Top Law Schools

Preferences in order of importance:

1) 100K+ job anywhere
2) less debt

1) UCLA: $30 K total scholly
2) Cornell: $0 scholly, so sticker
3) USC: $90 K total scholly
4) UT: $45 K total scholly

Please help!

ocuviper wrote:Preferences in order of importance:

1) 100K+ job anywhere
2) less debt

1) UCLA: $30,000 total scholly
2) Cornell: $0 scholly, so sticker
3) USC: $90,000 total scholly
4) UT: $45,000 total scholly

Please help!

This is delightfully all-over-the-place.

Most Big Law jobs are in NYC. Cornell places well in NYC. Popular opinion on this board - however - suggests that Cornell is a bad idea at sticker because it is outrageously expensive relative to the rest of the T14.

Nice thing about NYC is that you don't need ties to work there. This isn't true of the rest of your options, so where you are from and where you have ties will be a very important factor in your ability to find a job in California or Texas. Where are you from?

USC and UCLA are pretty much peer schools in SoCal. UCLA has a bit of an edge, but in my opinion that edge isn't worth a $60k differential, so unless you can negotiate up with UCLA, I'd rule them out.

Otherwise, I think the remaining three are all on the table dependent on where you are from/have ties.

Daft and direct, I am from Santa Monica and would be open to working wherever I can get a good paying job. Does this change your insight at all?

ocuviper wrote:Daft and direct, I am from Santa Monica and would be open to working wherever I can get a good paying job. Does this change your insight at all?

Cornell is too big of a risk at sticker. No ties in Texas makes it difficult to get biglaw there. Since you are from Santa Monica, take the money at USC imo....UCLA and USC are peer schools, especially in Southern California (USC even has better biglaw placement than UCLA), so the extra $60,000 (probably around $90,000 with interest) that you will have to pay at UCLA is not worth it at all.

Are you in state/out of state for ULCA? UT? I think it's more helpful if you list COA at each of these options.

Leverage your scholarships to get some money from Cornell and then go there. That's what I'd do.

As it stands, definitely USC. It's equal to UCLA in SoCal and typically places a higher percentage into big law. If SoCal is where you want to be, you can't go wrong with USC at that price.

But you should also attempt to negotiate with Cornell.

Shameless bump, apology included. Your input is appreciated.