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I've been struggling to decide between these two schools. I am from the Midwest, did my undergrad at UMN, and really love it here. I am having a hard time justifying passing up the opportunity to go to a school like NYU, but the debt scares me. It's less about whether I will be able to pay off my debt from NYU (about $160,000 before interest) than what kind of quality of life I will have to put up with to do so. I'm not sure whether biglaw is for me, so I'm concerned that the real advantage NYU gives me is one I am not terribly interested in. (This may be a misconception, though; I just really believe that the most realistic advantage given to me by NYU is biglaw.)

I have no undergraduate debt, which is nice, but $160,000 is obviously a ton of money and graduating with minimal debt from the top school in a market I would be happy to work in would be very nice as well. I just can't decide whether I would rather brave worse job prospects with less debt for UMN, or better job propsects with more debt from NYU.

Thank you in advance for any advice.

2121 wrote:I've been struggling to decide between these two schools. I am from the Midwest, did my undergrad at UMN, and really love it here. I am having a hard time justifying passing up the opportunity to go to a school like NYU, but the debt scares me. It's less about whether I will be able to pay off my debt from NYU (about $160,000 before interest) than what kind of quality of life I will have to put up with to do so. I'm not sure whether biglaw is for me, so I'm concerned that the real advantage NYU gives me is one I am not terribly interested in. (This may be a misconception, though; I just really believe that the most realistic advantage given to me by NYU is biglaw.)

I have no undergraduate debt, which is nice, but $160,000 is obviously a ton of money and graduating with minimal debt from the top school in a market I would be happy to work in would be very nice as well. I just can't decide whether I would rather brave worse job prospects with less debt for UMN, or better job propsects with more debt from NYU.

Thank you in advance for any advice.

Are you content working in MN? Also, any middle options (like say, Northwestern with more $)?

The thing about incurring 160K in debt that would scare me is the fact that you have to either 1) land a biglaw gig out of the gate to pay that back, 2) work in public interest, stifle your earning power, and go on LRAP or 3) you're fucked.

Roughly 45% of NYU kids aren't getting biglaw gigs. That would scare me with that kind of debt staring me in the face. You have a good shot at biglaw but are far from secure. It depends on how risk-averse you are.

If you're content with staying in MN then going to the flagship university of the state for free is pretty appealing.

Congratulations on having great options.

Any other options between these two schools? You probably need to figure out what you want to do with your law degree before you decide. If you don't want to work at a big firm, what do you want to do?

Well with NYU you will be ok with the debt if you: 1) go into biglaw, or 2) go into something that's covered by NYU's LRAP program.

If (1) or (2) doesn't appeal to you, it's going to be hard to pay back $160k on time.

That being said, Minnesota is a regional school (The region being Minnesota), so I wouldn't attend unless you're sure that you want to live and work in Minnesota after law school.

tfleming09 wrote:

2121 wrote:I've been struggling to decide between these two schools. I am from the Midwest, did my undergrad at UMN, and really love it here. I am having a hard time justifying passing up the opportunity to go to a school like NYU, but the debt scares me. It's less about whether I will be able to pay off my debt from NYU (about $160,000 before interest) than what kind of quality of life I will have to put up with to do so. I'm not sure whether biglaw is for me, so I'm concerned that the real advantage NYU gives me is one I am not terribly interested in. (This may be a misconception, though; I just really believe that the most realistic advantage given to me by NYU is biglaw.)

I have no undergraduate debt, which is nice, but $160,000 is obviously a ton of money and graduating with minimal debt from the top school in a market I would be happy to work in would be very nice as well. I just can't decide whether I would rather brave worse job prospects with less debt for UMN, or better job propsects with more debt from NYU.

Thank you in advance for any advice.

Are you content working in MN? Also, any middle options (like say, Northwestern with more $)?

The thing about incurring 160K in debt that would scare me is the fact that you have to either 1) land a biglaw gig out of the gate to pay that back, 2) work in public interest, stifle your earning power, and go on LRAP or 3) you're fucked.

Roughly 45% of NYU kids aren't getting biglaw gigs. That would scare me with that kind of debt staring me in the face. You have a good shot at biglaw but are far from secure. It depends on how risk-averse you are.

If you're content with staying in MN then going to the flagship university of the state for free is pretty appealing.

Congratulations on having great options.

You have to take into account federal clerkships and prestigious PI positions too. For class of 2010, my estimate is that 70% or so landed, or could have landed, a biglaw position if they so desired.

That being said, the above posters are right to ask: do you have any intermediate options?

Bronck wrote:
You have to take into account federal clerkships and prestigious PI positions too. For class of 2010, my estimate is that 70% or so landed, or could have landed, a biglaw position if they so desired.

That being said, the above posters are right to ask: do you have any intermediate options?

Sure there's self selection, but prestigious PI would still apply to scenario 2 (LRAP). After looking at the 2011 employment thread it says they placed 10% into clerkships, so your figure is actually more accurate. This is of course doesn't count people who wash out of biglaw quickly (as it's miserable or they are inept)

That being said, there's still a 35% chance you're objectively fucked if you're looking at significant loans.

I do have a significant scholarship at Duke, but if I were to turn down NYU I think I would rather do it for Minnesota. I would be happy working here, but I am worried that I will always regret having turned down a great opportunity at NYU.

I'm not saying I don't want to work biglaw necessarily, just that I'm not sure (I may want PI or to try to go straight for a mid-sized firm) and being stuck in biglaw because of debt would not be great. Maybe I'd love it, but as of now I just haven't made up my mind. UMN gives me greater flexibility in that sense, but not in job prospects in general.

Thanks for all the replies, it helps me think more clearly about it.

I'd take UMN in a freaking heartbeat.

What's the Duke scholly amount, out of curiosity?

If you wanna work in MN, UMN (for free) is a no-brainer.