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From the rank point of view, Columbia > U Penn. How about other factors should be considered for making a decision?

dbshjb wrote:From the rank point of view, Columbia > U Penn. How about other factors should be considered for making a decision?

I had a looong conversation with a friend in Penn the other day. While he's happy there, he seemed pretty clear that I should take Columbia if I have the opportunity.

NY>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Philly

What kinds of other factors are important to you? Penn is a prettier building, but Columbia's mascot is better.

Prolly the only reasons to take Penn over Columbia would be family/friends in Philly or Lower COL or if you really loved the atmosphere and didn't like the feel at columbia or something, besides that Columbia is TCR

Speaking of the atmosphere, Penn looks friendlier while Columbia is more intensive and competitive. Studying at Penn may be easier compared with Columbia. Three years law school, we do not only study, but also consider life quality. Somebody said more stressed in Columbia compared with in Penn. Correct? Or bias?

This is a decision you are going to need to make on your own. Visit both schools. If you don't like Columbia when you visit don't go there, regardless of the rankings difference.

All other things being equal you obviously should pick CLS.

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Do you think it is enough for you to have right jugement just based on two day visit for each school? I am sure you can not see overall pictures.

dbshjb wrote: Do you think it is enough for you to have right jugement just based on two day visit for each school? I am sure you can not see overall pictures.

And how long does it take for an "overall picture" to form? A week? A month? A single day is more than enough time to get a feel for a school, and if OP has visited both and not had a strong preference for Penn then Columbia is TCR.

IBTveyron

St.Remy wrote:

dbshjb wrote: Do you think it is enough for you to have right jugement just based on two day visit for each school? I am sure you can not see overall pictures.

And how long does it take for an "overall picture" to form? A week? A month? A single day is more than enough time to get a feel for a school, and if OP has visited both and not had a strong preference for Penn then Columbia is TCR.

At least a year I would say.

You should go live in both Philly and uptown Manhattan for a year each. Then you will need to go live a year somewhere else in an attempt to gain some distance (both figurative and literal - you don't want to just stay in the city you're in because it's easy). Then you can make your decision.

Or you could just go to Columbia.

dbshjb wrote:

Do you think it is enough for you to have right jugement just based on two day visit for each school? I am sure you can not see overall pictures.

flame?

Emma. wrote:This is a decision you are going to need to make on your own. Visit both schools. If you don't like Columbia when you visit don't go there, regardless of the rankings difference.

All other things being equal you obviously should pick CLS.

If you have a definite preference for Penn, then go there. But otherwise, Columbia's superior employment prospects should make the difference.

How much difference between Columbia and U Penn in terms of employment prospects or future career? Columbia is Number 4 and U Penn is Number 7. Both are Ivy schools. What impact could make for future?

dbshjb wrote:How much difference between Columbia and U Penn in terms of employment prospects or future career? Columbia is Number 4 and U Penn is Number 7. Both are Ivy schools. What impact could make for future?

are you interested in a JD/MBA? A friend of mine choose Penn over Columbia (he did get a little $ from Penn) because he liked the atmosphere better and really wanted to do the three year JD/MBA program. Wharton > Columbia B school

dbshjb wrote:How much difference between Columbia and U Penn in terms of employment prospects or future career? Columbia is Number 4 and U Penn is Number 7. Both are Ivy schools. What impact could make for future?

I estimate approximately 3 points of difference for the future. Let me put it this way - I didn't even apply to Penn the difference was so drastic.

dbshjb wrote:How much difference between Columbia and U Penn in terms of employment prospects or future career? Columbia is Number 4 and U Penn is Number 7. Both are Ivy schools. What impact could make for future?

Employment prospects.

How do you think the class rank contributing to employment difference after graduation? For example, if studying at Columbia, you might get bottom 50% because of intensive competition, which obviously not easily get employed although you graduate from Columbia. If you study at U Penn, you can relatively easy to survive and could get top 50%, may be top 20 to 30%.

Job placement not only depends on which school you graduate, but also your success at the school. Am I correct?

Unless you want to work in Philly, Columbia hands down.

i seriously disagree. i'm facing a similar scenario. it's 3 years of your life. it's a 3 spot difference. cost of living at upenn is going to be cheaper. go where you're happy. i visited both and i didn't like columbia but i loved upenn. if i'm miserable and want to jump off the empire state building the whole time i'm in law school i won't do well. maybe it's just me but it's 3 years of your life. (also if u got into both i'm assuming you have other scholarship offers. why not try to leverage it and score some money at upenn? just a thought).

sonervous88 wrote:i seriously disagree. i'm facing a similar scenario. it's 3 years of your life. it's a 3 spot difference. cost of living at upenn is going to be cheaper. go where you're happy. i visited both and i didn't like columbia but i loved upenn. if i'm miserable and want to jump off the empire state building the whole time i'm in law school i won't do well. maybe it's just me but it's 3 years of your life. (also if u got into both i'm assuming you have other scholarship offers. why not try to leverage it and score some money at upenn? just a thought).

+1 at this level of schools you should go where you'll be happy (if you hate NYC don't go to CLS).... someone correct me if i'm wrong but i think the biggest difference in placement will be in how elite the firms are that people are getting i don't think the percentages getting big law are that different (especially since UPenn has a way smaller class)

This may not be worth anything, but I went to Penn undergrad and currently live in New York. I talk to a lot of NYU and Columbia kids and I'm so happy that I spent my college years in Philly rather than Manhattan. Philly is so much more conducive to being a student, not only because it is more manageable and cheaper, but because it offers a lot of a luxury lifestyle (great restaurants, shopping, etc.) while not being in your face about it. This lets you study hard during the week without being distracted. In New York, everything is in your face all the time and it's hard to concentrate.

Just my two cents.

barry wrote:

sonervous88 wrote:i seriously disagree. i'm facing a similar scenario. it's 3 years of your life. it's a 3 spot difference. cost of living at upenn is going to be cheaper. go where you're happy. i visited both and i didn't like columbia but i loved upenn. if i'm miserable and want to jump off the empire state building the whole time i'm in law school i won't do well. maybe it's just me but it's 3 years of your life. (also if u got into both i'm assuming you have other scholarship offers. why not try to leverage it and score some money at upenn? just a thought).

+1 at this level of schools you should go where you'll be happy (if you hate NYC don't go to CLS).... someone correct me if i'm wrong but i think the biggest difference in placement will be in how elite the firms are that people are getting i don't think the percentages getting big law are that different (especially since UPenn has a way smaller class)

Good point but 1) you can't talk about percentages and Penn's smaller class in the same breath. It's PERCENTAGES and 2) I agree that you should go where you want. However, the 3 years of your life thing goes both ways. If 20 years from now, you feel that you may have had an opportunity at CLS that you didn't at Penn and this afffected you career path, will you care that you "enjoyed the feel" of Penn over CLS? Probably not. This is professional school, not vacation

kwais wrote:

barry wrote:

sonervous88 wrote:i seriously disagree. i'm facing a similar scenario. it's 3 years of your life. it's a 3 spot difference. cost of living at upenn is going to be cheaper. go where you're happy. i visited both and i didn't like columbia but i loved upenn. if i'm miserable and want to jump off the empire state building the whole time i'm in law school i won't do well. maybe it's just me but it's 3 years of your life. (also if u got into both i'm assuming you have other scholarship offers. why not try to leverage it and score some money at upenn? just a thought).

+1 at this level of schools you should go where you'll be happy (if you hate NYC don't go to CLS).... someone correct me if i'm wrong but i think the biggest difference in placement will be in how elite the firms are that people are getting i don't think the percentages getting big law are that different (especially since UPenn has a way smaller class)

Good point but 1) you can't talk about percentages and Penn's smaller class in the same breath. It's PERCENTAGES and 2) I agree that you should go where you want. However, the 3 years of your life thing goes both ways. If 20 years from now, you feel that you may have had an opportunity at CLS that you didn't at Penn and this afffected you career path, will you care that you "enjoyed the feel" of Penn over CLS? Probably not. This is professional school, not vacation

I understand, i was just explaining how the 2 schools could place similar percentages despite C being a notch above (ie Penn has less people to place)

kwais wrote:If 20 years from now, you feel that you may have had an opportunity at CLS that you didn't at Penn and this afffected you career path, will you care that you "enjoyed the feel" of Penn over CLS? Probably not. This is professional school, not vacation

It's pretty hard to gauge something like this however. If they'd gone to CLS, been miserable, and thereby gotten significantly worse grades - Penn would have still been the right choice. I think it's rather difficult to decide you like/dislike a school over the course of an ASW, but there's a definite argument for allowing "feel" into the equation on some level.