Boston vs. Minnesota Forum

[ThreeRivers]

Minnesota has offered me 23 k a year... still waiting on packet from Boston. If huge difference $$$ wise I'll go to that school, but if the money is similar which would you recommend?

At this point I'm leaning towards BU

[IAFG]

They are regional schools. Your decision should be 100% based on where you want to practice, but also, where you have plausible ties.

[ThreeRivers]

I don't have ties really to any location

I've applied to both because they're both in areas I wouldn't mind working

I'm leaning towards Boston because I'm imagining it'd be easier to find "good" employment in Boston than in the Twin Cities

[IAFG]

I don't have ties really to any location

I've applied to both because they're both in areas I wouldn't mind working

I'm leaning towards Boston because I'm imagining it'd be easier to find "good" employment in Boston than in the Twin Cities

But here's the question: will firms in either city believe you that that's where you want to be? I think Boston is more likely to accept that than Minneapolis, and I've heard BU gives you a decent shot at NYC, but don't take my word for it.

[ThreeRivers]

edit: I also agree that does sound like an easier argument to make in Boston

Boston does much better in NLJ 250 (35% to UMN's 17%).. I've heard the argument from proponents of UMN that they have many large companies that pay good $ but don't make the cut off for NLJ (not sure how legit this argument is). So on that surface Boston's placement statistics look much nicer

Only scary part to me is Boston having about 16% in academia which imo BU pretty much admits is just for padding their numbers (if you read inbetween the lines):

Boston University School of Law is committed to supporting our students during this difficult economic cycle. To that end, the law school has provided a variety of fellowships and research opportunities that get reported as positions in academia/ higher education. Please note, therefore, that the percentage of graduates in that category is unusually high and the percentage of graduates in the public interest and government category is unusually low.[xxi]

[bk1]

UMN has large firms that aren't NLJ250 so I'd say it's probably comparable to other regional schools. Yeah BU does that, but so do a lot of other schools.

As IAFG said, I think selling your interest in the region is likely the biggest concern if costs are similar and that it will likely be harder to do that in MN than it would be in Boston.

[IAFG]

edit: I also agree that does sound like an easier argument to make in Boston

Boston does much better in NLJ 250 (35% to UMN's 17%).. I've heard the argument from proponents of UMN that they have many large companies that pay good $ but don't make the cut off for NLJ (not sure how legit this argument is). So on that surface Boston's placement statistics look much nicer

Only scary part to me is Boston having about 16% in academia which imo BU pretty much admits is just for padding their numbers (if you read inbetween the lines):

Boston University School of Law is committed to supporting our students during this difficult economic cycle. To that end, the law school has provided a variety of fellowships and research opportunities that get reported as positions in academia/ higher education. Please note, therefore, that the percentage of graduates in that category is unusually high and the percentage of graduates in the public interest and government category is unusually low.[xxi]

But how many NLJ250 firms are there in MN vs. MA? Doesn't really seem like a fair fight.