manu6926 wrote:What I heard (if you bothered to click the link) was what some partners in NYC said about schools, assuming what the poster on that page (HLS20..something) said is true. I'd not draw conclusions about prospects based solely on figures.jbagelboy wrote:Harvard, Columbia, Stanford, UChicago all "place" equally well into top firms. Columbia and Harvard have substantially higher #'s at V20's even adjusted for class size - and I think breaking it down, CLS actually takes the overall edge for top firms in terms of summer classes (although since most Yale students have their pick, they are kind of on a different level). It's just that many fewer SLS and Chi kids are targeting NYC than the Harvard and Columbia.manu6926 wrote:Why not negotiate with CLS?
I've heard from somewhere (http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 4&start=25)
that in NYC biglaw, Columbia is the next best option after HY, even slightly better than Stanford.
So I don't think NYC biglaw prospects are equal for Columbia and Chicago.
But obviously debt sucks. So Ruby is the more financially sound option, but if your heart has been set on Columbia, choosing Columbia here would be understandable too.
Anyway, OP: it would be objectively ridiculous to take Columbia over the Ruby here unless you have something else tying you to NYC. That being said, I disagree with other posters that the Rubenstein is superior to a full ride at CLS if you really want to be in New York.
Then again, half ride from Columbia is nothing to scoff at, and to be honest a lot of CLS students turn down $ at Chi or Penn to attend. I'm not going to advise you to make the choice to take Columbia here on it's face, but aside from what most of TLS will tell you, you wouldn't be alone in making it.
And at equal cost Columbia.... might.... be a better bet than Chicago for NYC firms. However, it is literally impossible to get Columbia to equal cost vs the Ruby. This one should be easy, unless living in NYC during law school is worth $100,000 to OP.