USC v. UCLA v. Chicago v. NYU for LA BigLaw Forum

[crackberry]

Got a friend gunning for LA BigLaw deciding between these four schools.

NYU: Sticker
Chicago: 20K/year
UCLA: 25K/year
USC: 22K/year

What should he do? Currently lives in NorCal, definitely wants LA BigLaw (SO, family is down there), doesn't care about clerkships/academia/PI. He went to Stanford, but his entire family went to USC (for UG and some grad) if that means anything.

[dbt]

This isn't much of a question. NYU/Chicago are way better than the other two, and at Chicago he's getting a nice scholly. It helps that UCLA/USC are in Cali, but I actually think the options from there still aren't as good for Cali as they are at NYU/Chicago, especially for firms that like diversity of students. (I picked Chicago)

[crackberry]

Yeah that's basically what I told him (that the advantages of UCLA and USC being in his desired market were outweighed by the quality differences between them and NYU/Chicago). I'm pretty sure he's leaning Chicago, but he said some questionable things earlier today about being high on USC. He's definitely a Trojan at heart (boo) and I think part of him really wants to go there.

[lakerfanimal]

If he visited Chicago and feels like he can do well there, he should go there. Because he still needs to do well there to come back to LA, just not as well as he'd have to do at USC

[FlightoftheEarls]

I don't really think there is much of a question here if he is okay with Chicago.

If he can demonstrate that he has a reason to stay in LA (SO, Family) he will have much better chances at LA biglaw coming out of Chicago. Not sure how serious he is about his SO, but if he decides he wants another market, he will have much better chances at *anymarket* biglaw from Chicago.

I would take Chicago without a second thought in this situation. He also says he doesn't care about clerkships/academia/PI, but he's also not in law school yet and familiar with various practice areas. That may stay the same (as it does for many), but that may change (as it does for many). Chicago will cover all his bases significantly better.

[ViP]

Agree with everyone.

Unless he has some kind of grudge against Chicago, the answer couldn't be any clearer.

[crackberry]

Yeah I think the only reason there's a debate here is he doesn't particularly like the city of Chicago. He would definitely rather live (for three years) in NYC or LA than Chicago. I think if NYU had given him any money (even $10K/year), he'd have gone there in a heartbeat. Maybe he'll try to negotiate with NYU, but I've heard they're not very good about matching, even with good offers from CC.

My guess is if he ends up getting nothing from NYU, he'll decide to suck it up and go to Chicago due to the better career prospects despite not liking the city very much.