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a help bump

I'm an 0L (I feel compelled to preface any advice with this), but I would take the $$. It's in the market you want, and UCLA's tuition ain't going down any time soon. COL is comparable. Though 10k isn't a king's ransom, Fordham should probably be your first choice between these two anyway.

The classes of 2010 and 2011 got hurt at a lot of schools. It's frightening, the extent to which this happened; I have friends at T10 schools with nothing lined up. No one expected this to happen, and New York got hit hard. That said, we are cautiously optimistic for our year, 2012 (have spoke to friends at big firms, and they have noted that recruiters are calling again), and more optimistic for yours. Our pre bubble placement was in the top third out to top 40% range for biglaw. It spiked in 2008, then fell after the crash. As you can imagine, most Fordham students want to work in NYC, and so we are sensitive to what happens in this market. When NYC firms start hiring again in appreciable numbers, this is where they come, after the T14. I would certainly talk to UCLA, and find out what kind of support they would give you for networking in this market, if you decide to go. You ought to pick the school that will give you the best shot at the specific job you want, and following that, select for geography. I have my summer position because I was able to network here in NYC- they never even asked for my grades.

Even though you're hoping to work in NY, I would definitely take UCLA. It's better to go to a T14 school than the 3rd best school in a state. A degree from UCLA might make you stand out when you're applying for jobs in NY and could get you some really valuable experience in entertainment law. I know the money is rough (trust me, I'm going through the same thing right now), but you're really better off going to the better school, especially when there's as much of a difference in numbers as there is here.

voted for UCLA

you're not 100% deadset on NYC, and your chances of biglaw in general are better coming from UCLA.

thanks everyone who has chimed in so far.

what about a gtown or something?

I'm curious why Cornell isn't an option here, since you got into UCLA.

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