Draw, with possible advantage to Beantown.
5. Weather.
Okay, on this there’s no contest. Advantage: Bay Area.
6. Food.
Both Bay Area and Beantown have abundance of swell places to eat. Grocery situation uncertain without further study. Rumors abound of swell roadside produce stands in Bay Area. Draw, with possible advantage to Bay Area.
7. Exercise.
Bay Area and Beantown both have huge, sexalicious fitness centers and swimming pools, all free for enrolled students. Draw.
8. Curricula, clinics, special programs.
This is where the choice can really make a body’s head hurt. Bay Area has a community law center, an institute for redress and recovery for the victims of torture and other human rights abuses, the Northern California Innocence Project and several clinics and programs on sustainability. Beantown has clinical courses on criminal advocacy, domestic violence and public health; a program on civil rights and restorative justice, and a project that sends students into Beantown-area public schools to teach constitutional literacy to high school students. I am only scratching the surface of what both schools offer. Draw, dammit, a complete and utter draw.
9. Going home.
Going to Beantown will allow me to come home and see Lloyd at least once or twice a month. Coming home from Bay Area will be considerably more expensive and difficult. On the other hand, one could argue that being 3,300 miles away from home will force me to focus on my coursework, with no distraction. Advantage: Beantown, but since I have no idea whether I’ll be too embedded in first-year boot camp to enjoy any time at home, this might be a draw, too.
10. Future practice, a/k/a Where do you want to be when you grow up?
I have been advised that the place where you pursue your education generally determines where you build your career (or did I get that backwards?) If I go to Beantown, the odds are good that I will work in Beantown or points nearby—or possibly as far south as Washington. If I go to Bay Area, it would not be a stretch to consider one day living and working in San Francisco. Draw, draw, draw.
But wait, there’s a wild card! I have yet to hear from two schools in New York City, one in Pittsburgh and one in Boulder. If any one of those schools offers me a superior financial aid package, all of the previous considerations are hereby rendered null and void.
Edit: Yes, there are open-house days for admitted students at both schools. Yes, I plan on attending both, which should either cement a decision or just make the whole damn decision that much more difficult to make. 
Posted by
Bakerina at 11:44 AM in
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Boulder! Boulder!! I am being purely selfish here. :D
Hey, if you need a place to stay if/when you come visit SF, I’ve got a living room couch-bed for you in cutie-pie Bernal Heights....The bread alone in SF will make you swoon, I promise…
Having lived in both places, and visited each rather recently, I will submit this about food: Both have very good grocery stores, of both the ‘merican and ethnic sort. However, Bay Area - California, really - has a growing season that few other areas can match. You’re envious of what I can get at the farmers markets in Seattle this time of year? Oh, honey, the markets in the Bay Area will make you swoon.
BTW, when’s the open house day in the Bay Area? I might come help ‘mouse and others with the persuasion…
Well, all we can do is wait with you . . . enjoy the suspense . . . and be glad that it is not our decision to make! Truthfully, they are both such great places . . . can you really go wrong? (I think not.)
11. If you were to choose the Bay Area, I’d seriously consider moving back sooner rather than later to make sure that you study extra hard, but to also be sure that you knew where every single possible free distraction was for those rare moments when you decided you needed to do something other than study.
Plus, I would make sure you knew all the best eating and drinking establishments. It would be my duty!
9. Going home.
(snip) On the other hand, one could argue that being 3,300 miles away from home will force me to focus on my coursework, with no distraction.
Oh yeah, this one here? Pretty important. I mean, even if you are go-getter-girl, even if you are capable of leading independent lives, even if you aren’t the cutesy kind of couple who wears identical outfits in complementary shades, you will want to leach some goodness off your beloved like gulps of fresh air and, more likely than not, (I believe) you will benefit by having a good solid soft place on which to land if/when you want slash need it.
And yes, it can be both solid and soft. Stop that.
Of course as ever… you didn’t really ask, so I hope you’ll feel free to ignore if the shoes don’t quite fit.
In general I’m not worried because I’m sure that any sane person given the choice will choose The Land of Milk and Honey(tm) which, I kid you not, is not known as TLM&H, but is correctly historically referred to as The Valley of Heart’s Desire.
Let’s see, on the one hand, Beantown. On the other, The Valley of Heart’s Desire.
I rest my case.
I am however a bit concerned about the absence of Lloyd, but I’ve been assured it’s really only mandatory for one year (which is really only 9 months with a couple of long breaks) and for which Bakey will be plenty busy.
I am not concerned about the money. SCU will come through with some, there will be good opportunities to make some extra during school and there is enough time in the day for a fast reader who’s smart like Our Heroine. Ultimately, paying off the consolidated loans of whatever amount after law school is a cinch on lawyer-pay even if you take a more fulfilling job rather than the one that may generate more income.
‘Sides, locally it’ll be far easier to keep an eye on you and make sure it all works out perfectly.
Did I mention the apricots? Peaches? Nectarines? ...
Okay. Number nine just hit me like a ton of bricks; somehow I’d not picked up on the fact that Lloyd would be staying put no matter which school you choose. As you know, my beloved and I are well acquainted with the desperate heartache of number nine, and if I can give you any advice now that I’m tantalizingly close to the end of my own three-year grad-school-sans-spouse ordeal, it’s this: choose Boston.
My husband and I both attended law school while married. His third year overlapped my first year. In both cases, we were informed during orientation that more than 50% of married students wind up divorced within a year of graduation if not before. I am not commenting on the state of your marriage, but it should be your number one consideration if you want to keep it. You will grow and change completely during your term at school. Your manner of thinking will change as will your ability to present your point of view. It is hard enough for a spouse to keep up with these changes (which is why I had to go to law school simply to keep up) while present. If you are going to visit only once or twice a month, you won’t know each other after three. Law school is hard, requires work and changes everything you know and are. If your spouse doesn’t grow with you, you are probably doomed. I hope you hear from a NY school.
i don’t know if you care of such things—but something else to consult if you haven’t already:
http://www.prelawhandbook.com/law_school_ranking__by_category
though much as i know my sister would love you to come to colorado (as would i) i can understand why you’d want to be near your lloyd for oh so many reasons.
still, bay area sounds divine to me. just think of the produce!!
but sweet bakerina, regardless of where you decide to go, i know you will become the sort of attorney of which the world most definitely needs more.
[cue scary teacher voice from Invader Zim]
YOU ARE DOOMED!
[end scary voice]
/personal anecdote alert/
While I’m sure Bev’s comment intended well, and while I’m still pulling or a full scholarship at a certain NY school, it came off a little harsh.
In my lawschool class, not only did every single married couple I know of survive the purported statistic, now, 15 years after graduation every single married couple and one set of committed same-sex partners ARE STILL MARRIED. Not a divorce in the bunch’a’us.
Thinking about it further… y’know, in those same couples, not one incidence of alcoholism and not a single one who describes any of the job dissatisfaction associated with the legal profession generally.
Your results may vary.
/end personal anecdote alert/
and not an honest one in the bunch, oh wait, these are lawyers....never mind. i thought we were to be refraining from comment? this is refraining, i guess?
you know my views: that there is no possible contest between sc and new england. nonetheless, i fear i must weigh in for (shudder) boston on this one. it seems a total no brainer, actually. i mean produce is good, but you have claimed to me often to like this guy.
(let’s see: my marriage...fruit...my marriage....fruit....?)
Bay Area!!
I’m just sayin’…
Good luck where ever you land!!
Hi Rise Bakery; Petsi Pies; Ranccatori’s Ice Cream (or his brother Toscanini’s Ice Cream); Farmer’s Markets up the wazoo—I don’t think San Franscico has these things.
And I have to agree that being closer to the beloved is always better than being farther - I have spent time apart from my husband and it was hard, even with being distracted by school.
On the other hand, in the spirit of full disclosure, I do have to say that I am a native, here in Massachusetts, and think its the best place to live (and, yes, I have been to San Franscico).
Boston, all the way! I live here, and it’s the greatest. Ask me anything (even though I work at Boston University and thus am duty-bound never to say anything good about NU).
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Boulder! Boulder!! I am being purely selfish here. :D