Harvard law vs duke law Forum

[rubyrose]

full price at Harvard Law or full tuition scholarship at Duke Law?

considering earning potential in the future also a factor

[CanadianWolf]

This is a tie. Flip a coin. If you don't like the result, then you know where to go.

[Errzii]

Only flip a coin if both sides are for Harvard.

[CanadianWolf]

And if the coin can later be sold for at least $240,000.

[lawyerwannabe]

Only flip a coin if both sides are for Harvard.

What about free T10 law school education? That sounds pretty good to me.

I am not saying that the answer is Duke (I do not know which one I would pick if put in this situation). What I am saying is that the answer is not clearly Harvard. It really depends on career goals, debt-aversion, personal fit, etc. For BigLaw, I would personally choose Duke because you can put the Mordecai on your resume and not have any loans to pay off while you are working as an associate.

[20160810]

Two great options and it just depends what you want to do with your life, but being forced to work at a big law firm until you pay off your loans sucks. I know people on TLS love to talk about biglaw and how sweet making $160,000 is going to be, but the reality is that they have to pay you that much because working at big firms can be pretty terrible. If you want my 2 cents, go to Duke and enjoy graduating with complete financial freedom.

[srfngdd6]

I dont think the answer is DEFINITELY Harvard but dam it would be pretty difficult to do turn Harvard down although the financial flexibility no debt would afford you would be nice

[20160810]

I dont think the answer is DEFINITELY Harvard but dam it would be pretty difficult to do turn Harvard down although the financial flexibility no debt would afford you would be nice

If OP wants to do biglaw anyway, then by all means Harvard is the answer and it's not close. But if he/she wants to be a PD or a DA or something like that, then I think Duke is honestly a better option.

[sunynp]

Two great options and it just depends what you want to do with your life, but being forced to work at a big law firm until you pay off your loans sucks. I know people on TLS love to talk about biglaw and how sweet making $160,000 is going to be, but the reality is that they have to pay you that much because working at big firms can be pretty terrible. If you want my 2 cents, go to Duke and enjoy graduating with complete financial freedom.

[smokeylarue]

I would go against the TLS mentality and definitely take a free ride at T14 school. Duke is by no means a slacker when it comes to Big Law employment.

[splittinghairs]

Tell me how you will be paying sticker at Harvard. You'd have to have saved up alot of money or had a great paying job to not qualify for any aid from H. HYS all provide significant need-based financial aid.

Somehow this smells like another pointless hypothetical.

[rubyrose]

Please dont judge unless you know exactly the situation. We do not qualify for need based aid at Harvard. Son is currently a senior at Harvard. I just wanted to get honest opinions and advice, which I did receive by the way. Thank you to those who posted very honest advice.

[20160810]

Please dont judge unless you know exactly the situation. We do not qualify for need based aid at Harvard. Son is currently a senior at Harvard. I just wanted to get honest opinions and advice, which I did receive by the way. Thank you to those who posted very honest advice.

If you don't qualify for any need-based aid, are you rich enough that you could pay for HLS without taking out a lot of loans? If so, this changes things significantly and makes HLS the obvious choice.

[splittinghairs]

Please dont judge unless you know exactly the situation. We do not qualify for need based aid at Harvard. Son is currently a senior at Harvard. I just wanted to get honest opinions and advice, which I did receive by the way. Thank you to those who posted very honest advice.

Oh alright, I apologize for that but I think given the dearth of hypotheticals in this forum, I hope you can understand why I questioned you.

Well first do you have any in betweens? aid at CCN or MVP? even though im not sure its worth it to pass Duke full for those its still important to consider if they are available.

Since you dont qualify for any need based aid, that leads me to believe that you are pretty well off financially or at the least more so than the normal college grad considering paying sticker. The difference is that one who may not need to take out loans would be sheltered from having to worry about accrued debt which balloons a 150k debt to well over 200k after three years. If you have some money saved up then maybe that would make paying sticker at least a little bit more palatable.

Conventional thinking is that if your goal was biglaw or academia/clerkship, Harvard's extra cost would probably be worth it over the life of your career due to increased chances of partnership or getting academia. I think Harvard is something like 75 biglaw + clerkship whereas Duke is 50% biglaw + clerkship. Then thats not even factoring in exit option benefits or just general prestige and portability anywhere in the country.

[rubyrose]

Thank you for the response. Good to know and definitely something to think about.

[reasonable_man]

Harvard all day and twice on Sunday. No question. Harvard is Harvard. I'm out of law school 4 years now. Its the only law school (besides Yale), that still impresses me. It impresses everyone and that prestige is recognized world wide. Where did you go to Law school? Harvard. Done. Instant credibility. Duke is a great school. No doubt. But Harvard is Harvard.

[SehMeSerrious]

Harvard all day and twice on Sunday. No question. Harvard is Harvard. I'm out of law school 4 years now. Its the only law school (besides Yale), that still impresses me. It impresses everyone and that prestige is recognized world wide. Where did you go to Law school? Harvard. Done. Instant credibility. Duke is a great school. No doubt. But Harvard is Harvard.

If you plan or going to different regions of the country, or even out of the country, this is very true. I think that internationally it has a bigger reputation than even Yale.

[Lil Kev]

Any stips?

[pupperoni]

it depends on what your son wants to do. if he wants to be in academia or clerk, he should take harvard. if he wants to do biglaw or work in the south, he needs to take the full ride to duke. since you said he would have to pay sticker at harvard, he needs to know what that entails and how much of a burden that much debt is even if he gets a high paying job. in the past, harvard would have been the answer, but in this legal economy, duke is a wiser choice since harvard does not guarantee you anything these days. it amazes me how so many people simply say harvard because "it will sound better" and they refuse to consider what $240K in debt does to someone.

[MrAnon]

Nobody ever graduated from Harvard and said I wonder what would have happened if I had accepted at Duke.

Nobody ever graduated from Duke who got accepted to Harvard.

[whitman]

It's amazing your privy to the thoughts and acceptances of every graduate of Duke and Harvard. Brilliant insight.

[freestallion]

Tell me how you will be paying sticker at Harvard. You'd have to have saved up alot of money or had a great paying job to not qualify for any aid from H. HYS all provide significant need-based financial aid.

Somehow this smells like another pointless hypothetical.

I am actually curious about this. Don't they take into account your parents' income? It doesn't sound like HYS give THAT much need based aid...

[danitt]

What does your son want to do? It will invariably be his decision right?

[thebrookdweller]

I think that Duke would be the logical choice here since it's free, but at the same time, if you can go to harvard and be debt free then that's the obvious choice. If you need to take out loans for the entire tuition at harvard I think that's where the sticking point is. Personally, I'm debt adverse and I have no intention of getting that far in to debt. Some believe that harvard will land them that biglaw job and they can get their debts paid off, personally though I'd take my chances at duke and get the free ride AND great education. There's less of a chance of landing the biglaw job but at the same time, if you do, there's more money in savings than going to paying off loans.

[PMan99]

.