Top Law Schools

So, as you may have seen in my older poll, I originally was choosing between Columbia at sticker, Duke with 67,500, and Cornell with 120k. I ended up deciding on Duke and was set on it until I got my $ package from NYU today. I originally thought I was not getting a scholarship, but I received 50k Dean's Scholarship, which will turn into 60k if I do a public interest job my 2L summer (which is likely, as I am interested in PI work).

Just so you have an idea of what I want to do, I'm copying and pasting this from my old poll:

Some general background: I am very debt averse. I am not sure exactly what type of work I want to do. I entered this whole thing wanting to be a prosecutor, but as of late I'm not sure that is the path I want to take. I do want to do some sort of litigation. I also know that I don't want to go into transactional work or IP, nor do I want to be wed to biglaw upon graduation. I want to practice in NYC.

In my old poll, my big reason about not going to Columbia was the price and the fact that I wanted to get out of New York (I'm a native New Yorker). As I am not dead set on biglaw, I did not want to be carrying massive amounts of loans around. But now that the scholarships between Duke and NYU are about equal, I'm not sure that I can justify the difference in rankings and New York placement (and NYU's LRAP, if I do go into PI). What does everyone think?

I have to decide in the next two weeks. Help!

Edit: I would also appreciate brief comments/rationale on the vote. (I know to many it may seem like an obvious choice.) Thanks again.

I definitely say NYU. They're both great schools, and after cost of living NYU will definitely create a significant price gap, but not so extreme that I think it's worth going the Duke route. In short, I think the extra cost will be quite "worth it", especially considering that you want to practice in NYC and are interested in PI. Clear choice, I think.

P.S. Congrats!

NYU, because of COL, would be $30,000 more over three years. it is a lot of money to pay just to live in new york - still not enough to go the duke way? are the opportunities at nyu really that much better?

helpmepick wrote:NYU, because of COL, would be $30,000 more over three years. it is a lot of money to pay just to live in new york - still not enough to go the duke way? are the opportunities at nyu really that much better?

Not even close, certainly not for jobs in NYC. The only way Duke would be worth serious consideration in this comparison would be if you wanted to work in the South (or otherwise absolutely hated NYC).

Sounds like you want to get out of NYC. Go Duke!

BenJ wrote:

helpmepick wrote:NYU, because of COL, would be $30,000 more over three years. it is a lot of money to pay just to live in new york - still not enough to go the duke way? are the opportunities at nyu really that much better?

Not even close, certainly not for jobs in NYC. The only way Duke would be worth serious consideration in this comparison would be if you wanted to work in the South (or otherwise absolutely hated NYC).

Most Duke grads don't work in the South; in fact I'm pretty sure there are more in NYC than anywhere else.

That said I think it really comes down to what you value more: saving some money (huge difference in COL between the two) and getting out of NYC for a bit, versus networking in NYC while in law school and a slightly higher ranking.