Top Law Schools

Hello TLS!

Bear with me on this one but I'm looking mostly at a Harvard at sticker vs NYU full ride. I know the conventional wisdom is overwhelmingly to take the full ride, but my parents have urged me to take the "best" school, and have agreed to finance my degree interest free. I guess my stab at a distinction is that taking parental money is a different kind of debt to be in, and I also have a fair bit of personal savings stashed. Through my 0L lens, I see H as a long-term win, and NYU as more of a short-term boost.

Location-wise I favor NYC, but this wouldn't be a deciding factor for me. At this point I don't have any strong career goals, but as an engineer I'd like to work in technology-related law.

LSAT/GPA: 174(taken once)/3.9

Definitely NYU. Interest free doesn't mean much when you'll still have to borrow an extra 200k, and with an engineering background you'll have your choice of firms coming from NYU.

On no planet is H worth hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt more, no matter how long the horizon.

I couldn't urge you strongly enough to take the $$ at NYU and never look back. No question about it.

full disclosure
i go to nyu
but dude
seriously, nyu

NYU

.

Do you understand money? I mean, at all?

I graduated from CNN with no debt and the lack of debt is a much bigger benefit to my life than a Harvard degree.

NYU is a fantastic school and you are lucky to have this option.
Congrats.

I am implore you to go to NYU.

Congrats. No bad choices here. I hope you came to Harvard's ASW just to check it out. There are many here who were faced with your wonderful choices and just asking some might give you a fresh perspective. I didn't apply to NYU so I can't speak to that. Did turn down a Hamilton which I guess would be similar. Once here I have never regretted my choice (do every now and then in the midst of our epic winter think about Stanford).

The problem is having your 20 something self make the decision that your 40 something self will live with, No way around that. Best of luck, you are in a great situation.

eph wrote:Congrats. No bad choices here. I hope you came to Harvard's ASW just to check it out. There are many here who were faced with your wonderful choices and just asking some might give you a fresh perspective. I didn't apply to NYU so I can't speak to that. Did turn down a Hamilton which I guess would be similar. Once here I have never regretted my choice (do every now and then in the midst of our epic winter think about Stanford).

The problem is having your 20 something self make the decision that your 40 something self will live with, No way around that. Best of luck, you are in a great situation.

So you don't understand money either.

OP: you are wrong about the long term boost. I don't even know where you get that idea from. If your parents can afford to just pay for it and they won't need the money, then let them buy you a Harvard degree so they can brag to their friends. No one else will care.

Thanks for the replies, everyone. I'll see where the ASWs take me and make a decision from there.

eph wrote:Congrats. No bad choices here. I hope you came to Harvard's ASW just to check it out. There are many here who were faced with your wonderful choices and just asking some might give you a fresh perspective. I didn't apply to NYU so I can't speak to that. Did turn down a Hamilton which I guess would be similar. Once here I have never regretted my choice (do every now and then in the midst of our epic winter think about Stanford).

The problem is having your 20 something self make the decision that your 40 something self will live with, No way around that. Best of luck, you are in a great situation.

Just planning to ride your Williams and Harvard degrees into a cake life?

eph wrote:Congrats. No bad choices here. I hope you came to Harvard's ASW just to check it out. There are many here who were faced with your wonderful choices and just asking some might give you a fresh perspective. I didn't apply to NYU so I can't speak to that. Did turn down a Hamilton which I guess would be similar. Once here I have never regretted my choice (do every now and then in the midst of our epic winter think about Stanford).

The problem is having your 20 something self make the decision that your 40 something self will live with, No way around that. Best of luck, you are in a great situation.

Of course you haven't regretted your choice yet. You are still a student. You end up regretting once you realize that the marginal costs didn't justify the marginal benefits. This will come once you compare employment outcomes, debt load, and career flexibility (or lack thereof) to those who came out of CCN with little to no debt. Of course, it can never be an "all things equal" comparison, but its close enough that you can say "what if" with at least some basis.

It baffles my mind that you are still considering Harvard. Don't get blinded by the name. Your career outlook will essentially be identical coming from both schools, and the extra $2,000/month in your pocket will go a long way.

Go to NYU, and never, ever look back.

What about Harvard makes you think it will be a long term win over NYU? Unless you are seeking academia or some unicorn position (good luck with that, even from H), there is virtually zero advantage to Harvard in the long run over a CCN. You will learn this when you go into biglaw and the midlevel who is reviewing your work went to Cardozo. A long term win would be being able to buy a condo in Manhattan after just 4-5 years in biglaw with the money you save by going to NYU while the person at your firm who went to Harvard at sticker is living with 2 roommates.

Since none of the other Harvard voters in the poll are stepping up to explain their votes, I will. We have three main reasons why OP would be foolish not to take Harvard.

1) OP you are being penny wise and pound foolish. Econ 101: if you earn more money you can pay off the debt faster. No school can match the earning potential of Harvard, firms place a premium on the Harvard name. Suppose you are a farmer buying a tractor. One tractor is free but you only earn $100 a day. The other tractor costs $1,000 but you earn $200 a day. The idiots in this thread want the free tractor. Sorry, but I'd want Tractor 2 and so should you.

2) Look at the network at Harvard. Harvard has Presidents, including the current one. Supreme Court justices. Congressmen. I'm going into politics and have done my homework on this. If you want to go into politics there are only three routes: you can go to the top schools Harvard and Yale, you can go to runner ups Stanford and Columbia, or you can go to the DC powerhouses Georgetown and GW.

3) People in this thread want to drag everyone down with them because they didn't get admitted to Harvard and never had a chance. I didn't get into Harvard either because I didn't apply, I could have but I have my reasons for wanting to be in DC. But the other posters are bitter and are taking it out on Harvard. Just use your head. I know you will make the right decision.

brianiac wrote:or you can go to the DC powerhouses Georgetown and GW.

3) People in this thread want to drag everyone down with them because they didn't get admitted to Harvard and never had a chance. I didn't get into Harvard either because I didn't apply, I could have but I have my reasons for wanting to be in DC. But the other posters are bitter and are taking it out on Harvard. Just use your head. I know you will make the right decision.

He's backkkkkk.

Waitlisted at GW, but could have gotten into Harvard? Mmmk...

brianiac wrote:2) Look at the network at Harvard. Harvard has Presidents, including the current one. Supreme Court justices. Congressmen. I'm going into politics and have done my homework on this. If you want to go into politics there are only three routes: you can go to the top schools Harvard and Yale, you can go to runner ups Stanford and Columbia, or you can go to the DC powerhouses Georgetown and GW.

Have you done your homework though? Not that OP wants to go into politics, but mentioning GW is nonsense. How many Congressman has GW produced? Around 20? I believe NYU is over double that.

brianiac wrote:Since none of the other Harvard voters in the poll are stepping up to explain their votes, I will. We have three main reasons why OP would be foolish not to take Harvard.

1) OP you are being penny wise and pound foolish. Econ 101: if you earn more money you can pay off the debt faster. No school can match the earning potential of Harvard, firms place a premium on the Harvard name. Suppose you are a farmer buying a tractor. One tractor is free but you only earn $100 a day. The other tractor costs $1,000 but you earn $200 a day. The idiots in this thread want the free tractor. Sorry, but I'd want Tractor 2 and so should you.

2) Look at the network at Harvard. Harvard has Presidents, including the current one. Supreme Court justices. Congressmen. I'm going into politics and have done my homework on this. If you want to go into politics there are only three routes: you can go to the top schools Harvard and Yale, you can go to runner ups Stanford and Columbia, or you can go to the DC powerhouses Georgetown and GW.

3) People in this thread want to drag everyone down with them because they didn't get admitted to Harvard and never had a chance. I didn't get into Harvard either because I didn't apply, I could have but I have my reasons for wanting to be in DC. But the other posters are bitter and are taking it out on Harvard. Just use your head. I know you will make the right decision.

There is so much awesomeness in this post that I am paralyzed. It works on so many levels.

brianiac wrote:Since none of the other Harvard voters in the poll are stepping up to explain their votes, I will. We have three main reasons why OP would be foolish not to take Harvard.

1) OP you are being penny wise and pound foolish. Econ 101: if you earn more money you can pay off the debt faster. No school can match the earning potential of Harvard, firms place a premium on the Harvard name. Suppose you are a farmer buying a tractor. One tractor is free but you only earn $100 a day. The other tractor costs $1,000 but you earn $200 a day. The idiots in this thread want the free tractor. Sorry, but I'd want Tractor 2 and so should you.

2) Look at the network at Harvard. Harvard has Presidents, including the current one. Supreme Court justices. Congressmen. I'm going into politics and have done my homework on this. If you want to go into politics there are only three routes: you can go to the top schools Harvard and Yale, you can go to runner ups Stanford and Columbia, or you can go to the DC powerhouses Georgetown and GW.

3) People in this thread want to drag everyone down with them because they didn't get admitted to Harvard and never had a chance. I didn't get into Harvard either because I didn't apply, I could have but I have my reasons for wanting to be in DC. But the other posters are bitter and are taking it out on Harvard. Just use your head. I know you will make the right decision.

I think you might have just made the best case for NYU out of anyone in this thread.

This is now a brianiac thread


Also NYU you should feel bad for even asking this question

So what kind of people actually end up choosing H? I imagine a majority of admits get significant grants from other schools. If what I've heard in the thread is true, Harvard students are either people who qualified for significant grant aid, or people who foolishly gave up scholarship money?

brianiac wrote:1) OP you are being penny wise and pound foolish. Econ 101: if you earn more money you can pay off the debt faster. No school can match the earning potential of Harvard, firms place a premium on the Harvard name. Suppose you are a farmer buying a tractor. One tractor is free but you only earn $100 a day. The other tractor costs $1,000 but you earn $200 a day. The idiots in this thread want the free tractor. Sorry, but I'd want Tractor 2 and so should you.

If you are looking at cash only, the earning potentials of a Harvard versus NYU degree are equal. BigLaw firm compensation is lockstep, so all associates in the same class year are compensated equally. Once you are more senior, your quality of work and other factors matter substantially more to promotion than where you finished law school. If you factor in the full ride to NYU, then NYU gives you a significantly higher return on investment.

radcaster wrote:So what kind of people actually end up choosing H? I imagine a majority of admits get significant grants from other schools. If what I've heard in the thread is true, Harvard students are either people who qualified for significant grant aid, or people who foolishly gave up scholarship money?

1. Rich parents
2. Grant aid people
3. LRAP people
4. Some splitters who don't get good T14 money and say fuck it
5. Prestige whore/bad decision makers