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I have a scholarship at GW for 30k/year and one at Fordham for 20k/year. At approx. 75k/year total cost of attendance at each, I'd be in the hole 135k at GW and 165k at Fordham (these numbers are rough estimates, but are close enough for now). It would be crazy to enroll at either school, correct? Thanks

If you want to work in DC, GW
If you want to work in NYC, Fordham

Pick your poison. If you got 30k from gw then you should get a full ride at either American/w&m/W&L/gm. For Fordham you should get full rides at Brooklyn/Cardozo. Or at least sticker at a t-14. You are still looking at 165k+ interest at Fordham and 135k plus interest at gw. Not the most excellent choices.

scotth724 wrote:If you want to work in DC, GW
If you want to work in NYC, Fordham

TITCR
If you don't know which city you prefer, go to the cheaper one

answer23 wrote:Pick your poison. If you got 30k from gw then you should get a full ride at either American/w&m/W&L/gm. For Fordham you should get full rides at Brooklyn/Cardozo. Or at least sticker at a t-14. You are still looking at 165k+ interest at Fordham and 135k plus interest at gw. Not the most excellent choices.

Credited. I would go to neither of those with that amount of debt.

a bump, which does tls think is worse:

going to gw to get to nyc?
or going to fordham to get dc?

GokartMozart315 wrote:a bump, which does tls think is worse:

going to gw to get to nyc?
or going to fordham to get dc?

Fordham for DC but both are terrible ideas unless you're IP

GokartMozart315 wrote:a bump, which does tls think is worse:

going to gw to get to nyc?
or going to fordham to get dc?

DC is the toughest market to crack, even from a T-14.

thanks is what i suspected, which is why i'm most likely picking fordham. out of curiousity, thoughts on why dc is so competitive? would've thought there are enough jobs to go around given the proportionately lower demand compared to ny

GokartMozart315 wrote:thanks is what i suspected, which is why i'm most likely picking fordham. out of curiousity, thoughts on why dc is so competitive? would've thought there are enough jobs to go around given the proportionately lower demand compared to ny

Smaller market, Georgetown and GW graduate like 1200 kids combined a year, every T14 grad wants to work there, etc

thanks tfleming. this makes me sad, always wanted to make my legal career in dc but it seems gw would leave it really tough to do, whereas fordham could help me place well in nyc

just to give this thread some closure: i ended up picking gw! dc is my target market, and ny my secondary. i'll need to do very well at either school to get a decent job, but it looks like gw gives me more flexibility geographically. i also liked the school better, and they upped their scholly to 60k which didn't hurt. finally, i like the school far better overall, from the environment to the friendly administration to the students who seem less competitive than fordham, esp for those firm jobs. didn't help that i was told only 2/3 of fordham 3L LR even got jobs at all so far...

GokartMozart315 wrote:thanks is what i suspected, which is why i'm most likely picking fordham. out of curiousity, thoughts on why dc is so competitive? would've thought there are enough jobs to go around given the proportionately lower demand compared to ny

Just incidentally, there are nowhere near enough legal jobs to go around anywhere. Like less than half of grads are getting real legal jobs. I wouldn't take out the debt you're going into for GW.

Good luck paying back those loans.

no mercy for the weary on here...you guys are right but after doing a lot of number-parsing, this is equally true for both gw and fordham. rad lulz, like you said the market sucks everywhere, might as well aim for my preferred market and shoot for secondary at the same time. as i explained earlier, i made the choice to go to law school (almost) irrespective of which school to attend, and that decision remains. at this point i doubt cornell will let me off reserve.

also i honestly wouldn't be comfortable taking out a penny of debt for any education, and thankfully my tuition and costs will all be covered. that said, i negotiated one last round with both schools, and got 22k a year from gw and 10k from fordham. total tuition after schollys and negotiation for 3 years of gw is 69k, fordham would've been 115k, so on that front a slightly preferable outcome.

rather than pouring out the haterade on a decision already made, want to throw some tips as to how to network and aim for big firm jobs (in addition to good grades)?

GokartMozart315 wrote:no mercy for the weary on here...you guys are right but after doing a lot of number-parsing, this is equally true for both gw and fordham. rad lulz, like you said the market sucks everywhere, might as well aim for my preferred market and shoot for secondary at the same time. as i explained earlier, i made the choice to go to law school (almost) irrespective of which school to attend, and that decision remains. at this point i doubt cornell will let me off reserve.

also i honestly wouldn't be comfortable taking out a penny of debt for any education, and thankfully my tuition and costs will all be covered. that said, i negotiated one last round with both schools, and got 22k a year from gw and 10k from fordham. total tuition after schollys and negotiation for 3 years of gw is 69k, fordham would've been 115k, so on that front a slightly preferable outcome.

rather than pouring out the haterade on a decision already made, want to throw some tips as to how to network and aim for big firm jobs (in addition to good grades)?

As a 1L, just do this. Ignore the extracurriculars, and for god's sake stay away from student government (time suck, pointless, before I came to LS I thought they only did this in highschool). Also, at the end of 1L, if your school does any sort of writing/grade combination for LR/journals, gun like you've never gunned before (LR can make up for not-stellar grades at OCI). Otherwise, just pray you're one of the lucky ones who gets law school quick enough to do well 1L year.

GokartMozart315 wrote: rather than pouring out the haterade on a decision already made, want to throw some tips as to how to network and aim for big firm jobs (in addition to good grades)?

I just finished my 1L there year, so I can only give you advice on how to do well. Fortunately, it's pretty simple: make getting good grades your highest priority. That does not mean you have to be in the library every spare moment (though lots of them help); rather, it means you have to spend your law school related time doing only things which will help you on law school exams, because that's essentially the only way which you are evaluated. There is plenty of information on that on TLS already, and I'd recommend reading it, as well as Getting to Maybe and doing LEEWS (so you know the kind of information that will be useful on an exam). I firmly believe that most of the people who do very well do so because they wanted it the more than those who did not. Just try not to be an asshole about it, and help people if they ask for it.

thanks a lot, very helpful and lines up with the consensus i've seen, with some additional insights too. thanks!

FlanSolo wrote:

GokartMozart315 wrote: rather than pouring out the haterade on a decision already made, want to throw some tips as to how to network and aim for big firm jobs (in addition to good grades)?

I just finished my 1L there year, so I can only give you advice on how to do well. Fortunately, it's pretty simple: make getting good grades your highest priority. That does not mean you have to be in the library every spare moment (though lots of them help); rather, it means you have to spend your law school related time doing only things which will help you on law school exams, because that's essentially the only way which you are evaluated. There is plenty of information on that on TLS already, and I'd recommend reading it, as well as Getting to Maybe and doing LEEWS (so you know the kind of information that will be useful on an exam). I firmly believe that most of the people who do very well do so because they wanted it the more than those who did not. Just try not to be an asshole about it, and help people if they ask for it.

+1. I'd also add, pay attention to what your professor wants on exams and pay attention in class. I did the worst in a class where I paid the least amount of attention in. Also, find what works for you. I found what worked best was largely what I did in undergrad - pay attention in class, memorize everything and have everything organized. I am a very organized studier - was this way in college too.