Top Law Schools

Hey folks,

Question is more or less in the title: would Cornell still be a good choice even if you weren't interested in going to Corporate Law/BigLaw? I have no desire for either, and yet the vast majority of Cornell students end up in those careers. I mean I'm sure the prestige would be beneficial to any career path.

I'm more interested in public sector work - ADA work, some other government related job, or even a judicial clerkship would be really appealing. This makes me think that I should look for a regional school which might offer more $$. Regional schools I'm looking at include University of Colorado, U of Washington, U of California Irvine.

Thoughts?

.

cornell isn't great for biglaw either...below median = unemployed

lawschoolgrapedme wrote:cornell isn't great for biglaw either...below median = unemployed

Same shit for most T14's outside HYS.

OT: You'll have serious problems repaying your debts if you go to Cornell and manage to avoid BigLaw.

Don't go unless you find a way to pay for this without taking loans, or unless you change your mind and decide to gamble your way up to BigLaw (Which is very possible at this school, but still a gamble).

lawschoolgrapedme wrote:cornell isn't great for biglaw either...below median = unemployed

Yeah . . . no. Any school is a risk if you are paying for it, but if your goal is just to get a biglaw job, it is hard to get much better than Cornell. To address what you say direcly, many people below median wind up with biglaw jobs, I would wager that very few graduate "unemployed." For OP, check out the loan forgiveness and compare it to your other options. I think it may be a good choice for you.

KMaine wrote:

lawschoolgrapedme wrote:cornell isn't great for biglaw either...below median = unemployed

Yeah . . . no. Any school is a risk if you are paying for it, but if your goal is just to get a biglaw job, it is hard to get much better than Cornell. To address what you say direcly, many people below median wind up with biglaw jobs, I would wager that very few graduate "unemployed." For OP, check out the loan forgiveness and compare it to your other options. I think it may be a good choice for you.

By "hard to get much better" you must mean mean "there are 12 more prestigious schools that likely offer better placement."

OP, if you're really interested in doing PI, you need to do a really tough comparison of LRAPs/scholarships/placement at schools that you're considering.

No, I mean that most of those schools, though they may offer "better" placement do not offer a significantly better chance of getting any biglaw job. Are there schools that are more likely to get you a V5 job? Yes. Are there schools that are more likely to get you a shot at a high level clerkship? Yes. At academia? Yes. Are there schools where you will have a significantly better chance at making 160k at graduation? Not really.

And I agree with Koala about what the OP should do.

Vast majority at any school ends up in firm jobs.