Top Law Schools

For career interest, I would maybe like to do biglaw but for only a short period of time before transitioning into something with better work\life like government. I realize that I've got to decide between $ and rankings:

NYU - $0 Scholarship. Really liked it, "best" school I got into, but that would probably mean less access to professors and extracurriculars, though open more doors? Cost of living and debt accural scares me.

Fordham $45/yr ($135 total) - Liked the current students there a lot. They were selling the NY connections to biglaw hard at accepted students day.

GW - $35/yr ($105) - I like DC a lot, may want to end up here. Students seemed nice and better location than Georgetown.

Georgetown - $0 - Were selling DC locations and connections and strength of adjuncts.

You don't have any in-between options at all?

But all the factors you listed are not important in the least (except for the money). You're going to get the same access to professors everywhere (meaning that if you put in some effort, you'll have a professor who wants to recommend you for stuff). You're going to like and dislike students everywhere. You're going to find things you hate and love about the location of every school.

You need to be looking at job numbers, and right now, NYU is the only school on your list that gives you a good shot at biglaw. But it's not worth it to go at sticker. Which brings me back to my initial question: did you get in to any other T14 schools? And what's your GPA/LSAT?

cavalier1138 wrote:You don't have any in-between options at all?

Nope, that's why I'm in a bind haha. Waitlisted at Penn, Michigan, Duke, so I'm not anticipating any $ from those places if I were to get in off the waitlist. I've pretty much narrowed it to Fordham and NYU, since those are representative of the best of each side of the choice to be made. Thanks for the advice about looking up employment stats.

Another thing I neglected to mention is that I really really want to do a clerkship, and its obvious that NYU would give me the best shot at that. I just don't know how highly to weight the possibility of a clerkship against a big sticker price.

GPA - 3.5
LSAT 173

At that choice, I'd go with NYU. Its a real rough choice at sticker, but Fordham eliminates clerk opportunities and severely limits biglaw. A split like that is tough. Was there a reason you didn't apply to splitter friendly schools like WUSTL and NW?

Either you applied really late or you have something seriously wrong with your application. This is a lot of money to pay. You should go over your application with a fine tooth comb and reapply on the first day apps are open. Something in your app is keeping you from getting you money. I know people with worse gpas and lower lsats that are getting a ton of money from these schools (not NYU though). You should be getting 50% at Duke for example, not waitlisted.

When did you apply?

Rigo wrote:When did you apply?

I applied the first week of January to most places (late, I know. Work stuff and taking the Dec LSAT prevented me from applying earlier).

Was there a reason you didn't apply to splitter friendly schools like WUSTL and NW?

I honestly really didn't know where I was going to land acceptance-wise, and I don't think I was as savvy as I could have been in picking the schools to apply to. I dismissed both of those out of hand because I didn't want to live for 3 years or more in StL or Chicago but I do wish I had the options now. Lazy past me strikes again.


I really hadn't considered not going/reapplying until I started reading more posts on here as I've been trying to make my decision. It would be a big change to my plans, since my current employer has been under the assumption for a few months that I'll be leaving soon.

cavalier1138 wrote:
You need to be looking at job numbers, and right now, NYU is the only school on your list that gives you a good shot at biglaw.

So should I put any thought/weight into whether I'll have a shot at journals/extracurriculars/clincial opportunities that I want? I feel like those will be a lot tougher to get at a top school?

Sorry for all of the questions, and I just want to say I'm really appreciative of these comments.

You have solid stats that should get you some good money at t14s. Definitely reapply first day of next cycle.

It might suck to rearrange your plans for next year, but a much better cycle will definitely be worth it.

NYU isn't worth sticker and Georgetown CERTAINLY isn't. Fordham is a good school for the top quarter of the class or so, who will do fine with NYC biglaw, but that's about all they've got going. You do seem have to underperformed your stats a lot, and it's hard to recommend any of these options. I know that's not a helpful answer because you've already given notice to your employer, but having someone knowledgable read your personal statement (which is my guess for what might be weak in your app) and reapplying when the cycle opens in the fall would probably lead to far better options, e.g. good money at Duke and UVA. No one should be going to GW with a 173 LSAT for less than a full ride, and even then it's not a great choice.

blandman wrote:

cavalier1138 wrote:
You need to be looking at job numbers, and right now, NYU is the only school on your list that gives you a good shot at biglaw.

So should I put any thought/weight into whether I'll have a shot at journals/extracurriculars/clincial opportunities that I want? I feel like those will be a lot tougher to get at a top school?

Sorry for all of the questions, and I just want to say I'm really appreciative of these comments.

You should not put any weight on that, and journal spots are no tougher or easier to get at any law school.

Im glad people agreed with my assessment. You are severely underperforming your numbers. You applied kinda late. You need to redo your personal statement and apply the first day apps open. Talk to your boss, tell him whats up. He will understand.