Top Law Schools

I apologize in advance if this post feels repetitive at all. I've tried to read through every post on this board involving UCLA and Cornell for insight, but decided that for my own peace of mind I needed to put my exact situation out there for advice.

My decision has basically boiled down to this:

Cornell - $10,000 annual scholarship
UCLA - $20,000 annual scholarship

I'm a current UCLA undergrad, 168 LSAT 3.8 GPA. I really would like to go back to the East Coast, specifically New York, since that's where I'm from originally. I could handle three more years of school in LA, but don't think I'd want my entire career to be here. I'm not completely set on any particular kind of law at the moment, but I feel like Big Law might be my only hope of paying off loans. I would also be interested in a clerkship if I get the grades, or academia, though I realize that's unlikely with these schools.

I've had a mild obsession with Cornell since high school, and have been completely set on them since getting in. But I guess I'm starting to question whether it's worth it, given the combination of Cornell's higher expense/lower scholarship, and current rank only one higher than UCLA.

If anyone has any advice I would really appreciate it! Thanks for taking the time to read through this.

So you want to work on the East coast, you don't really want to spend three more years in LA, you want big law...this is an easy decision. Go to Cornell. In the market you want, places better in big law, and you are even getting a little cash.

If you want to be in NYC, Cornell is the easy choice since either school will leave you with enough debt to make you biglaw or bust.

Cornell hands down.

Thanks for the responses! Good to know my preference for Cornell is founded.

One last question if anyone can offer a little more advice: is it wrong that I've basically cut lower ranked schools from my decision? Specifically, Fordham offered me $30,000. I haven't really considered them strongly since getting into Cornell since I've always been of the mindset that I want to go to the best school that I can, and I have a particularly strong interest in Cornell to begin with. Is that misguided though since I'm not entirely set on what what kind of law I want to end up doing, and will be undertaking so much debt?

melj wrote:Thanks for the responses! Good to know my preference for Cornell is founded.

One last question if anyone can offer a little more advice: is it wrong that I've basically cut lower ranked schools from my decision? Specifically, Fordham offered me $30,000. I haven't really considered them strongly since getting into Cornell since I've always been of the mindset that I want to go to the best school that I can, and I have a particularly strong interest in Cornell to begin with. Is that misguided though since I'm not entirely set on what what kind of law I want to end up doing, and will be undertaking so much debt?

well, regardless of what you want to do, you're pretty much going to have to do biglaw to pay off the debt. fortunately (or unfortunately...depending on how you look at it), 90K would make only a small dent in the Fordham total debt, meaning you'd probably have to do biglaw anyway. so, you might as well go wherever maximizes those chances.

Cornell hands down. Though I'd consider retaking since an extra 2 points on the LSAT would significantly reduce the risk by giving you comparable options to Cornell at less debt.