Top Law Schools

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Just shut up and go to yale

notsurifsrs

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countercouper wrote:Honestly, I'm not the type of person who would get anything out of pissing off strangers on the Internet. I'm just curious to hear from anyone who has chosen (or would choose) Harvard over Yale, since it seems like a fairly unpopular choice.

Well, from what I have read...

Going into academia = Yale

Going into practice = Harvard

However, not sure how true this holds. Anyways, congrats on your accomplishments, that is quite a choice to have.

countercouper wrote:I'm just wondering if anyone here was accepted to Yale but turned it down to go to Harvard, and if you ended up having any regrets about your choice.

Thanks!

ETA: I'm thinking about turning down Yale for Harvard for a couple of reasons: (1) I've never gone to a small school before, so I'm worried Yale will feel claustrophobic. (2) I'd rather live in Cambridge/Boston than New Haven. (3) HLS has a stronger alumni network, especially internationally, which I think could be useful since I hope to spend at least part of my career abroad. It'd be great to hear your thoughts on whether I might be making a mistake or not.

Forget these other people, I think it's a fair question to ask. I have two friends that chose H over Y, but they were URMs. Harvard has a much larger minority population and very engaged URM alum networks, so for them it was a matter of comfortability, and I don't blame them. Both schools are great if you want to clerk, Yale is just slightly better. From most every practicing lawyer I talk to, and people in the business world in general, it seems that Harvard is the gold standard. For public service and academia it seems like Yale has the edge. Though obviously there are plenty of people from both schools who succeed everywhere. Anyway, that's my two cents, I wish you the best in this enviable decision.

I highly doubt you'll fine anyone who'll tell you they ended up regretting going to Harvard over Yale (especially since the fact they got into Yale suggests they have some stuff going for them which, combined with the fact they go to frickin' Harvard, makes success in their future endeavors very likely).

I read an exact number for cross-admits who pick Harvard, and it was somewhere in the range of 20%, I think. A significant portion of those who pick Harvard went there for undergrad, or are JD-MBAs.

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Someone already pointed out that Harvard places better for practice, the other edge I would give Harvard over Yale is the alumni base. By virtue of the substantially larger class size Harvard has a substantially larger alumni base. If you choose H over Y I certainly won't call you crazy.

countercouper wrote:

TrojanHopeful wrote:

countercouper wrote:Honestly, I'm not the type of person who would get anything out of pissing off strangers on the Internet. I'm just curious to hear from anyone who has chosen (or would choose) Harvard over Yale, since it seems like a fairly unpopular choice.

Well, from what I have read...

Going into academia = Yale

Going into practice = Harvard

However, not sure how true this holds. Anyways, congrats on your accomplishments, that is quite a choice to have.

Thanks for your response! That's what I've heard too, but it doesn't ring completely true because I know a lot of people have gone on to do both from either school.

I guess I'm trying to figure out how much of an advantage Yale really has over Harvard. The difference is made out to be huge, but HLS has graduated many more notable alumni than YLS, and the faculty at Harvard seems stronger than at Yale, too. Besides its small class size, what accounts for Yale's sizeable advantage over Harvard?

It could also be argued that Harvard now has sizable advantage over Yale. Harvard has re-emerged from a couple of lost decades. The reputation of HYS used to be H=Y>S based on USNews ratings; however, now it is H>Y=S among people in the know. Harvard Law's lay prestige, international renown, and reputation in business/finance has always been unmatched. If you want to enter business/finance after practicing for a few yeas, Harvard is better. If you want to enter academia, Yale is better.

Congrats, brother.

anstone1988 wrote: It could also be argued that Harvard now has sizable advantage over Yale. Harvard has re-emerged from a couple of lost decades.

Yes, Harvard Law School was really toiling in obscurity for a while there.

Threads like that are why people hate Ivy leaguers. HTH

countercouper wrote:

TrojanHopeful wrote:

countercouper wrote:Honestly, I'm not the type of person who would get anything out of pissing off strangers on the Internet. I'm just curious to hear from anyone who has chosen (or would choose) Harvard over Yale, since it seems like a fairly unpopular choice.

Well, from what I have read...

Going into academia = Yale

Going into practice = Harvard

However, not sure how true this holds. Anyways, congrats on your accomplishments, that is quite a choice to have.

Thanks for your response! That's what I've heard too, but it doesn't ring completely true because I know a lot of people have gone on to do both from either school.

I guess I'm trying to figure out how much of an advantage Yale really has over Harvard. The difference is made out to be huge, but HLS has graduated many more notable alumni than YLS, and the faculty at Harvard seems stronger than at Yale, too. Besides its small class size, what accounts for Yale's sizeable advantage over Harvard?

If I remember Yale wins about 80%-20% of cross admits with H and S.

There are a few significant advantages, mostly in academia and clerking. If you are strongly leaning in that direction, Yale is the way to go (although it's not close to guaranteed by any means there either). That being said H is usually either #2 or #3 for both of those categories and isn't exactly closing doors.

The first semester isn't graded at Yale, which is nice. At H you're on the H/P system and the myth of the killer LP is something which exists more on TLS than in reality. The culture of the two student bodies have very different reputations. How much of that is based in reality I don't know.

But in all seriousness, there's no wrong choice.

OP, how did you get WL'd at Columbia? http://lawschoolnumbers.com/countercouper/jd

flip a coin

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I think it's totally fine to choose H over Y for just gut instinct and fit. Some of the other reasons offered ITT seem a little overblown. A higher percentage of Y grads go into academia and a higher percentage of H grads go into private practice, but it's hard to tell if those differences reflect differences in placement power.

soj wrote:I think it's totally fine to choose H over Y for just gut instinct and fit. Some of the other reasons offered ITT seem a little overblown. A higher percentage of Y grads go into academia and a higher percentage of H grads go into private practice, but it's hard to tell if those differences reflect differences in placement power.

I imagine that people committed to Biglaw from Yale could basically take a 3 year vacation. Of course, people who would do that generally don't get in to Yale.

I'm also not sure how this 20% figure came about. It seems as if most of the 250 people who get in to Yale also get accepted at Harvard, and only 20% of the people who get accepted to Yale turn it down. I know there are people who take Stanford over Yale every year, and certainly some other schools snag an admit or two away from Yale from time to time.

There's no shame in selecting Harvard over Yale for law school--especially if planning to practice abroad.

P.S. Interesting that you are from a "small hick town in Texas", yet have never attended a "small school".

Since it has hardly been mentioned, I just want to make the class size point again here.

Yale is less than half the size of Harvard, and a larger percentage at Yale don't bother with OCI.

Bottom half at Yale is a much better position to be in than bottom half at Harvard. You might think you're not going to be bottom half, but everyone thinks that.

Tiago Splitter wrote:

soj wrote:I think it's totally fine to choose H over Y for just gut instinct and fit. Some of the other reasons offered ITT seem a little overblown. A higher percentage of Y grads go into academia and a higher percentage of H grads go into private practice, but it's hard to tell if those differences reflect differences in placement power.

I imagine that people committed to Biglaw from Yale could basically take a 3 year vacation. Of course, people who would do that generally don't get in to Yale.

I'm also not sure how this 20% figure came about. It seems as if most of the 250 people who get in to Yale also get accepted at Harvard, and only 20% of the people who get accepted to Yale turn it down. I know there are people who take Stanford over Yale every year, and certainly some other schools snag an admit or two away from Yale from time to time.

Now that I think about it, 20% does seem a bit high. But I think it's very possible that of the 50 or so people who turn down Yale every year, 35-40 did so for Harvard.

there's a decent chance i'll choose hls over yls..assuming i get into yls

simple reasons, i like boston/cam, seems much more of social environement, i like crimson better than blue