Fordham (sticker) v BC (36k) v Emory (45k) v Cardozo (114k) Forum

[ballpop]

Shooting for law firm work-boutique/higher paying small law, medium or large firms or in house. Interested in clerkships a little but not all that much. Some interest in PI work/govt but relatively prestigious (and by this I mean NY ACLU and the like would be fine, doesn't have to be DOJ honors or anything).

BC no stips, Cardozo only top 80%. NYC ideal market, Boston/DC/Chicago/SF second choice, northern NJ/Philly third choice.

BC interests me because of environmental law, Cardozo because of dispute resolution and Paris study abroad for this, Emory because of TI:GER, Fordham because I am HIGHLY interested in the dual JD/LLM with Paris II (REALLY interested in the French programs as I am near fluent/can become fluent with little work)

COA Fordham approximately 55k a year (165k), BC approximately 35k a year (105k) (largely because of cheaper tuition, fees and CoL), Cardozo 15k (45k) a year (got some 529 savings I'll use up that would otherwise go to relative waste), Emory about 35k a year (schollie and CoL basically wash out, though I do NOT know ATL---is 1900 a month with a car accurate?)

[concurrent fork]

BC with 100K+ debt is still really expensive, but better than Fordham at sticker and it places in two of your preferred regions. Did BU give you any $$?

Whatever you do, don't make a decision based on an international program.

[cj2k14]

I agree. Fordham at sticker is pushing 200k with the COL in NY. BC will still be able to place you in NYC and better in Boston than Fordham to Boston. I was admitted to Emory this cycle and they told me to look into their TI:GER program. From what I understand its highly competitive and only about 10-12 students are admitted to it yearly. I too want to work around NYC and in my opinion Emory doesn't have enough balls there since you are competing with the NYC schools + T14 + other good schools in the NE like BU/BC. Emory would be solid for Atlanta I'm sure.

[ballpop]

WL @ BU

[ndirish2010]

BC.

[cj2k14]

WL @ BU

we likely have similar numbers. I'm still pending at Fordham and BC but I'm expecting minimal scholarship offers from both should I get in. I got the near full ride to Cardozo, decent scholarship to Emory and WL at BU as well

[showNprove]

BC

Cheaper than Fordham
Worth more than $60K (+ small chance of losing scholarship) than Cardozo
Places well into 2 markets of interest (Boston and NYC) rather than 1
Best (although not great) name recognition for the other markets you named

[Rule11]

All of those schools are unlikely (or worse) to get you where you say you want to go in your career. Don't go to any unless you're all right with a ~75% chance of getting something pretty different from the stuff you listed.

For example, ACLU is more competitive than most/all biglaw, so it's nice but not relevant that you'd be "fine" with it. Cardozo's dispute resolution/Paris study abroad thing is a waste of everyone's time--you're not going to be doing international arbitration anyway unless you get big law (and even then, only a few big law firms have IA practices of note--you won't be in a position to be choosy), and that's a 1 in 10 shot at Cardozo.

Anyway, since I'm guessing you'll insist that you want to go anyway, I recommend Cardozo because it's the cheapest and the stipulations are good (but if you're bottom 20% after first semester, DROP OUT). You're very unlikely to get the jobs that you list (maybe small law, but highly-paid small law doesn't exist for new graduates), so you might as well minimize the damage this adventure will do to your net worth.

[ballpop]

You're very unlikely to get the jobs that you list (maybe small law, but highly-paid small law doesn't exist for new graduates), so you might as well minimize the damage this adventure will do to your net worth.

That was dickish.