BP decides where you go to law school Forum

[violinst]

Sorry to bother Your Highnesses again:

GULC with 75K and a seat in its Global Law Scholars program (a nice name on the resume)
Cornell with 75K
Michigan with 48K

BigLaw in New York.

[Nom Sawyer]

Sorry to bother Your Highnesses again:

GULC with 75K and a seat in its Global Law Scholars program (a nice name on the resume)
Cornell with 75K
Michigan with 48K

BigLaw in New York.

Michigan... better for your goals, and probably come out close to even with the other schools due to COL too.

[IAFG]

Sorry to bother Your Highnesses again:

GULC with 75K and a seat in its Global Law Scholars program (a nice name on the resume)
Cornell with 75K
Michigan with 48K

BigLaw in New York.

i would choose michigan but would not fault you for taking cornell. michigan is a little safer, depends on how much you hate debt

[09042014]

Sorry to bother Your Highnesses again:

GULC with 75K and a seat in its Global Law Scholars program (a nice name on the resume)
Cornell with 75K
Michigan with 48K

BigLaw in New York.

[D. H2Oman]

Sorry to bother Your Highnesses again:

GULC with 75K and a seat in its Global Law Scholars program (a nice name on the resume)
Cornell with 75K
Michigan with 48K

BigLaw in New York.

For you, I would say

Cornell>Michigan>>>Georgetown

[violinst]

Thank you, My Highnesses.

I will put GULC away. Sadly, it was the first school that accepted me.

[creatinganalt]

Shiiiiit. I wish I had to face it. IMHO:

Hamilton > Y > AnrBryce > Darrow > H > S

I'm sure I'm forgetting a fancy named scholarship or two, but you get the gist.

My rankings are a little screwy but probably like:

Hamilton > Y/H/AnBryce > Darrow > S

This is why I'd go crazy with too many options

Quite a few people facing this decision have families who are willing to support them through law school, which definitely helps.

I do get why going to HYS is such an attractive option though, even if it's so much more expensive. I've been given job opportunities this spring based on the fact that I've gotten into HLS - before even going there. It would be nice to be able to impress just about everyone with just one little line on your resume.

The thing is when you are facing it, it is so much harder. I'm leaning about 95% Harvard even though I don't have a family paying. I had a v prestigious UG which opened a ton of doors on name alone so I do believe in the whole ' network/prestige' thing as being worth a lot. For me Boston>NY and I want DC not NY (there would be no excuse for turning down Col for H if you want NY biglaw). I just know I would enjoy my 3 years a lot more there. A good LRAP safety net for PI as well.

Also HLS has it's post acceptance thing down. I felt part of the HLS community straight away (JR - HLS email is a nice touch!). Just already feel committed.

[98234872348]

Sorry to bother Your Highnesses again:

GULC with 75K and a seat in its Global Law Scholars program (a nice name on the resume)
Cornell with 75K
Michigan with 48K

BigLaw in New York.

Michigan... better for your goals, and probably come out close to even with the other schools due to COL too.

TCR, much better school than Cornell, negligible difference in tuition.

[98234872348]

Option 1: Columbia Sticker
Option 2: Defer for the second year and may be mot go.

Depends bro. Columbia is a great school.

[JTX]

x

[09042014]

Sorry to bother Your Highnesses again:

GULC with 75K and a seat in its Global Law Scholars program (a nice name on the resume)
Cornell with 75K
Michigan with 48K

BigLaw in New York.

Michigan... better for your goals, and probably come out close to even with the other schools due to COL too.

TCR, much better school than Cornell, negligible difference in tuition.

Cornell isn't a much better school than Michigan, possibly not even better at all. And definitely not a better school for NYC big law.

[APimpNamedSlickback]

Sorry to bother Your Highnesses again:

GULC with 75K and a seat in its Global Law Scholars program (a nice name on the resume)
Cornell with 75K
Michigan with 48K

BigLaw in New York.

Michigan... better for your goals, and probably come out close to even with the other schools due to COL too.

TCR, much better school than Cornell, negligible difference in tuition.

Cornell isn't a much better school than Michigan, possibly not even better at all. And definitely not a better school for NYC big law.

i think you have cornell and mich reversed, but yeah

[Nom Sawyer]

lol awesome DF reading fail

[D. H2Oman]

I think that was a DF typing fail actually.

[violinst]

Sorry to bother Your Highnesses again:

GULC with 75K and a seat in its Global Law Scholars program (a nice name on the resume)
Cornell with 75K
Michigan with 48K

BigLaw in New York.

Michigan... better for your goals, and probably come out close to even with the other schools due to COL too.

TCR, much better school than Cornell, negligible difference in tuition.

Cornell isn't a much better school than Michigan, possibly not even better at all. And definitely not a better school for NYC big law.

Please clarify (Cornell <=> Michigan?). Very interested.

From what I heard and read (various faculty quality rankings by Leiter), the quality of education at Cornell is comparable to that at Michigan, and Cornell may actually be stronger in the corporate/business law area. It definitely has a greater focus on that area (During the Michigan ASW, most of the things I heard were PI related) But Michigan is a solid top-10 and has a (numerically) better student body, which may help attract higher-caliber employers but may also work against my class rank.

[Joan Hollaway]

In my opinion, Michigan is a better school. There are some things for which I would choose Cornell over Michigan, and NY BigLaw is one of them. Others will tell you to go to the best school, and there isn't anything wrong with that choice, but personally, I would take the scholarship at Cornell.

playing devils advocate here and i might be totally wrong but heres some food for thought. most cornell student self select into ny big law while michigan students self select into a more diverse group of regions (nyc being first but chicago is a close second). following that logic, michigan students face less competition from their classmates for nyc big law jobs, so OP (and i for that matter ) has a better chance of getting NYC biglaw from Mich.

[violinst]

In my opinion, Michigan is a better school. There are some things for which I would choose Cornell over Michigan, and NY BigLaw is one of them. Others will tell you to go to the best school, and there isn't anything wrong with that choice, but personally, I would take the scholarship at Cornell.

I do think that Michigan is a better school overall, but it may not be stronger in the corporate law area. Do BigLaw employers care about Cornell's relative strength (new hires and a general focus) in corporate law?

[Holly Golightly]

Still freaking out about NU v. GULC. Comparison of LRAPs and international programs starts as soon as I get the eff out of Spain.

[violinst]

In my opinion, Michigan is a better school. There are some things for which I would choose Cornell over Michigan, and NY BigLaw is one of them. Others will tell you to go to the best school, and there isn't anything wrong with that choice, but personally, I would take the scholarship at Cornell.

playing devils advocate here and i might be totally wrong but heres some food for thought. most cornell student self select into ny big law while michigan students self select into a more diverse group of regions (nyc being first but chicago is a close second). following that logic, michigan students face less competition from their classmates for nyc big law jobs, so OP (and i for that matter ) has a better chance of getting NYC biglaw from Mich.

This is a valid advice. But I also have to say that I felt right at home during the ASW at Cornell because we, the students, the faculty, and the career service people, all seemed to share the same goal. It may work to my advantage because the entire school is better geared towards BigLaw in NY, like a well-oiled machine. At Michigan, I actually felt a bit ashamed that I didn't have a loftier goal.

[Lieut Kaffee]

Still freaking out about NU v. GULC. Comparison of LRAPs and international programs starts as soon as I get the eff out of Spain.

Didn't you mention you are going to do the JDLLM in International Human Rights at NU? Does GULC have a comparable program? Given your interests I was thinking that might be a factor.

[Holly Golightly]

Still freaking out about NU v. GULC. Comparison of LRAPs and international programs starts as soon as I get the eff out of Spain.

Didn't you mention you are going to do the JDLLM in International Human Rights at NU? Does GULC have a comparable program? Given your interests I was thinking that might be a factor.

Yeah, I'd be doing the JD/LLM IHR at NU. (Enough acronyms for you?) No, I'd be doing a regular JD at GULC. They do have a bunch of clinics, etc. that are focused on international stuff though, and I need to compare those kinds of offerings.

[APimpNamedSlickback]

In my opinion, Michigan is a better school. There are some things for which I would choose Cornell over Michigan, and NY BigLaw is one of them. Others will tell you to go to the best school, and there isn't anything wrong with that choice, but personally, I would take the scholarship at Cornell.

playing devils advocate here and i might be totally wrong but heres some food for thought. most cornell student self select into ny big law while michigan students self select into a more diverse group of regions (nyc being first but chicago is a close second). following that logic, michigan students face less competition from their classmates for nyc big law jobs, so OP (and i for that matter ) has a better chance of getting NYC biglaw from Mich.

This is a valid advice. But I also have to say that I felt right at home during the ASW at Cornell because we, the students, the faculty, and the career service people, all seemed to share the same goal. It may work to my advantage because the entire school is better geared towards BigLaw in NY, like a well-oiled machine. At Michigan, I actually felt a bit ashamed that I didn't have a loftier goal.

i don't think any sort of inferiority with respect to your chosen career path should color your choice of schools. what is there to look down on about biglaw? as a counter-example of sorts to your experience, i'd point out that lots of the people i've met with PI ambitions often strike me as insufferably self-righteous. it might feel good to go to work thinking you are saving the world, but the cold truth of the collective action problem you learn about in econ 101 seems to imply that unless you can get everyone else to follow along with your undoubtedly worth pursuit, one's life of poverty will have pretty much been for naught alot of the time.

on the other hand, i can absolutely see how the skills you'd develop through a few years at a firm would allow you to eventually make a pretty damn substantive contribution to the public good. long story short, try and pick your school based on which would ultimately most efficiently facilitate your goals for afterward rather than some less objective criteria. good luck either way.

[awesomepossum]

In my opinion, Michigan is a better school. There are some things for which I would choose Cornell over Michigan, and NY BigLaw is one of them. Others will tell you to go to the best school, and there isn't anything wrong with that choice, but personally, I would take the scholarship at Cornell.

playing devils advocate here and i might be totally wrong but heres some food for thought. most cornell student self select into ny big law while michigan students self select into a more diverse group of regions (nyc being first but chicago is a close second). following that logic, michigan students face less competition from their classmates for nyc big law jobs, so OP (and i for that matter ) has a better chance of getting NYC biglaw from Mich.

This is a valid advice. But I also have to say that I felt right at home during the ASW at Cornell because we, the students, the faculty, and the career service people, all seemed to share the same goal. It may work to my advantage because the entire school is better geared towards BigLaw in NY, like a well-oiled machine. At Michigan, I actually felt a bit ashamed that I didn't have a loftier goal.

From what I hear from folks at Cornell, the well oiled machine is crashing and burning. One data point (and yes, it's only one data point) but the V15 firm NYC office I'm going to has 4 times as many Michigan people going than Cornell.

[09042014]

I think that was a DF typing fail actually.

Yes it was a typing, or a writing fail.

Despite what other people say, Cornell and Michigan are pretty much peers in terms of overall placement, and Cornell places better in NYC big law.

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

I'd go Mich over Cornell at equal cost for everywhere but NYC. But Cornell is a NYC big law powerhouse.

[violinst]

In my opinion, Michigan is a better school. There are some things for which I would choose Cornell over Michigan, and NY BigLaw is one of them. Others will tell you to go to the best school, and there isn't anything wrong with that choice, but personally, I would take the scholarship at Cornell.

playing devils advocate here and i might be totally wrong but heres some food for thought. most cornell student self select into ny big law while michigan students self select into a more diverse group of regions (nyc being first but chicago is a close second). following that logic, michigan students face less competition from their classmates for nyc big law jobs, so OP (and i for that matter ) has a better chance of getting NYC biglaw from Mich.

This is a valid advice. But I also have to say that I felt right at home during the ASW at Cornell because we, the students, the faculty, and the career service people, all seemed to share the same goal. It may work to my advantage because the entire school is better geared towards BigLaw in NY, like a well-oiled machine. At Michigan, I actually felt a bit ashamed that I didn't have a loftier goal.

From what I hear from folks at Cornell, the well oiled machine is crashing and burning. One data point (and yes, it's only one data point) but the V15 firm NYC office I'm going to has 4 times as many Michigan people going than Cornell.

Do you mean 4x more newly hires from Michigan?