Columbia (sticker) v. UCLA ($75k) Forum

[Tiago Splitter]

As someone from LA, I can tell you the difference in perception between UCLA and Columbia comes down to this:

The more prestigious LA firms' cutoffs are top half at Columbia and top third at UCLA. Being in those ranges doesn't guarantee a job, and people below that can get those jobs still, but you're talking about roughly, ROUGHLY a 15% higher chance at LA biglaw from Columbia.

Is that worth 75k to you? Thats the real decision, and obviously only you can make it.

It goes deepet than this though. If the OP doesn't meet those grade cutoffs, the options are still far better at Columbia than UCLA.

I'd only take UCLA here if I could live with family to keep costs down and knew I had to be in California after law school.

[Mauls]

Thanks for all the responses. Since I will be assuming significant debt with either option, Columbia seems to have the edge. But I may still be able to negotiate with UCLA. At what point do you think it would it be worth it to consider UCLA?

[birdlaw117]

Thanks for all the responses. Since I will be assuming significant debt with either option, Columbia seems to have the edge. But I may still be able to negotiate with UCLA. At what point do you think it would it be worth it to consider UCLA?

I personally wouldn't really consider it until you got to a full-ride (ish). You'll still be taking out what, like 70k or whatever in loans for COA at UCLA? At that point I think the decision gets pretty difficult to make. Some people are going to say take the money and run (and that may be TCR), but others would prefer that extra value from the increased job prospects (probably tougher to justify than taking the money).

[JasonR]

The more prestigious LA firms' cutoffs are top half at Columbia and top third at UCLA. Being in those ranges doesn't guarantee a job, and people below that can get those jobs still, but you're talking about roughly, ROUGHLY a 15% higher chance at LA biglaw from Columbia.

Not sure where you get 15% from. If OP is hoping to get one of the jobs that you describe grade cutoffs for the difference is roughly a 50% increase going to Columbia instead of UCLA (not factoring in a change in class rank moving from UCLA to CLS).

Yeah, massive statistics fail. Thanks for saving me the time of pointing that out.

Also OP, if CLS beats the pants off of UCLA that badly even in LA, you can imagine the huge difference between the two degrees in the security they'll provide you everywhere else.

Nice to see that the polling has finally taken a swing toward sanity.

[smokeylarue]

Columbia for sure. Most of their kids land Big Law (more than 60%). UCLA, most do not (less than 35%).

[catch12]

The more prestigious LA firms' cutoffs are top half at Columbia and top third at UCLA. Being in those ranges doesn't guarantee a job, and people below that can get those jobs still, but you're talking about roughly, ROUGHLY a 15% higher chance at LA biglaw from Columbia.

Not sure where you get 15% from. If OP is hoping to get one of the jobs that you describe grade cutoffs for the difference is roughly a 50% increase going to Columbia instead of UCLA (not factoring in a change in class rank moving from UCLA to CLS).

Yeah, massive statistics fail. Thanks for saving me the time of pointing that out.

Also OP, if CLS beats the pants off of UCLA that badly even in LA, you can imagine the huge difference between the two degrees in the security they'll provide you everywhere else.

Nice to see that the polling has finally taken a swing toward sanity.

Yea thanks for correcting that, I wasn't thinking. Obviously I just meant that 15% more of the class is in play for those jobs at Columbia.

Also, I'm in a very similar situation and I don't think UCLA is worth it here, FWIW.

[calvinlovehobbes]

i was gonna make my own poll but this seems to be a pretty relevant thread to my own situation and i was wondering if those who had an opinion here would add anything if columbia were interchanged with NYU. it is to my understanding that those two schools are pretty similar in most aspects. im getting similar $$ at UCLA, i would add maybe a small increase to about $90k total. sorry to cut in on your thread but i feel like you've decided columbia based on the responses?