Which one--Wisconsin v. Fordham Forum

[Leebee]

Hey everyone,
I'm unsure of where to attend law school right now. My plan for the past several months has been to attend the university of Wisconsin-Madison law school. Fordham threw a wrench into my plans by making me an offer off of the waitlist on Monday. As far as rankings, Wisconsin is 35 and Fordham is 30. It's not that big of a difference, but the cost difference is $60k for all three years (Fordham obviously being more). I'm still unsure of what I want to do with my law degree but I'm interested in international humanitarian law and intellectual property law, two programs in which Fordham has great reputations. The opportunities being located in NYC would afford me are really attractive too. Anyways, does anyone want to weigh in on which they would choose and why? Any insight would be appreciated!
-Leebee

[ndirish2010]

Well if you want to work in NYC, Fordham's gonna be a lot better. Wisconsin is the much safer option. These schools are not peers though despite ranking.

[fanmingrui]

International humanitarian law doesn't exist. I have a friend who recently graduated top 25% from a similarly ranked school with the same aspirations. He is unemployed. Also, for "hard" IP you'll need an UG major in engineering or the hard sciences. I would first reevaluate why you want to attend law school. If you decide it's something you still want, take Wisconsin and save yourself the added debt unless you are NYC or bust.

ETA class rank.

[NR3C1]

Leebee:

What are the COAs for each school? I am assuming Fordham at sticker, right? Well, according to Fordham's website, its COA per year is 74K, for a grand total of 222K for 3 years. You say Wisc is 60K less, so 220-60=160K. You gotta be insane to think that you can pay that back such debts.

[tww909]

where do you want to work? do you have any regional connections to wisconsin?

i only ask because (and this is coming from a rising 2L at UW) if you are not willing to or interested in working in wisconsin, you should not come to school here. i know, i know, you could get a job in the twin cities or chicago, but that is not something you can or should count on as a 0L because, absent some strong ties to another region your only job opportunity could be working at a firm in appleton, or la crosse, or some other place you've never heard of before certainly NOT doing international human rights work or IP.

fordham won't be easy either, especially ITE, but if you want to work on the east coast you should almost certainly go there. if you don't care where you work/want to end up in the midwest and aren't completely opposed to working in wisconsin it is about the cheapest school you'll find for an out of (or in) state student.

[tyro]

i only ask because (and this is coming from a rising 2L at UW) if you are not willing to or interested in working in wisconsin, you should not come to school here. i know, i know, you could get a job in the twin cities or chicago, but that is not something you can or should count on as a 0L because, absent some strong ties to another region your only job opportunity could be working at a firm in appleton, or la crosse, or some other place you've never heard of before certainly NOT doing international human rights work or IP.

The above is very important for any UW hopeful. Many of the firms hiring from the large regional cities such as the Twin Cities or Chicago are primarily looking at the cream of the class. If you have no desire to work in Wisconsin, you must be willing to gamble and accept that the odds could be against you. I strongly recommend visiting the state/Madison before making a decision.

Most importantly though, you need to ask yourself if you would be happy working in Milwaukee or Madison. Do people at the top of their class transfer up or end up in Chicago or other large regional cities? Yes, I'm sure they do. But firms in these areas can be more selective and therefore will be mainly looking at the top of the class.

Madison is a great city in a premier state though. Keep this in mind