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177/4.02 took the lsat once

I don't have a financial offer from Berkeley yet, but for the sake of argument I'm hoping 30k/year. If I get less than that the question is pointless. Like the title says I was offered a full tuition Vanderbilt scholarship at NYU.

I am interested in IP law, although I am not stuck on it.

Reasons for Cal:
-I am from California and would like to end up back there eventually, somewhere around the Bay Area.
-Besides the fact that I want to end up in California I am interested in going to law school there for the weather. I have been in the midwest for a few winters now and well, I miss California "winters". That said, I am certainly willing to stick it out another three years.
-I would be close to family in the Bay Area which is nice for holidays and just general support but not crucial.

At the start of the process I was hoping for Stanford but as time passes that seems more and more unlikely.


Since I doubt Berkeley will match the full tuition I will probably be paying at least 15k a year, although some of that could be offset by living at home or with a sibling in the area if I really wanted to. Plus, I am not that debt adverse so the difference in money isn't a huge issue.

So the questions really are first, would I be crazy for choosing Berkeley over NYU when I have to pay at least a bit more at Berkeley? I feel like in California the answer to this is no, but I'd like to get opinions. And second, does having a named scholarship matter for resumes and hiring? I wouldn't think it would matter, but read someone in another thread saying some firms put extra weight on a T6 named scholarship.

Thanks for reading, and for any advice!

First, did you burn down a building at Harvard or something? Because, frankly, I'm not sure how you wouldn't get into HLS with those numbers. I mean, I could see you getting rejected from SLS and/or YLS if you have weak softs or are just a horrible person, but HLS generally doesn't care about those things.

Anyway, to answer your actual question: No, there is no reason to pick NYU over Berkeley if you want to live and work in California and if costs are roughly equal. Keep in mind that "T6" is generally a TLS construct. NYU's prestige advantage over Berkeley, if it exists at all, is limited to the New York market. In California (and particularly in Northern California), NYU is not considered a better law school than Boalt. If anything, the reverse is true. If Boalt gives you a sizable scholarship, then I'd go there even if you have to pay a little more.

But if it's sticker at Boalt versus NYU with a full scholarship, then, yeah, go to NYU.

Did you apply for a matching scholarship from Berkeley?

And I think you should just wait until you hear all your offers. Stanford could very well still be a possibility, and you might stress yourself over nothing.

Boalt may not match you 100%, but for a CA resident with your profile, they'll give a substantial scholarship - maybe upwards of 80% tuition cost? It is entirely understandable to pick Cal in this position, especially for your goals.

I know we're not supposed to care about specialty rankings, but Boalt is very well known for IP and because you want to stay in Cali, it is completely reasonable to spend an extra $50k on Boalt.

It is reasonable, but if you have an IP background with CA ties, landing an IP gig in CA should not be any more challenging from NYU or Berkeley.

I think for west coast employment, Berkeley over NYU is a very reasonable decision. I haven't heard back from NYU, but I have similar career goals, and as of right now I think I'd take Berkeley over NYU at equal costs. That being said, Berkeley is stingy with money so its hard to really make a choice until you hear back from them.

Wait until all offers are in. Otherwise, retake.

CanadianWolf wrote:Wait until all offers are in. Otherwise, retake.

.................... I don't know what to say to this person. 177 being recommended to retake. Yeah, right.

..

Yeah this isn't going to be very helpful until you know your Berkeley offer. Re: matching scholarships, be patient. Did you apply to UChi? With those numbers you could be looking at a Ruby, and that will be a better bargaining chip than the Vanderbilt.

How long is the "eventually" in getting back to the Bay Area? If you're willing to work in New York for a few years if you strike out in CA and then lateral at some point, I would take NYU over anything but a close-to-full at Boalt. Although I'm not that informed about how Big Law lateraling works, since that's extremely far from my goals.

Why not HLS?

iskim88 wrote:Why not HLS?

NYU full ride strikes me as pretty clearly superior to HLS for Big Law, but again since Big Law isn't at all my goal maybe I'm wrong.

midwest17 wrote:
NYU full ride strikes me as pretty clearly superior to HLS for Big Law, but again since Big Law isn't at all my goal maybe I'm wrong.

It really depends. For any Biglaw, definitely NYU full ride. But some people want Big Law in a specific city or industry that is highly competitive and that's when HLS makes more sense.

177 / 4.0+ and no SLS? I'm speechless

midwest17 wrote:Yeah this isn't going to be very helpful until you know your Berkeley offer. Re: matching scholarships, be patient. Did you apply to UChi? With those numbers you could be looking at a Ruby, and that will be a better bargaining chip than the Vanderbilt.

How long is the "eventually" in getting back to the Bay Area? If you're willing to work in New York for a few years if you strike out in CA and then lateral at some point, I would take NYU over anything but a close-to-full at Boalt. Although I'm not that informed about how Big Law lateraling works, since that's extremely far from my goals.

Would a potential Ruby really be worth that much more to Berkeley? I have my interview soon with UChi, so I figure any potential offer would still be a few weeks away. I thought it might just be better to submit the matching scholarship form earlier.

...

bitsf wrote:

midwest17 wrote:Yeah this isn't going to be very helpful until you know your Berkeley offer. Re: matching scholarships, be patient. Did you apply to UChi? With those numbers you could be looking at a Ruby, and that will be a better bargaining chip than the Vanderbilt.

How long is the "eventually" in getting back to the Bay Area? If you're willing to work in New York for a few years if you strike out in CA and then lateral at some point, I would take NYU over anything but a close-to-full at Boalt. Although I'm not that informed about how Big Law lateraling works, since that's extremely far from my goals.

Would a potential Ruby really be worth that much more to Berkeley? I have my interview soon with UChi, so I figure any potential offer would still be a few weeks away. I thought it might just be better to submit the matching scholarship form earlier.

I don't really know. The Ruby is a significantly better scholarship, but I don't know how much Berkeley cares at that point (since they probably won't go up to full ride either way, given what I've heard about Berkeley) and I don't know how much the timing matters. If you're that far out from a UChi decision, I would probably agree that you should just submit the Vandy.

So Boalt came back with full tuition.

Even if I didn't care where I lived for law school, Berkeley is better for IP in California, right?

I'm correct in thinking this is a no-brainer?

bitsf wrote:So Boalt came back with full tuition.

Even if I didn't care where I lived for law school, Berkeley is better for IP in California, right?

I'm correct in thinking this is a no-brainer?

Yes no brainer, indeed, congratulation and enjoy your time @Berk sir!

Post removed.

Full tuition at Cal is an incredible feat, congratulations! It is a GREAT school for your goals. Only a substantial ($30K+) aid offer from Stanford should turn your gaze at this point (I disagree with the posters above concerned with the other east coast schools at this point).

IP? desire Bay Area? yes, this is a no-brainer. The ONLY thing to temp you to change your mind will be SLS.

credited is probably wait until SLS accepts you and then go there. there is literally no one from the last two cycles on LSN who got rejected with 177/3.9+. of course, we're only looking at 11 people with those numbers, but still...i'd be surprised if you didn't get SLS.

MistakenGenius wrote:

bitsf wrote:So Boalt came back with full tuition.

Even if I didn't care where I lived for law school, Berkeley is better for IP in California, right?

I'm correct in thinking this is a no-brainer?

Sorry to split hairs, but I wouldn't say it's a no brainer. Both schools have the potential to get you this job.

Yeah, but the OP prefers California over New York and specifically wants to work in IP in California. Yes, both schools have the "potential" to help the OP get an IP job in California, but Boalt has better potential. This is a no-brainer, OP.