So I was accepted today off the NYU waitlist, and now I am facing a very tough decision. I am from the Bay Area and would like to eventually move back to Cali to work in big law, but I'm not opposed to NYC big law as a fallback. I visited Cornell's ASW and had a great experience with all of the students and faculty I interacted with. What i'm wondering is if the big law job prospects out of NYU are better than Cornell enough to warrant turning down their 25k a year offer. Also what about NYU's placement in Cali vs. Cornell. Any help/advice would be great, thanks!

I know a bunch of NYU people going to CA this summer (all have ties to the area). I'd imagine NYU gives you a much higher chance of getting out back West than Cornell. But whether that additional opportunity is worth 75K is a much more debatable issue, and I'm not really sure what the answer is.

If you want CA BigLaw, NYU is probably the better bet, though your chances of getting CA BigLaw out of either school (at least immediately after graduation) are not going to be great.

EDIT: Also, I guess it depends upon how badly you want CA. I personally am looking at Cornell w/75K v. Berkeley at sticker. I grew up in SoCal and have lived and worked/studied in teh Bay Area for the last four years. I am actually probably going to Cornell because I think the placement/debt ratio is better at Cornell, and I realized I wasn't wholeheartedly committed to coming back to CA.

If getting back to CA is #1, again, I'd say do NYU. Otherwise, I guess you can go either way.

Keep in my the COA probably creeps close to $100k when COL is factored in. I would probably take Cornell but this is a coin-flip decision because of your preference for CA.

Both are odd options for California biglaw, in my opinion. Any other options ?

Well I would weigh just getting any big law job as my highest priority, then my chances at getting back to Cali as a secondary concern I suppose.

Then both are great options. Cornell is less expensive, while NYU gives you a taste of living in NYC. Probably NYU.

P.S. Ask Cornell for more money based on your NYU acceptance.

Not at the moment, although I'm on waitlists at penn, Michigan, duke, and UVA still

I took a long time deciding between a CCN and a lower T14 that was 50-60k cheaper, and ended up deciding that the CCN was worth the extra money. If the difference in COA were 90-100k more I would have gone with the lower T14 without too much deliberation.

I'm from CA (San Diego) and had to make the decision between Cornell at 90k and NYU at sticker, this year as well. I ended up choosing Cornell. I found what was primarily holding me back from picking NYU was my ego, but I found that my ego was not worth the extra 100k in debt. I will say, you need to evaluate how strong your desire is for CA biglaw. The difference between NYU and Cornell for returning to CA probably isn't that substantial, but if you really want to return I guess I would say NYU.

For full disclosure, I didn't strongly want to return to CA (I wouldn't mind, but it wouldn't kill me if I didn't come back).

Either ask NYU for money based on your Cornell scholarship, or ask for Cornell for more money based on your NYU acceptance.

Thanks for the advice, any suggestions on how I'd request more money in a non offensive manner?

75k (plus whatever the difference is in CoL) on top of the interest that you will save is a lot of money. I'd take Cornell.

Not sure why people are thinking NYU is that much better for California biglaw placement. I don't know whether it is or isn't, but wouldn't expect the difference to be super substantial.

People with California ties can get back there from Cornell. I actually know a number of people that got multiple California offers from Cornell without ties. And this was in 2010 when shit was real bad. Granted, the people were all pretty high up in the class ....

I don't think NYU is worth 75k more than Cornell for your goals.

Agree with this. Voted Cornell without too much hesitation. Both schools have a great name that will give you leverage in CA, neither however, is that connected to CA. Short of Berkeley or T3, I would just pick the T14 that has given the most money.