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Fordham full tuition vs. Duke $45,000

I am in the Duke JD/LLM program (which I love because it is small and I get study abroad and externships), but I just received a full tuition scholarship from Fordham.

I am weighing a dual degree, at a high ranked school, in an exciting program vs hundreds of thousands in debt. Most of the opportunities like study abroad and externships are available at Fordham but not certain.

Thoughts?

This a flame?

Duke all day long. COL in NY will be catch up with you even with the full ride.

+ 1 for Duke!

Duke troll objectively says Duke.

Doucke

Living in New York can't possibly cost $40,000 per year can it? That is just rent and food and books. I am really leaning Fordham, but everyone here is very pro-Duke.

Is Duke that much better of school? I don't really like North Carolina but I do like the JD/LLM program.

Hey-O wrote:Is Duke that much better of school?

Objectively? Who knows. In terms of employment stats? Yeah, I think so.

Living in NYC is expensive esp by yourself, but if you take on roomates or live in Queens, Bronx, or Brooklyn with roomates. You can pay around 800 - 900 for a great safe neighborhood close to the subway.

COL in NYC near Fordham can certainly exceed $3,000 per month. The good news, however, is that Fordham has apartments for law students within a few blocks of its Lincoln Center location.

clintonius wrote:

Hey-O wrote:Is Duke that much better of school?

Objectively? Who knows. In terms of employment stats? Yeah, I think so.

Does anyone have these stats available? I know someone who went to Fordham and got a good job with big law, but that is just anecdotal evidence.

Don't go to Fordham over Duke if your goal is biglaw.

End of story.

Hey-O wrote:

clintonius wrote:

Hey-O wrote:Is Duke that much better of school?

Objectively? Who knows. In terms of employment stats? Yeah, I think so.

Does anyone have these stats available? I know someone who went to Fordham and got a good job with big law, but that is just anecdotal evidence.

http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog ... hool-.html

In 2009, Duke put almost 50% of its grads in NLJ250 firms. Fordham's placement was under 30%.

My goal isn't biglaw. It is NGO/governmental public interest law.

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It does not cost $40k a year to live in NYC, even in the middle of Manhattan, where I live. The type of scholarship OP got is super rare, if it's the named one I am thinking of. If OP wanted biglaw, the credited answer is generally to go for the higher ranked school, but getting PI or government work from Fordham is very doable. Being in NYC for law school, for networking purposes, is also invaluable. It's how I got my summer placement. We also do have study abroad opportunities. A ton of my classmates are going to Ireland this summer. Also, it is possible to study anywhere in the world, by going through a program at another school, if you want to go to a country your school doesn't offer. I'll be doing that for the second half of my summer.

I will say that Duke is a really, really good school, but Duke and Fordham are like night and day in terms of campus, setting, and general lifestyle. I have a feeling that most people are better suited to one or the other, and visiting is basically necessary, IMO. In fact, I would go so far as to say that no one should ever pick a school without visiting, just to get a sense for culture and other intangibles.

Thank you everyone who has replied. This information is super helpful.
I have to make my decision by Monday so visiting is not an option. If there is anyone who has been to both campuses I'd be interested in your perspectives.

Duke

NY is saturated and expensive. Even if it costs less than 3k/mo to live there, that just means that the scholly difference isn't totally equaled out. C'mon. Duke all day.

I am still leaning Fordham. Most people seem to think that is a no brainer for Duke, but I'm not seeing the reasoning? Is entirely because of the prestige/ranks? If I was getting a huge debt load then it would make a difference to go T14 in order to get a job that pays off the debt, but if I am debt free then wouldn't that be better. I don't really want to make a ton of money. I'd rather have a low paying government/ngo job that I love than be forced because of massive debts to hunt for a high paying job in biglaw that I don't care about. I just want to work at a job where I can feel like I am making a positive contribution to society. Is going to a T14 that important for that goal?

To be clear, you're talking $45k total at Fordham, right? Not $45k/year?

Duke. Seriously, Duke.

Duke. Not even close. Your COL in NYC in one year will be roughly equal to your COL at Duke for all three.

I think we're misreading the OP - I'm getting the impression he/she has a full tuition scholarship at Fordham, and $15,00 per year at Duke. That's a pretty close call if you have no interest in a big firm job.

disco_barred wrote:I think we're misreading the OP - I'm getting the impression he/she has a full tuition scholarship at Fordham, and $15,00 per year at Duke. That's a pretty close call if you have no interest in a big firm job.

Come on, seriously? Even if its just a 15k scholarship to Duke, the difference is not enough to justify Fordham. Let's be modest and say OP spends 30k a year on COL in NYC. We're looking at what, 90k vs. 140k?

And that's not to disparage Fordham... its a good option in certain circumstances. Turning down a T10 with $ is not one of those circumstances.

The 100k you will be in debt after Duke will be more than offset by your salaries and opportunities, even if you dont want BigLaw.

disco_barred wrote:I think we're misreading the OP - I'm getting the impression he/she has a full tuition scholarship at Fordham, and $15,00 per year at Duke.

This is correct.