Uchicago to NYC biglaw - good idea? Forum

[Lovely Ludwig Van]

From what I've read around here, Uchicago to NYC = good bet because Chicago grads are scarce and biglaw partners want geographical diversity (also you face less competition because fewer of your classmates aim for NYC). Can anyone verify the truth to this? Is getting NYC from Uchicago relatively harder/easier/about the same as, say, getting Chicago from Uchicago or NYC from NYU/Columbia? I know common sense would dictate it's easier to get NYC biglaw from N/C because you're geographically in the same area, but still I'd like to hear what people think.

[patrickd139]

As far as biglaw goes (but not necessarily for midlaw or PI), any problems getting access to either market from either school will have less to do with geography and more to do with your class rank.

Pick the one you like best and go for it.

[bdubs]

Some of the bigger firms reserve a set number of positions for NYU/Columbia in their NYC offices. I'm not sure that any reserve a set number of positions for Chicago because the school has <200 grads per year, many of whom chose not to go to school in NYC. I don't know that it would disadvantage you incredibly, but it's something to keep in mind.

[ahduth]

Easier, because they get fewer UofC grads, and NYU/CLS grads are a dime a dozen. So they love to get a couple if they can.

As previously mentioned however, your class rank matters far more - these are all peer schools.

[JollyGreenGiant]

Probably a good bet. Supply and demand. I'd say only ~75-100 Chicago grads are even willing to go to NY each year (anecdotal).

Note that it won't make a bottom of the class student at UChi get chosen over a median student at NYU/Columbia, but I would think that they'd choose median at Chi over median at the other two schools because they probably already have a decent amount of CLS/NYU kids at those firms.