Top Law Schools

-20k a year no stips at USC
-Prefer West Coast (Born and raised, but NYC does sound pretty cool)
-Prefer biglaw (just to pay off loans) then in-house would be my dream
-Ties to WA and CA
-No ties to any lawyers or "contacts"

Cornell seems sketch with how much debt, but USC is still expensive and does not have as many opportunities.

Estimated COA:
USC: 135k
Cornell: 225k

If you prefer biglaw then Cornell is the way to go.

20k total from USC? That's way too much debt.

Take Cornell because it maximises your chances at biglaw.

If it's only 20k total, then Cornell without a doubt.

If it's 20k/year, that's nothing to sneeze at, but Cornell has much better biglaw placement rates. Good enough to spend 50-60k more, in my opinion.

Also, make sure to see if you can get any money out of Cornell.

20k a year. 60k total.

Sorry. I hope that lack of knowledge didn't skew the poll.