Harvard v. Stanford for NYC biglaw Forum

legends159 · Post by **legends159** » Mon Mar 14, 2011 12:18 am

Have you gotten your financial package yet from either school? Unless your parents are too wealthy, in which case you get nothing from either schools, you'll get more money at SLS.

I think may people here who voted HLS did it because they idealize the prestige of Harvard. They aren't in your position or never were so it's easy to just click a button based on their perception of prestige. Most have not actually analyzed the pros and cons of either schools. I guarantee you 2 weeks into law school, wherever you end up, the prestige feeling will go away, especially since you're surrounded by students who go to the same school as you and don't think you're hot shit because of it.

To counter the minor prestige bump that HLS has, there's something special and rewarding about being cherry picked by SLS. The admissions office read your package and picked you not just because of your numbers but because of some other factor. In some cases, they choose students in spite of their numbers. At SLS you are 1/180 in a school as desirable as HLS, where you will be 1/600.

But yeah SLS --> NYC is cake. I don't think there are 10 people going to NYC big law firms from my year. Tons got offers, but they're all going to CA or DC.

polevaulter · Post by **polevaulter** » Mon Mar 14, 2011 7:04 am

Most Ivies still take your parent's income into consideration all the way up to age 30--which I think is extremely unfair.

RVP11 · Post by **RVP11** » Mon Mar 14, 2011 7:16 am

Only at SLS will you still probably get a V10 (if you want it) with straight Ps.

This choice is obvious: Stanford.

paratactical · Post by **paratactical** » Mon Mar 14, 2011 9:48 am

polevaulter wrote:Most Ivies still take your parent's income into consideration all the way up to age 30--which I think is extremely unfair.

Obvious troll is obvious.

ahduth wrote:
paratactical wrote:
birkenstockmarket wrote:Thanks for all of the feedback! Looks like I will have to wait to visit both schools to get a sense of the "vibes."
I am an enormous proponet of all things New England and Cambridge and Boston and I loathe California and would never want to live there, but I have to tell you to take Stanford. There aren't many Stanford grads out here, due to self-selection. There are tons of Harvard kids. With the vast portability of the degree and your ability to be a limited commodity, take S.
Why are you so right so often? Seems wrong.

Also loathing California is dumb. Stop it.

Because I generally hesitate to give people life advice if I don't think I've got some good, sane, reasonable shit to say. Well, unless it's sex life advice. Then it's all for the lulz.

birkenstockmarket · Post by **birkenstockmarket** » Mon Mar 14, 2011 9:51 am

Will employers look directly at my transcript, or will having straight Ps or Hs be something they only know about via class rank?

RVP11 · Post by **RVP11** » Mon Mar 14, 2011 9:53 am

birkenstockmarket wrote:Will employers look directly at my transcript, or will having straight Ps or Hs be something they only know about via class rank?

Good law schools don't publish class rank or permit you to put it on your resume. They will look at your transcript. But straight Ps at Stanford is hardly a death knell.

birkenstockmarket · Post by **birkenstockmarket** » Mon Mar 14, 2011 9:57 am

Whereas straight Ps from H would be?

RVP11 · Post by **RVP11** » Mon Mar 14, 2011 10:02 am

birkenstockmarket wrote:Whereas straight Ps from H would be?

Something closer to it, yes.

samsonyte16 · Post by **samsonyte16** » Mon Mar 14, 2011 11:13 am

There is some bad advice in this thread, IMO. The placement rates at these schools are so similar that they shouldn't drive your decision. Neither should the prestige or perceived selectivity of either school. Who cares that Stanford's admissions process is more personal, or that Harvard is ranked one spot higher. They are both extremely prestigious and selective. Instead, you should be thinking about:

1) Which school fits your personality better. Visit both and see what your gut tells you. Nobody can answer this but you.

2) Where you want to live. Some people value good weather. Some people value being on the East Coast. Where do you fall?

3) Which school has better programs for what you are interested in. H and S have different strengths. Which school has stronger professors, clinics, and programs in your area?

4) Money. Which will be cheaper.

You have to weigh all these things--the answer will be different for different people. There is no obvious choice, the way some people are suggesting there is.

legends159 · Post by **legends159** » Mon Mar 14, 2011 12:07 pm

RVP11 wrote:
birkenstockmarket wrote:Whereas straight Ps from H would be?
Something closer to it, yes.

straight P at both H/S will not get you V10. It will be sub V50. Grades still matter for the top firms

mcat4life87 · Post by **mcat4life87** » Mon Mar 14, 2011 12:59 pm

legends159 wrote:Have you gotten your financial package yet from either school? Unless your parents are too wealthy, in which case you get nothing from either schools, you'll get more money at SLS.

I think may people here who voted HLS did it because they idealize the prestige of Harvard. They aren't in your position or never were so it's easy to just click a button based on their perception of prestige. Most have not actually analyzed the pros and cons of either schools. I guarantee you 2 weeks into law school, wherever you end up, the prestige feeling will go away, especially since you're surrounded by students who go to the same school as you and don't think you're hot shit because of it.

To counter the minor prestige bump that HLS has, there's something special and rewarding about being cherry picked by SLS. The admissions office read your package and picked you not just because of your numbers but because of some other factor. In some cases, they choose students in spite of their numbers. At SLS you are 1/180 in a school as desirable as HLS, where you will be 1/600.

But yeah SLS --> NYC is cake. I don't think there are 10 people going to NYC big law firms from my year. Tons got offers, but they're all going to CA or DC.

legends159, have you no shame? Your SLS trolling is pathetic, considering that you are an SLS student. "there's something special and rewarding about being cherry picked by SLS"---Do you realize how saying something like this, combined with your negative tone about Harvard's admission process, reflects an inferiority complex about Harvard? It's great that you love your school so much, but the idea that you feel you're more "special" is funny. And the fact that you will openly tell others about just how special you think you are is disgusting.

paratactical · Post by **paratactical** » Mon Mar 14, 2011 1:00 pm

mcat4life87 wrote: legends159, have you no shame? Your SLS trolling is pathetic, considering that you are an SLS student. "there's something special and rewarding about being cherry picked by SLS"---Do you realize how saying something like this, combined with your negative tone about Harvard's admission process, reflects an inferiority complex about Harvard? It's great that you love your school so much, but the idea that you feel you're more "special" is funny. And the fact that you will openly tell others about just how special you think you are is disgusting.

Technically, given class size and such, SLS sutdents are more "special". Also, this post makes you sound craycray.

RVP11 · Post by **RVP11** » Mon Mar 14, 2011 1:01 pm

mcat4life87 wrote:
legends159 wrote:Have you gotten your financial package yet from either school? Unless your parents are too wealthy, in which case you get nothing from either schools, you'll get more money at SLS.

I think may people here who voted HLS did it because they idealize the prestige of Harvard. They aren't in your position or never were so it's easy to just click a button based on their perception of prestige. Most have not actually analyzed the pros and cons of either schools. I guarantee you 2 weeks into law school, wherever you end up, the prestige feeling will go away, especially since you're surrounded by students who go to the same school as you and don't think you're hot shit because of it.

To counter the minor prestige bump that HLS has, there's something special and rewarding about being cherry picked by SLS. The admissions office read your package and picked you not just because of your numbers but because of some other factor. In some cases, they choose students in spite of their numbers. At SLS you are 1/180 in a school as desirable as HLS, where you will be 1/600.

But yeah SLS --> NYC is cake. I don't think there are 10 people going to NYC big law firms from my year. Tons got offers, but they're all going to CA or DC.
legends159, have you no shame? Your SLS trolling is pathetic, considering that you are an SLS student. "there's something special and rewarding about being cherry picked by SLS"---Do you realize how saying something like this, combined with your negative tone about Harvard's admission process, reflects an inferiority complex about Harvard? It's great that you love your school so much, but the idea that you feel you're more "special" is funny. And the fact that you will openly tell others about just how special you think you are is disgusting.

*cue popcorn gifs*

mcat4life87 · Post by **mcat4life87** » Mon Mar 14, 2011 1:12 pm

paratactical wrote:
mcat4life87 wrote: legends159, have you no shame? Your SLS trolling is pathetic, considering that you are an SLS student. "there's something special and rewarding about being cherry picked by SLS"---Do you realize how saying something like this, combined with your negative tone about Harvard's admission process, reflects an inferiority complex about Harvard? It's great that you love your school so much, but the idea that you feel you're more "special" is funny. And the fact that you will openly tell others about just how special you think you are is disgusting.
Technically, given class size and such, SLS sutdents are more "special". Also, this post makes you sound craycray.

Well I'm not going to debate you about what you mean by "special." Do you think legends159's post revealed in any way at least a slight inferiority complex w/r/t to Harvard? In particular, assuming that "many" people who voted for Harvard were influenced the "idealized prestige" of Harvard, as if Stanford would be winning the vote if people were more "objective" and not fooled by prestige---doesn't this strike you as pathetic? If not, why not?

I think one of the main factors that makes legends159's post ridiculous is that he is an SLS student. There's something disgusting about arguing that some aspect of your own life separates you as more "special" than others.

Moreover, doesn't legends159 realize that his explanation about why the "prestige bump" of Harvard doesn't matter undermines his own point about being more "special" at Stanford? All in all, his post makes it seem like HE believes that Harvard is more prestigious, but must console himself by believing that he is more special. Just some simple rationalization. Don't get me wrong, I think SLS is as good as or better than Harvard for many things, but the way legends159 went about describing his position was pathetic.

legends159 · Post by **legends159** » Mon Mar 14, 2011 3:16 pm

Why are you getting so heated?

More importantly, is this why you PM'ed me about whether I go to SLS? Just to attack me on a thread where people give input about HLS v. SLS? I don't think I ever hid the fact that I go to SLS and I wouldn't pimp SLS unless I went there.

Do you feel better about your life now that you've attacked me for expressing my views on the school I go to? If so, maybe we can carry on and give perspective to the OP and others who are making the decision about H/S instead of derailing the thread.

paratactical · Post by **paratactical** » Mon Mar 14, 2011 3:19 pm

mcat4life87 wrote:Do you think legends159's post revealed in any way at least a slight inferiority complex w/r/t to Harvard?

Nope. In fact, I'm pretty sure the most telling thing in this exchange is the craycray inferority you are dumping all over the place.

DoubleChecks · Post by **DoubleChecks** » Mon Mar 14, 2011 3:32 pm

lol i dont know how biased i might be, but i would like to believe im quite objective (esp. if you consider personal +HLS bias being balanced out by general +SLS TLS bias [and i spend a lot of time on TLS, so even i get influenced! lol])

SLS = smaller size = stand out more for firm recruiting...although there was this new ranking from firm recruiters that put HLS first, for whatever reason.

weather...SLS seems to be the best, but iunno, a lot of people enjoy the winter snow; i imagine the two places are very different as well with city feel vs. cali-drive everywhere feel haha. im from TX and was dreading the winters up here...tbh though, not that bad at all. much better than i thought it would be.

im skeptical that straight Ps would generally get you V10 even coming out of SLS...but maybe there is a tad more leeway in grading because of SLS novelty on the east coast? im not sure...though imo, job prospects really arent that big of a deal coming out of either [or rather it should not be your concern if you have the same work ethic at both places]

my vote would seriously be to go visit and choose off of where you'd rather be for 3 yrs...i have friends here that chose HLS over SLS for similar reasons (and im sure vice versa)

ps - food for thought: having friends at Stanford, H-Bomb > S-Bomb any day of the week and twice on Sundays lol, for serious -- particularly for anywhere international...they know Stanford, but Harvard is like on another world of its own

hdivschool · Post by **hdivschool** » Mon Mar 14, 2011 3:38 pm

legends159 wrote: To counter the minor prestige bump that HLS has, there's something special and rewarding about being cherry picked by SLS. The admissions office read your package and picked you not just because of your numbers but because of some other factor.

I wonder how H/S(/Y) cross-admits who choose Harvard perform (both in law school and afterward) relative to those who were only admitted to H.

mcat4life87 · Post by **mcat4life87** » Mon Mar 14, 2011 3:39 pm

I didn't attack you for the fact that you express your views about your school. I criticized you for the substance of those views. There are quite a few posts here that give great answers to OP's question. While you now want to "carry on" and "give perspective" to the OP, I'm entitled to criticize the bullshit "feeling like you're special" perspective as well as your petty swipes at Harvard. If you wanted to make the argument that SLS grads are more rare in NYC by virtue of their class size, that's one thing. But your "I feel like I'm special because I was cherry-picked on non-numbers-based factors" is a different, irrelevant point.

legends159 wrote:Why are you getting so heated?

More importantly, is this why you PM'ed me about whether I go to SLS? Just to attack me on a thread where people give input about HLS v. SLS? I don't think I ever hid the fact that I go to SLS and I wouldn't pimp SLS unless I went there.

Do you feel better about your life now that you've attacked me for expressing my views on the school I go to? If so, maybe we can carry on and give perspective to the OP and others who are making the decision about H/S instead of derailing the thread.

rundoxierun · Post by **rundoxierun** » Mon Mar 14, 2011 3:42 pm

paratactical wrote:
mcat4life87 wrote: legends159, have you no shame? Your SLS trolling is pathetic, considering that you are an SLS student. "there's something special and rewarding about being cherry picked by SLS"---Do you realize how saying something like this, combined with your negative tone about Harvard's admission process, reflects an inferiority complex about Harvard? It's great that you love your school so much, but the idea that you feel you're more "special" is funny. And the fact that you will openly tell others about just how special you think you are is disgusting.
Technically, given class size and such, SLS sutdents are more "special". Also, this post makes you sound craycray.

It makes me lol everytime I read this. I can just imagine a law firm saying that they want you because "technically, given class size and such, you are more special than the other candidates".

OP, choose based on environment. Nothing else is different enough to matter. 90% of TLS just pulls crap out of their rear based on "logic".

DoubleChecks · Post by **DoubleChecks** » Mon Mar 14, 2011 3:43 pm

hdivschool wrote:
legends159 wrote: To counter the minor prestige bump that HLS has, there's something special and rewarding about being cherry picked by SLS. The admissions office read your package and picked you not just because of your numbers but because of some other factor.
I wonder how H/S(/Y) cross-admits who choose Harvard perform (both in law school and afterward) relative to those who were only admitted to H.

kind of hard to determine though right? some people may not have applied to all 3 for personal reasons (ex: me)

not to mention, i dont know how you plan to measure 'performance' outside of law school per se

paratactical · Post by **paratactical** » Mon Mar 14, 2011 3:44 pm

tkgrrett wrote:90% of TLS just pulls crap out of their rear based on "logic".

And the other 10% makes up percentages when it suits their argument.

DoubleChecks · Post by **DoubleChecks** » Mon Mar 14, 2011 3:46 pm

mcat4life87 wrote:I didn't attack you for the fact that you express your views about your school. I criticized you for the substance of those views. There are quite a few posts here that give great answers to OP's question. While you now want to "carry on" and "give perspective" to the OP, I'm entitled to criticize the bullshit "feeling like you're special" perspective as well as your petty swipes at Harvard. If you wanted to make the argument that SLS grads are more rare in NYC by virtue of their class size, that's one thing. But your "I feel like I'm special because I was cherry-picked on non-numbers-based factors" is a different, irrelevant point.

legends159 wrote:Why are you getting so heated?

More importantly, is this why you PM'ed me about whether I go to SLS? Just to attack me on a thread where people give input about HLS v. SLS? I don't think I ever hid the fact that I go to SLS and I wouldn't pimp SLS unless I went there.

Do you feel better about your life now that you've attacked me for expressing my views on the school I go to? If so, maybe we can carry on and give perspective to the OP and others who are making the decision about H/S instead of derailing the thread.

lol i shouldnt jump into this, but i actually just read legends' post that mcat is referring to hahaha

how un-SLS-like of you legends!

rundoxierun · Post by **rundoxierun** » Mon Mar 14, 2011 3:46 pm

paratactical wrote:
tkgrrett wrote:90% of TLS just pulls crap out of their rear based on "logic".
And the other 10% makes up percentages when it suits their argument.

Sorry, correction. The vast majority of TLS just pulls crap out of their rear based on "logic". Better?

foxtrottortxof · Post by **foxtrottortxof** » Mon Mar 14, 2011 3:47 pm

hdivschool wrote:
legends159 wrote: To counter the minor prestige bump that HLS has, there's something special and rewarding about being cherry picked by SLS. The admissions office read your package and picked you not just because of your numbers but because of some other factor.
I wonder how H/S(/Y) cross-admits who choose Harvard perform (both in law school and afterward) relative to those who were only admitted to H.

I'm an H/S cross admit at HLS and I'm around top 1/3-1/4.

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