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So, I've been having some trouble making my mind up. I have a 10,000/year (~35,000) from Case and 17,500/year at Denver (~35,000). Case is ranked higher, but I'm concerned about the COA. I wouldn't mind either city. Denver seems to be the nicer area, but I don't know what the legal market is like out there whereas I am from the Midwest and have some connections to the Ohio market. Weighing the costs at each school and the job market at each school where do you think I should go?

PS. My career aspirations are not necessarily biglaw (obviously), I have connections at some midsized firms in a few of the Ohio cities.

Opinions.

Really? No one?

Where do you want to eventually practice? I went to Case for undergrad and I'm not going to lie...Cleveland sucks. They both seem to be very regional schools so you have to consider where you want to live. If you have connections in Ohio, then maybe Case is a good idea.

Nat1018 wrote:Where do you want to eventually practice? I went to Case for undergrad and I'm not going to lie...Cleveland sucks. They both seem to be very regional schools so you have to consider where you want to live. If you have connections in Ohio, then maybe Case is a good idea.

Denver is more regional than Case. Denver is a better market and a nicer city. Denver competes with CU and CU will probably win 55% of those battles. Case competes with Cleveland State, and Case will win most of those battles.

Case actually reaches a goodly amount into the rest of the Midwest and into both New York and DC, and most Case students work outside of Ohio (only 36-46% stay in state). According to USNews, 45% in East North Central, 24% in South Atlantic, 11% Mid-Atlantic, 6% Pacific, and a few everywhere else. Median salary is higher at Case. You will pay more going to Case.

Denver places 84% in state. So, pretty much Colorado or bust (you know...Pike's Peak or bust....right!?).

Skiing the Cuyahoga Valley is not nearly as fun as skiing the Rockies.

DU now sports much higher bar passage rates than Case, but historically they both under-perform on the bar (for whatever reason). That being said, Case usually has over 80% employed at graduation, and Denver less than 70%. Both are up to 97% after 9 months. Case places about 3x more into both BigLaw AND Public Interest, if either is your thing.

If you want a bit more reach, but know the limits of that reach (eastern Midwest, parts of the NE), then Case.

If you want the Mountain West (mainly Denver and all of Central/Eastern Colorado), then Denver.

On the plus side, they are both relatively cheap places to live.

Thanks, that really helps. In sum, would you say that Case's job prospects are much better than Denver's? So much so that you would disregard the additional cost of a Case education?