Notre Dame vs. Fordham Forum

[pittrulez]

Notre Dame 20K/yr scholarship
Fordham Sticker

I paid the seat deposit at Fordham, but I was accepted off the wait list at Notre Dame. I'm originally from Pittsburgh and honestly don't know what market I want to move to after I graduate, although I really prefer the thought of NYC or California. I know Fordham has the regional aspect for the NYC market, but Notre Dame seems to carry a strong national reputation and places a lot of students in both markets from what I have read. I have the GI Bill from the military, so tuition cost luckily isn't much a concern. I just wonder if Notre Dame is the better choice if I'm not sure where I want to practice, and I would think they have the stronger name recognition than Fordham, however I honestly have no idea where to choose at this point. Any feedback would be hugely appreciated.

[firemed]

I would say that Notre Dame might be a better choice.

[mettasutta]

Easily Notre Dame, for much lower cost of living, all around more national job prospects, and nicer law building (not that the last point matters...just sayin'). Like you said, Fordham is more NYC-centric. If you look at the following stats, ND sent a sizable number of grads to both CA and NY:

http://law.nd.edu/careers/employment-data/

[pittrulez]

mettasutta,

I was thinking along the same lines. I was in NYC this past weekend and the cost of living really is crazy up there. 2000 dollars for a studio in Manahattan compared to 500 dollars for a 2 bedroom in South Bend. I also saw they just renovated the ND law building. I think this is especially important in my case as I am married.

Thanks for the great info on job placement. Nice to see California and New York are second and third in placement. I think the numbers are even more significant because it is a relatively small class of 180 students. I was thinking I'd be better at ND not knowing for sure what market I want to practice in, opposed to Fordham where I'd probably be stuck to the NYC market. Thanks for your input!

[pittrulez]

bump

[bk1]

If you really prefer NYC, I'd take Fordham assuming that the GI bill covers all or almost all of your tuition. If it doesn't, then I'd lean towards ND because Fordham is expensive.

Neither has a realistic shot of taking you to CA. ND tries to sell itself as national, but so do all top regional schools. The truth is that it is just as regional as the others.

[flcath]

If you really prefer NYC, I'd take Fordham assuming that the GI bill covers all or almost all of your tuition. If it doesn't, then I'd lean towards ND because Fordham is expensive.

Neither has a realistic shot of taking you to CA. ND tries to sell itself as national, but so do all top regional schools. The truth is that it is just as regional as the others.

There's some truth here. Though we send about 15-20% to the west coast each year, we only had a handful of Cali firms come to OCI. The kids who got it were either top kids or kids from Cali; I think you could do that from anywhere in the 20-30 range.

Plenty of top NY firms show up to OCIs, but they just want top kids. Again, nothing different from other 20-30 schools.

What is different is the alumni network, which you should ask to see demonstrated to you before you believe it (I personally always used to roll my eyes when they'd talk about it). The setup is elaborate, wide-spread, and reliable.

[pittrulez]

Thanks for the input everyone...I'm kind of leaning toward ND just because of the much cheaper cost of living in South Bend...I wouldn't mind being reserved to the Chicago market for awhile, as I think it would be the easier area to afford with a family compared to NYC.