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Received a Full-Tuition scholarship from Iowa, but have also been admitted at Cornell. I'm from the west and I think the Midwest mentality/culture suits me better than the East Coast's. I'm not totally set on where I'd like to practice.
I don't have any intention of working in NYC, but I would like to get a good-paying job in a quality firm after graduation.

I guess my main question is how much would I be limited coming out of Iowa as opposed to Cornell? Is it really worth racking up all of the debt when I could be coming out of Iowa with money in the bank?


I'd appreciate any advice or experience that you can share with me.

if you can get "a good-paying job in a quality firm after graduation" w/ iowa, and w/ a full ride, take iowa.

people usually would choose cornell in your situation only if 1) they want biglaw or 2) they want NYC or 3) it's all about prestige.

I guess this depends on what "good paying" and "quality firm" mean to you. But if you don't have any desire to be in NYC than you shouldn't go to Cornell.

Patriot1208 wrote:... if you don't have any desire to be in NYC than you shouldn't go to Cornell.

/thread.

Northwestern/WUSTL/Notre Dame aren't options? I'd think if you have the numbers for Cornell you should be looking at close to a full scholly at WUSTL which would offer you more mobility and better job prospects than Iowa.

Last year I had to choose between Iowa Full-tuition and Cornell. I choose to go to Cornell for a variety of personal reasons that have nothing to do with employment, so I can't really respond to your question.

Does the Iowa offer have a rank requirement? Last year, the scholarship required being in the top 1/3 to renew. That is a lot of extra stress to have in addition to regular school stress.

I would be wary of mobility and jobs coming out of Iowa. It doesn't place as well as its rank would suggest. I have heard too many stories about people being disappointed with employment opportunities coming from there. I would even take some tier 2's over Iowa. Still, with a full ride, you don't have as much to lose. Like the poster above said, you should be able to get into some top 20/top 25 schools with $$ if you got into Cornell.

I would be wary of paying 210k for Cornell if you didn't at least know you would be favorable to life in NYC which is Cornell's primary market.

Patriot1208 wrote:I guess this depends on what "good paying" and "quality firm" mean to you. But if you don't have any desire to be in NYC than you shouldn't go to Cornell.

FiveSermon wrote:I would be wary of paying 210k for Cornell if you didn't at least know you would be favorable to life in NYC which is Cornell's primary market.

NYC is the easiest place to get a job coming out of Cornell, but that doesn't mean that if you don't want to be in NYC you shouldn't go to Cornell. I think it's fair to say that if you have no interest in being anywhere on the East Coast, Cornell's not a great choice. But for people who want BigLaw in Boston or Phila or secondary markets in the North East, Cornell is a great option.

I would never ever in a million years live in New York City, and at no point have I doubted my decision to come to Cornell.

Other25BeforeYou wrote:

Patriot1208 wrote:I guess this depends on what "good paying" and "quality firm" mean to you. But if you don't have any desire to be in NYC than you shouldn't go to Cornell.

FiveSermon wrote:I would be wary of paying 210k for Cornell if you didn't at least know you would be favorable to life in NYC which is Cornell's primary market.

NYC is the easiest place to get a job coming out of Cornell, but that doesn't mean that if you don't want to be in NYC you shouldn't go to Cornell. I think it's fair to say that if you have no interest in being anywhere on the East Coast, Cornell's not a great choice. But for people who want BigLaw in Boston or Phila or secondary markets in the North East, Cornell is a great option.

I would never ever in a million years live in New York City, and at no point have I doubted my decision to come to Cornell.

I'm glad your happy! I'll be hearing from Cornell this week. Hopefully I will be joining you in Ithaca next year.

CyLaw wrote:Does the Iowa offer have a rank requirement? Last year, the scholarship required being in the top 1/3 to renew. That is a lot of extra stress to have in addition to regular school stress.

This is the critical question.

If your Iowa scholarship requires finishing in the top 1/3 I would very seriously reconsider things. From everything I've heard, doing well on law schools exams is a bit different than doing well on most other things in life and that luck plays a reasonably large role in the process. Having graded undergraduate written exams, I do know that there is quite a bit of subjective interpretation involved and that other TAs and I would often have slightly different grades for the same exam.

If I were in your shoes and the Iowa scholarship had a GPA cutoff above median, I'd run to Cornell as fast as possible.

I'm a 3L at Cornell. Many of my friends (including myself) chose Cornell (with or without money) over full rides at schools ranked higher than Iowa.

Sooo I'm kinda biased I guess based on my personal decisions. But to me Cornell is hands down the better pick. This is especially so since you're stated you want a good-paying firm job. Your odds are going to be way better from Cornell. The opportunities available to you from Cornell will be substantially better than Iowa (unless you're at the top of your class there which you should definitely not assume). Enjoy Ithaca!

almightypush wrote:

Patriot1208 wrote:... if you don't have any desire to be in NYC than you shouldn't go to Cornell.

/thread.

This is ludicrous. That's like saying you shouldn't go to Northwestern if you don't want to be in Chicago or UMich if you don't want to be in Detroit. NYC jobs are definitely the easiest to come by from Cornell, but that's largely due to self-selection. And I'm speaking with first-hand knowledge. HTH.

Not that this really helps but there's a dude in my 1L class at Iowa that turned down Cornell. I can't speak for him but he seems to be enjoying himself...

I mean, if you like the midwest and don't want to take on the huge debt of Cornell, Iowa is a good option