Top Law Schools

USC cost of attendance - 210K
BU cost of attendance - 90K

Should this be a no brainer? I want biglaw and have no strong preferences about location. I'd prefer New York, but know it is a long shot from both schools. My family wants me to stay in California and are in favor of USC.

Are the career prospects for biglaw generally better at USC than at BU? Any advice is greatly appreciated.

174 wrote:USC cost of attendance - 210K
BU cost of attendance - 90K

Should this be a no brainer? I want biglaw and have no strong preferences about location. I'd prefer New York, but know it is a long shot from both schools. My family wants me to stay in California and are in favor of USC.

Are the career prospects for biglaw generally better at USC than at BU? Any advice is greatly appreciated.

That's a huge cost difference, and you say you prefer the East Coast. The ranking difference is nearly irrelevant--18 vs 22. Seems like a no-brainer, unless by "my family wants me to say" you mean "I want to stay near my family." If that's not an issue for you, BU all the way. (And even if you do want to move back to CA eventually, I'm sure you could do it from BU, since you have connections to CA--and that's a lot of money you're talking about.)

174 wrote:USC cost of attendance - 210K
BU cost of attendance - 90K

Should this be a no brainer? I want biglaw and have no strong preferences about location. I'd prefer New York, but know it is a long shot from both schools. My family wants me to stay in California and are in favor of USC.

Are the career prospects for biglaw generally better at USC than at BU? Any advice is greatly appreciated.

nyc isn't a long shot from bu...you may have to do reasonably well from BU to get to NYC, but from USC you'd probably have to be at the tippy top of your class. save yourself money and go to BU.

I vote for BU. This is primarily because of the cost difference. That is a LOT of money. With the money you'd save, you can see your family most breaks and still be saving.

If money is literally no concern at all to you, then perhaps the answer would be different.

Btw, consider asking USC if they might give you something. It's not likely to get very close to what BU offered, but it could be enough to make you go there. Never know til ya try.

najumobi wrote:

174 wrote:USC cost of attendance - 210K
BU cost of attendance - 90K

Should this be a no brainer? I want biglaw and have no strong preferences about location. I'd prefer New York, but know it is a long shot from both schools. My family wants me to stay in California and are in favor of USC.

Are the career prospects for biglaw generally better at USC than at BU? Any advice is greatly appreciated.

nyc isn't a long shot from bu...you may have to do reasonably well from BU to get to NYC, but from USC you'd probably have to be at the tippy top of your class. save yourself money and go to BU.

+1

I don't think you'd have to be absolute tippy-top of USC to land a job in NYC, but it'd definitely be easier from BU. I'd probably say it's a better choice than USC even without the scholarship.

How much did Fordham give you? Really, if you want to work in NYC and don't get into a T14, Fordham should be your first choice, regardless of cost. Any scholly money they give you is just a bonus.

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Stats: 166/3.8
Acceptances: GULC, BC, BU, GW, Fordham, UCLA, UConn
Denied: Cornell, Chicago

BU. To hell with your family (unless they'll pay).

Informative wrote:How much did Fordham give you? Really, if you want to work in NYC and don't get into a T14, Fordham should be your first choice, regardless of cost. Any scholly money they give you is just a bonus.

I didn't apply to Fordham. Unfortunately, I didn't find this forum until after all of my apps were in. That said, I'm much more debt averse than I am set on working in New York, so I'm not going to risk reapplying when I've already got money at BU.

I'm really happy with BU, the family pressure just complicated things a little bit. Thanks everyone for all your advice.