Top Law Schools

Ok, I apologize for creating another thread, but my situation changed a little bit. I've gotten into Vandy (84K), Berk (60K), and Cornell (66K), I probably want to do biglaw to pay off the debts for a bit, then ideally lateral inhouse or midlaw. I'm from south florida, would love to come down and practice here. No particular preference for area of practice otherwise, other than the fact that I'm afraid that NYC cost of living will eat right through that biglaw salary and not allow me to pay off my debts as fast as living anywhere else would. I really don't mind Ithaca, since I wanted to try a more rural area for grad school.


Visiting berkeley left me a bit underwhelmed, visiting vandy impressed me (I'm a lefty liberal, so that's a bit surprising), I haven't checked out cornell, but I wouldn't mind it.

Help help tls? If I don't have a particular pull for the west coast, will Cornell's job prospects be significantly inferior to Berkeley's?

Thanks

clone22 wrote:Ok, I apologize for creating another thread, but my situation changed a little bit. I've gotten into Vandy (84K), Berk (60K), and Cornell (66K), I probably want to do biglaw to pay off the debts for a bit, then ideally lateral inhouse or midlaw. I'm from south florida, would love to come down and practice here. No particular preference for area of practice otherwise, other than the fact that I'm afraid that NYC cost of living will eat right through that biglaw salary and not allow me to pay off my debts as fast as living anywhere else would. I really don't mind Ithaca, since I wanted to try a more rural area for grad school.


Visiting berkeley left me a bit underwhelmed, visiting vandy impressed me (I'm a lefty liberal, so that's a bit surprising), I haven't checked out cornell, but I wouldn't mind it.

Help help tls? If I don't have a particular pull for the west coast, will Cornell's job prospects be significantly inferior to Berkeley's?

Thanks

Berkley, not close.

You don't want NYC so Cornell is out.

Now it's Berkley v. Vanderbilt.

You might be happiest at Vandy for the 3 years, but you aren't going to be sooooo happy regardless (law school is a lot of work) so you might as well go where you can get the best job.

Ithaca in the winter?
No thanks.

Berkeley wins for job placement, prestige and QOL in my opinion.

Ziva wrote:Ithaca in the winter?
No thanks.

Berkeley wins for job placement, prestige and QOL in my opinion.

I agree with this.

flexityflex86 wrote:

clone22 wrote:Ok, I apologize for creating another thread, but my situation changed a little bit. I've gotten into Vandy (84K), Berk (60K), and Cornell (66K), I probably want to do biglaw to pay off the debts for a bit, then ideally lateral inhouse or midlaw. I'm from south florida, would love to come down and practice here. No particular preference for area of practice otherwise, other than the fact that I'm afraid that NYC cost of living will eat right through that biglaw salary and not allow me to pay off my debts as fast as living anywhere else would. I really don't mind Ithaca, since I wanted to try a more rural area for grad school.


Visiting berkeley left me a bit underwhelmed, visiting vandy impressed me (I'm a lefty liberal, so that's a bit surprising), I haven't checked out cornell, but I wouldn't mind it.

Help help tls? If I don't have a particular pull for the west coast, will Cornell's job prospects be significantly inferior to Berkeley's?

Thanks

Berkley, not close.

You don't want NYC so Cornell is out.

Now it's Berkley v. Vanderbilt.

You might be happiest at Vandy for the 3 years, but you aren't going to be sooooo happy regardless (law school is a lot of work) so you might as well go where you can get the best job.

Full disclosure, I'm a Cornellian. But that notwithstanding, I'm confused how you suggest "Berkeley, not close." My response would've been "Cornell, not close."

Look at OP's preferences and criteria ...

Biglaw: Any of the three have the potential to get OP this. Cornell typically has the highest biglaw placement of the three, so maybe I'd give Cornell the nod on this measure, but really, all three can get biglaw. It's more important to ask where.

Rural location for grad school: None of the options are rural per se, but certainly Cornell is the closest on this measure as well.

Liberal bend: Berkeley and Cornell def outweigh Vandy here. And OP was underwhelmed with Berkeley. So again, this leaves Cornell

Florida work: I'd want to guess that this'd probably go to Vandy, though Cornell has gotta be a very close second, especially once you factor out self-selection. I know a number of Cornellians (past and present) heading down there.

So, OP, I'd argue Cornell in your situation. But you asked about job prospects in California. Make no mistake, your opportunities in California will be better from Berkeley than from Cornell. Aside from California, though, you're not going to find much difference. And I think a good argument can be made that Cornell places better on the east coast in general (Florida included) than Berkeley.

But rest assured, you can't really go wrong with any of the three. Is visiting Cornell an option for you? That just might seal the deal, no?

What's the COA for Berkeley and Cornell? I know Boalt is the most expensive school right now, but I think Cornell is up there, too. For me, it'd be between those two.

cornellbeez wrote:What's the COA for Berkeley and Cornell? I know Boalt is the most expensive school right now, but I think Cornell is up there, too. For me, it'd be between those two.

Ithaca is far and away cheaper than the bay area.

woeisme wrote:

cornellbeez wrote:What's the COA for Berkeley and Cornell? I know Boalt is the most expensive school right now, but I think Cornell is up there, too. For me, it'd be between those two.

Ithaca is far and away cheaper than the bay area.

NYC is far and away more expensive than both, which is where OP will wind up.

This is a career, not 3 years.

flexityflex86 wrote:

woeisme wrote:

cornellbeez wrote:What's the COA for Berkeley and Cornell? I know Boalt is the most expensive school right now, but I think Cornell is up there, too. For me, it'd be between those two.

Ithaca is far and away cheaper than the bay area.

NYC is far and away more expensive than both, which is where OP will wind up.

This is a career, not 3 years.

Wait, what? Saying OP will end up in NYC cause (s)he goes to Cornell is like saying OP will end up in bay area (which isn't THAT much cheaper than NYC btw) if (s)he goes to Berkeley. I'm not following your logic.

Cornell has had better biglaw placement than B for the past 10 years.

Vandy might be great for Florida though. On their website of active alumni, Florida had the 2nd most apart from Tennessee.

These poll results are really surprising to me. Are people even reading what OP wrote?

I don't really think you can make a bad decision here if you're trying to come back to FL. I'd probably suck it up and go to Boalt for the prestige factor though.

If you want to end up on west coast, Berkeley. Otherwise Cornell. I voted for Berkeley because I got the sense you wanted to end up in California before going to Florida. If that's not the case, definitely do Cornell.

unhappy wrote:I voted for Berkeley because I got the sense you wanted to end up in California before going to Florida.

clone22 wrote:I'm from south florida, would love to come down and practice here.

The poll results are a little surprising. Is Berkeley really that superior to Cornell in terms of placement outside of nyc? I've grown up in russia, so winters with snow don't really bother me (which is why I think I'll be able to tolerate Ithaca winters just fine). NLJ250 placement seems to indicate Cornell's placement being slightly superior to Berkeley's (especially the 2010 data). Do we have any evidence as to which one is the clear winner?
thanks to all those who posted and voted btw, my parents are well meaning, but slightly useless as far as this decision goes.

clone22 wrote:The poll results are a little surprising. Is Berkeley really that superior to Cornell in terms of placement outside of nyc? I've grown up in russia, so winters with snow don't really bother me (which is why I think I'll be able to tolerate Ithaca winters just fine). NLJ250 placement seems to indicate Cornell's placement being slightly superior to Berkeley's (especially the 2010 data). Do we have any evidence as to which one is the clear winner?
thanks to all those who posted and voted btw, my parents are well meaning, but slightly useless as far as this decision goes.

There's no clear winner here, I think. Schools outside Y/H/S are at least partially regional (whether by self selection or else), so I'd take that into account as well as your impressions of these schools after visiting. Cal would be the obvious choice is you wanted west coast, which you might not considering your COL concerns about NYC (SF bay area, SoCal would not be much cheaper). Otherwise, I'd decide based on your impressions after school visits and overall cost.

Even if you want to end up in FL, how can anyone even consider turning down a $60k scholarship to Berkeley?

* head explodes *

MrKappus wrote:Even if you want to end up in FL, how can anyone even consider turning down a $60k scholarship to Berkeley?

* head explodes *

I think it's pretty easy to turn down if you want to do law school in a rural area and didn't care for Berkeley when you visited (which is the case with OP).

OP, if you are certain you want to do biglaw coming out of law school for a while, I wouldn't discount Cornell just because you don't want to do NYC. I didn't want NYC and knew a lot of other people who didn't, and most people had no problem getting biglaw gigs in other cities during this past OCI.

rad law wrote:

unhappy wrote:I voted for Berkeley because I got the sense you wanted to end up in California before going to Florida.

clone22 wrote:I'm from south florida, would love to come down and practice here.

Fair enough. Cornell then.

clone22 wrote:The poll results are a little surprising. Is Berkeley really that superior to Cornell in terms of placement outside of nyc? I've grown up in russia, so winters with snow don't really bother me (which is why I think I'll be able to tolerate Ithaca winters just fine). NLJ250 placement seems to indicate Cornell's placement being slightly superior to Berkeley's (especially the 2010 data). Do we have any evidence as to which one is the clear winner?
thanks to all those who posted and voted btw, my parents are well meaning, but slightly useless as far as this decision goes.

Haha, yeah I'm confused too. Berkeley is superior to Cornell for west coast, Cornell is superior to Berkeley for east coast, and it's probably a wash for everything else. If you're going to really force a winner for biglaw placement though, I think it'd have to be Cornell. My guess is that TLSers are just choosing Berkeley because it's ranked higher than Cornell. But that really doesn't mean so much and in your case, as I've already said, I think Cornell is the wise choice.

Based on the tone & content of your posts in this thread, you need a fourth option. Michigan ?

CanadianWolf wrote:Based on the tone & content of your posts in this thread, you need a fourth option. Michigan ?

No 4th option exists . UCLA/USC cost way too much and I'm not particularly drawn to southern cali, and I'm waitlisted at duke/uva.