NYU vs. Columbia: Class of 2013 Forum

[kinch]

Really, aren't the heads of both Skadden and Cravath NYU alums?

Chesler, the Cravath presiding partner, went to NYU. I don't know about Skadden though.

[CG614]

There are some firms that tend to hire more columbia grads, and others that tend to hire more NYU grads. S&C I think is one of the former, as are Skadden and Cravath, but there are other firms that tend to hire more NYU grads, such as Cleary or K&E.

I do think there is a (very slight) placement advantage for Columbia into elite NYC firms, but these numbers might overstate it - keep in mind self-selection, not only in terms of going into biglaw (where the proportions are very similar) but also remaining in biglaw past 3 or 4 years.

I agree with every single point here. CLS tends to attract more people who want big firms, and thus stay in big firms. That means a deeper alumni network at firms, which make it a slightly better choice if you know you want firm work, and the cycle continues. That being said, NYU and CLS have basically the same class size and grading curve, and I'll bet money that firms use the same grade cutoffs at both schools, so come OCI neither school is really going to offer an advantage.

If self selection is much higher for CLS, wouldn't that be a case for NYU? Less NYU law students in your class to compete with you for the biglaw jobs? I honestly think there is no wrong answer in this choice, but I feel like it is a hard one nonetheless. I am visiting both in the next month, hopefully that will clear it up for me. Thanks for the input.

[Veyron]

I was talking to a friend about this decision and he provided this link. Read into it what you want. I am still torn... I've always wanted to go to NYU...

--LinkRemoved--

If you want more data, Brian Leiter has compiled this for a bunch of firms (scroll down to "breakdown by firm")

http://www.leiterrankings.com/jobs/2008job_biglaw.shtml

That said, don't read into this overly much. There are some firms that tend to hire more columbia grads, and others that tend to hire more NYU grads. S&C I think is one of the former, as are Skadden and Cravath, but there are other firms that tend to hire more NYU grads, such as Cleary or K&E.

I do think there is a (very slight) placement advantage for Columbia into elite NYC firms, but these numbers might overstate it - keep in mind self-selection, not only in terms of going into biglaw (where the proportions are very similar) but also remaining in biglaw past 3 or 4 years.

Really, aren't the heads of both Skadden and Cravath NYU alums?

I'm not sure about that but the founders of Wachtell are certainly all NYU alums.

It was a rhetorical question, Evan Chester is an NYU alum.

[Series70]

Just a few more updates based on some new information I've gathered from the schools:

1) Neither NYU nor CLS has restrictions on 1Ls working part-time, it seems.

2) For what I'm interested in (Prosecution experience), here's a comparison between both schools' options:

--NYU has criminal prosecution clinics with the USAOs for SDNY and EDNY, as well as civil litigation clinics at both offices.

--CLS has criminal prosecution externships (basically the same as clinics) with both offices, but not civil litigation. They do, however, have in-house pro-bono opportunities with the Manhattan and Queens DA offices.

3) NYU still hasn't sent me the "big book" that I've been waiting for since a January 7 letter from the Dean! I called them and they told me to send them an email with my address, and that' they'd send it right away. But I'm still waiting.

CLS, on the other hand, has been bombarding me with propaganda since accepting me. It makes me wonder if what this poster says in an earlier thread has any merithttp://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... f=2&t=6211. The gist of it:

that said, i've attended both institutions (columbia ugrad, nyu grad) and there is an important difference of which you should be aware. columbia, administratively speaking, is a joy. whatever you need done, gets done. any issues i had with the bursar/registrar/housing/deans were resolved instantly and painlessly.

nyu is a complete mess. i've been disenrolled on two separate occasions because they lost my immunization records. imagine being in the middle of finals, you go to swipe into the library, and they tell you you're not allowed in because you don't go there anymore. TWICE. in fact, the only reason i wasn't permanently disenrolled is because columbia was able to provide them with new records, both times, overnight (faster than my doctor), even though i graduated three years ago. very impressive.

every step at nyu as been a struggle and there's no one around to help you. but just to be clear: this has NOTHING to do with academics. the professors are a bit more aloof at nyu than at columbia but that might just be ugrad vs. grad. for many people, administrative nightmares may not be a consideration, but it's something you should know going in.

Any insights from NYU law students? I suspect it's just the difference between ugrad and grad school--Columbia's grad school administration has been no walk in the park, either (although not as bad for me as the situation above). I know CLS is much better in every way than Columbia's Grad School, and suspect things are probably the same at NYU. But, still, NYU, give me my big book!

[Renzo]

Any insights from NYU law students? I suspect it's just the difference between ugrad and grad school--Columbia's grad school administration has been no walk in the park, either (although not as bad for me as the situation above). I know CLS is much better in every way than Columbia's Grad School, and suspect things are probably the same at NYU. But, still, NYU, give me my big book!

The bolded would be my guess. I have no complaints, and I've had some unusual problems that involved me contacting people in various offices to find the person who could help. I will say that once I had to wait in line to talk to the bursar, and I wanted to strangle the undergrads in line ahead of me by the time I got to the front. So if the person who posted the quote was an undergrad, they are lucky to be alive as far as I'm concerned.