Michigan vs. Cornell for NYC Biglaw

[tmatsushita]

I understand that Cornell places a larger percentage of its class into NYC Biglaw than Michigan does, but the more important question to me is...

Which school has the higher ratio of (people who get NYC Biglaw) / (people who want NYC Biglaw)?

Thanks!

[muddup]

Bump--I'm interested too! Any comments are appreciated

[Lincoln]

I go to Cornell, and know quite a few people at Michigan. It's definitely true that more people at Michigan self-select out of NYC, and Michigan appears to do a bit better w/r/t PI and clerkships (though it's unclear to what extent that's self-selection, as well). But for NYC Big Law, Cornell is definitely the best choice.

I know people who are top 10% at Michigan who did not get firms as "prestigious" as people who are top 30% or even median at Cornell. Cornell out-places Michigan at most of the top NYC firms, both absolutely and in relation to class size. With one or two exceptions, every person I know in my class did better at the job search than they anticipated, and better than they were told to expect by career services. Numbers are being thrown around that 81% of participants in the OCI process got Big Law. That excludes people who are working at smaller firms, and people who struck out and got a job later (and I know at least two people like that).

[keg411]

I'm a 2L at Mich and my sister went to Cornell. I have a NYC SA and she works in NYC BigLaw. Personally, I don't think it matters. Pretty much everyone goes into NYC BigLaw at Cornell. Of the people I know at Michigan, I only know one person who didn't get a NYC BigLaw offer that wanted one; I also know a few people who turned NYC BigLaw offers down for other markets (Chicago, SF). Cornell also doesn't have quite the "no OCI travel" advantage that Penn/CLS/NYU have either.

Just visit both and pick the place where you feel more comfortable.

[Doorkeeper]

Both do very well placing into NYC. Michigan has the prestige, clerkship and government placement advantage. I would go Michigan, if the financials are equal, because you're not really hurting your NYC chances by going there, and you get the added bonus of having other options on the table if you want them.

[CanadianWolf]

Cornell. Not even close if targeting NYC biglaw.