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Want a firm job. Not interested in PI. My ideal career path would be M&A/Capital Markets (have 2 years business WE) and then lateral to an in house gig, preferably at a CA based company, if I'm not on partnership track and don't have an option to lateral to another firm on partnership track. COA at Berkeley would be ~200k (in state tuition at sticker), NYU 220k, UM 170k (30k scholarship). I love the "feel" of Berkeley but I grew up and went to school in the Bay Area and kind of want to have the new experience of living in a hyper-urban NYC environment. I guess I'm wondering how hard it would be to work at a NYC firm and then get back to CA at some point later on in my career, either in house or lateraling to a CA firm or CA office of a NYC firm. I know I'd need to take CA bar. Given the horror posts I've read on here about top 1/3 at Boalt unemployed, I'm leaning NYU and then splitting my EIW bids 75 NYC/ 25 CA (since I have strong CA ties). Maybe I'm missing something, but at close to equal cost (220 v 200k), does it make sense to pick Berkeley over NYU, given Boalt has been placing ~45% into firm jobs at OCIP and NYU has been placing 75%+ at EIW? Then again, long term I want to be on the West Coast, if possible. Then again, the CA economy is struggling and a NYC job is better than homeless on Telegraph Ave! GAHH. Would appreciate any advice, TLS. Thank you in advance!

I'd probably go with NYU if I were in your situation.

Also try asking Boalt and NYU to match Michigan's offer.

soj wrote:I'd probably go with NYU if I were in your situation.

Also try asking Boalt and NYU to match Michigan's offer.

IIRC, Boalt will match all T14s except NU or something, right?

crumpetsandtea wrote:

soj wrote:I'd probably go with NYU if I were in your situation.

Also try asking Boalt and NYU to match Michigan's offer.

IIRC, Boalt will match all T14s except NU or something, right?

They say they will but rarely actually do.

Flash wrote:

crumpetsandtea wrote:

soj wrote:I'd probably go with NYU if I were in your situation.

Also try asking Boalt and NYU to match Michigan's offer.

IIRC, Boalt will match all T14s except NU or something, right?

They say they will but rarely actually do.

Yeah, you have to apply for matching aid and not everyone is accepted.

Great choices ! Congratulations ! Have you visited Michigan & NYU ? If not, then do so before deciding.

You don't know if NYU is going to throw money your way yet. They don't do merit aid until around April so it may end up being cheaper than Berkeley (although even at sticker, Berkeley is going to go way up in tuition in the next few years, probably at a faster pace than NYU). NYU probably will be better for BigLaw placement than Berkeley, but that's largely because more people target NYC. With ties though NYU will get you back to the Bay Area just as easily as Berkeley will. That said, if it comes down to the choice of NYU/Berkeley @ sticker and Michigan w/ $, I would take Michigan before I took Berkeley and probably toss a coin to decide between Michigan and NYU...

dabird122 wrote:Want a firm job. Not interested in PI. My ideal career path would be M&A/Capital Markets (have 2 years business WE) and then lateral to an in house gig, preferably at a CA based company, if I'm not on partnership track and don't have an option to lateral to another firm on partnership track. COA at Berkeley would be ~200k (in state tuition at sticker), NYU 220k, UM 170k (30k scholarship). I love the "feel" of Berkeley but I grew up and went to school in the Bay Area and kind of want to have the new experience of living in a hyper-urban NYC environment. I guess I'm wondering how hard it would be to work at a NYC firm and then get back to CA at some point later on in my career, either in house or lateraling to a CA firm or CA office of a NYC firm. I know I'd need to take CA bar. Given the horror posts I've read on here about top 1/3 at Boalt unemployed, I'm leaning NYU and then splitting my EIW bids 75 NYC/ 25 CA (since I have strong CA ties). Maybe I'm missing something, but at close to equal cost (220 v 200k), does it make sense to pick Berkeley over NYU, given Boalt has been placing ~45% into firm jobs at OCIP and NYU has been placing 75%+ at EIW? Then again, long term I want to be on the West Coast, if possible. Then again, the CA economy is struggling and a NYC job is better than homeless on Telegraph Ave! GAHH. Would appreciate any advice, TLS. Thank you in advance!

Those are posts from one dude who may or may not be real. I'm at Berkeley now and I'm not the best person to answer firm hiring questions, but my impressions is that the fears of not getting a firm job from Boalt are way overblown on TLS.

I think you'd be fine coming back to CA from either Michigan or NYU as well. Visit the schools, see which ones you like best, and don't make any decisions until you exhaust your efforts in trying to get matching scholarships.

I also picked Berkeley over NYU for very different reasons, but I'm happy with my decision.

NYU= best chance to be employed
Berk= Best chance to find employment in CA
Mich= Lowest Cost

Choose which one you feel most comfortabel with. I think the three options are fairly clear on potential outcomes.

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American_in_China wrote:NYU= best chance to be employed
Berk= Best chance to find employment in CA
Mich= Lowest Cost

Choose which one you feel most comfortabel with. I think the three options are fairly clear on potential outcomes.

While this isn't necessarily wrong, I don't think the job prospects are drastically different between the three. I think it comes down to what experience you want to get and where you're most comfortable. I would have a difficult time ranking those three based on simply a job prospects vs cost analysis.

I think I'm going to go with NYU and then target some CA firms with my EIW bids. I visited B and N. Love Berkeley vibe the most, but at the end of the day I just really want to minimize my odds of being BIGDEBTNOJOBPWND- even if that means starting my career in NYC and trying to fight my way back to CA later on in the lateral/in house market.

dabird122 wrote:I think I'm going to go with NYU and then target some CA firms with my EIW bids. I visited B and N. Love Berkeley vibe the most, but at the end of the day I just really want to minimize my odds of being BIGDEBTNOJOBPWND- even if that means starting my career in NYC and trying to fight my way back to CA later on in the lateral/in house market.

Yeah... I'm a 1L at NYU, and I don't even understand what I'm doing with my EIW bids. Cart, horse, which order, etc.

That being said, NYU places in NYC more easily than Berkeley from what I understand, and that's where the jobs are at?