I wouldn't place too much stock in the study abroad program. Several schools (Columbia, Yale, ect) also have Cambridge, Oxford, LSE, Sciences Po, ect dual degree programs available. Michigan might even have one with Cambridge too, you'd have to ask their office of international programs.racic22s wrote:I don't have super specific career goals right now. My main interests are in Intellectual Property (the copyrights side, not patents) and International Business. I'd like to work within the legal department of a major publishing house, particularly one with a transatlantic presence (like Houghton, Mifflin, Harcourt headquartered in Boston) or within a major legal firm that focuses on copyright, again particularly with an international scope. What most appeals to me about Harvard is their option of a dual JD/LLM with Cambridge in the UK, which actually has its own International Intellectual Property track and could position me well to practice in the UK for an international firm. True, it's a competitive program though that only takes up to 6 a year.BigZuck wrote:Never heard of someone successfully negotiating with Harvard and they explicitly say they won't but go for it I guess?
Are you asking which one you should attend? You need to provide more info like career goals, etc (all the stuff in the sticky on the top of the choosing forum)
Why did you only apply to 5 of the T14?
I only applied to 5 of the T14 as those were the only 5 that I was solidly interested in. Location is important to me, and I wanted to stay on the East Coast. I don't want to be in New York. I looked at Yale, but it didn't appeal to me. Initially I wasn't even thinking about Michigan, but after they bombarded me with a bit of mail, I started to fall in love a bit with the campus environment and there is a woman's college alum connection with the dean of admissions, who's been great to contact. Unlike Harvard, there's not any unique programs there that jump out at me, and it's not in an area where I'd like to stay long term (if I had to pick somewhere in the US to settle, it would by far be Boston), though I know that attending there doesn't mean I'd have to be placed in the area.
I want to go to Harvard. Michigan is more "meh." However, it seems like the more practical position financially. Harvard's COA is 85K a year, Michigan with the grant would be about 30K (factoring living into both of them).
for your goals, Harvard is certainly the stronger option. It's not worth $280,000, but you seem like the type that wouldn't be satisfied with a public school education anyway.