Am I making a mistake? WUSTL over T13 Forum

[frozen_tundra9]

Thanks guys!

[UVA2B]

You're not wrong. WUSTL at $35k debt is a great outcome, and perfectly understandable to take it over T13 at six figure debt.

ETA: Either choice is defensible if treated as dichotomous, which it isn't. But erring on the side of less debt with accepting more modest likelihood of outcome is refined cost-benefit analysis.

[malibustacy]

WUSTL is likely the best choice if you're enormously debt averse. But a few things to consider.

Most Big Law international M&A jobs will be in NYC. While WUSTL's numbers Biglaw numbers have improved (http://law.wustl.edu/career_services/em ... y-2017.pdf), firms that do that caliber of work tend to have more than 250 lawyers. A lot of WUSTL BigLaw hiring is for firms between 100-250 lawyers, which makes sense given the region it is in. WUSTL's Biglaw percentage for 250+ lawyers is about 32%. There aren't really that many Big Law jobs for immigration.

If you're seeking to return to Colorado, a T13 degree will likely be looked on better than WUSTL.

It seems WUSTL isn't that great for public interest (3% placement), and places few people in midlaw (5% for 25-100 lawyer firms). It is unclear what kind of government work WUSTL places people in, and the best government positions are generally not obtainable upon graduation anyhow.

Personally, I'd take either Cornell or Duke. The two schools will guarantee you a good outcome even if below median. With WUSTL, who knows?

[rpupkin]

Personally, I'd take either Cornell or Duke. The two schools will guarantee you a good outcome even if below median. With WUSTL, who knows?

The bolded is false.

[AJordan]

Your choice is actually interesting. Since you want to go back to Colorado and are debt averse I think your choice is fine. Tying yourself to debt likely ties you to places where you can pay debt and, though I'm not familiar with the Colorado scene, that's likely not Denver. Using your ties to hustle in law school in the area you want to be in vs making a nice nest egg and then packing up and moving back later is the next interesting decision you'll be making. Fwiw, I don't think choosing to turn your back on 100k of debt is a bad decision. Others may disagree though.

[cron1834]

I would take Cornell here. It doubles your chances of biglaw. At 180 payscale, you can pay off 127 without too much teeth-gnashing. 35 is a nice coa from WUSTL, but even in their best-ever year, the majority of the class did not get biglaw.

[proteinshake]

I would go to Cornell.

[guynourmin]

You say you would be happy with midlaw, govt, or PI, which is fine to say, but you haven't said, explicitly, that you would be happy making $46,000. Would you be happy with that? Wustl or Cornell depending on your answer

[Dcc617]

$127K would have a ten year monthly payment of $1461.52 (at a 6.8% interest rate). $35K would be $402.78.

[BigZuck]

Saying you're interested in immigration work at a big law firm leads me to think you need to do a lot more research about legal careers before embarking on this path.

[goldenbear2020]

I would go to Cornell.

+1. Nearly double the biglaw chances is worth 90k.

[Dr. Nefario]

Saying you're interested in immigration work at a big law firm leads me to think you need to do a lot more research about legal careers before embarking on this path.

This. The highest level immigration work is done by specialty immigration firms (See: Fragomen). It's a biglaw firm by size, but not at all equal in pay. Granted international M&A isn't immigration work, but is more unicorn work right?

ETA: I'd still go to WUSTL for that price. Without super defined biglaw or bust, I don't think Cornell is worth an extra 90K.

[frozen_tundra9]

Thanks for all the replies!!! I think I've decided on wash u, but I definitely get why people think Cornell is a strong option.

If I seem like I'm not sure what I want career wise, it's because I recognize that wash u changes some options. For anyone who mentioned immigration, can you explain why you think that doesn't make sense? I wasn't considering it strongly, but every attorney I talked to while I was trying to decide schools mentioned immigration as a field I should seriously​ consider given my background (language skills and international work). But they were all older and haven't had to get hired recently, so I'd love to hear more about what immigration employment really looks like. Any resources I should check out?