Cornell (sticker) vs. UCLA ($10k) Forum

[chadbrochill]

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[Rahviveh]

About half the class pays sticker at Cornell. That doesn't mean they are borrowing sticker, since many of them could have parental support or previous savings

https://officialguide.lsac.org/Release/ ... spx?sid=35

[Doorkeeper]

UCLA with $200k in debt is a SCARY proposition - only 34% of students get biglaw. Tell her to run away from that.

Cornell is MUCH safer on the biglaw front (58% go to biglaw), but $280k is a ridiculous amount of money to be paying for those odds.

Honestly, she might want to consider waiting a year to retake the LSAT.

Gun to my head, Cornell.

[jbagelboy]

I'll play along and assume that LSAT is maxed out. Taking it more than 3 times has significantly diminishing returns anyway.

Cornell. It's not worth sticker IMO, but relative to six figures @ UCLA its worth it.

Also, yes, these are incredible schools for her given your friends' numbers. I mean, 3.6x/165 would be auto-reject at both of these for most people. she should be proud regardless.

[hephaestus]

UCLA with $200k in debt is a SCARY proposition - only 34% of students get biglaw. Tell her to run away from that.

Cornell is MUCH safer on the biglaw front (58% go to biglaw), but $280k is a ridiculous amount of money to be paying for those odds.

Honestly, she might want to consider waiting a year to retake the LSAT.

Gun to my head, Cornell.

Agree with this. Cornell is the way better option but far too expensive at sticker.

[prāna]

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[hephaestus]

sure, Cornell has better biglaw chances. However, does it have better CA biglaw chances?

A separate point: if one doesn't land biglaw at Cornell, isn't this pretty bad in regards to the desire to practice in CA?

Yes I would think so but it's impossible to tell due to self selection. CA firms come to OCI just like NYC firms, and many firms let you interview for a different office.
Also, better to be employed in NYC than unemployed in CA.

[y2zipper]

If you can't get into Berkley and above or UCLA or USC for nearly free, California becomes a huge risk. Tell your friend she should probably take that off the table. I hate saying that, but realism comes into play here. A 30% shot at biglaw in the worst job market in the country without portability isn't worth 200K. Cornell, Biglaw, try to lateral later is the obvious choice here.