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For NYC biglaw?

NYC biglaw? NYU. Anything else? Chicago.

Edit: NYU for public interest as well.

El_Gallo wrote:NYC biglaw? NYU. Anything else? Chicago.

Edit: NYU for public interest as well.

I don't think Chicago merits the "anything else" in your response. A NYU degree is as portable as a UChi degree.

OP: Yes, if you want NYC big law, then NYU gives you an advantage.

hiddenfist wrote:For NYC biglaw?

NYU

I think it's a common misconception that NYU has a hand up on this matter. I actually spoke to a lot of Biglaw lawyers in NY about this before I chose a school. I don't know exactly how hard it is at NYU, but the general idea is that at your chances are very good at Chicago.

Why? 1) A large portion of the class at UChicago has no interest in NY Biglaw -- most seem to think they can get a better bang for their buck elsewhere, have other ties Chicago. Around a quarter of the class will opt to do a clerkship. 2) There's also a scarcity of UChicago grads because each class is only 200.

In the end, you're competing with about 30-40 other students at most who are interested, and big New York firms care about law school and location diversity so they'd ideally like to hire at least one UChicago grad. Many will give offers to many more. If the top 20 firms want to hire at least one or two UChicago grads on average, you're in very good shape.

Compare this with NYU where you're essentially competing with the hundreds upon hundreds who are interested in NYC Biglaw at NYU but more importantly Columbia. Differentiating yourself between 30-45 vs. 500-600 people. Of course, this is not to say that you'd have terrible opportunities at NYU, that's simply not true. But the idea that you'd somehow be hindering your chances at NYC Biglaw by going to Chicago is really silly.

hiddenfist wrote:For NYC biglaw?

Whichever is cheaper/you like more.

If you intend on spending your second summer as a SA in NYC, then you could keep your apartment at NYU during that summer.

On a personal note, I would choose UChicago over NYU solely because UChicago is a more well regarded university as a whole (on both a national and international scale)