Top Law Schools

-The schools you are considering
HLS
NYU

-How you will be financing your COA, i.e. loans, family, or savings
HLS: Probably small amount of grant aid, savings, parents. Loans ~ 120,000 -150,000 total.
NYU: full scholarship

-Where you are from and where you want to work, and other places where you have significant ties (if any)
From PA, probably want to stay on east coast. NYC is most likely, but I'm looking at Boston and DC too. SO will be in NYC at law school for next 3 years too, but I'm not too worried about the New York - Cambridge long distance issues.

-Your general career goals
Science background (highly desirable field, advanced degrees) so patent law my top choice right now. I'll probably take the patent bar this summer. Not sure whether I want to do IP lit or corporate (probably not pros), but ideally I'll end up working in house so I'm leaning towards corporate. However if I do end up liking lit, I'd probably try for a clerkship. Have vague interest in working in fed gov down the road but I'm still pretty uncertain.

-Your LSAT/GPA numbers
176 (1 take), 3.66

Should probably make a poll, but I would take HLS unless the cost difference is greater than $100,000, also remember NYU is right in the middle of Manhattan and while Cambridge is a very expensive area, the living cost is probably still going to be higher for NYU.

NYU.

Cost of living in NYC isn't high enough to offset the COAs between both schools.

Def NYU. Harvard isn't worth 100K more

NYU because Harvard likely wouldn't open many other doors for IP that NYU won't, and even if Harvard did, those doors aren't worth $100k more.

HLS.

Considering your goals and the 100K difference, I vote NYU.

ph14 wrote:HLS.

Lol, gotta at least give OP a disclaimer on this

I would typically vote NYU here because that's a ridiculously low debt figure, but one caveat being that if your SO is also going to NYU, maybe it would be best to attend different law schools.. my SO is NYC too and it would be weird if we were in the same classes, ect. If your SO is at Columbia or something then ignore this, my vote remains NYU.

As others have mentioned, while Harvard definitely gives an advantage in general hiring (esp outside of New York), someone with your credentials will have zero problem finding a great job in any major market out of NYU so these advantages are diminished in scope and flavor.

ETA: also it's a little confusing in your OP to list "CoA" as 248 for H and 258 for NYU.. many people on this site don't read below the first few lines and upon seeing that would assume Harvard is actually cheaper for you, which would make it the beyond obvious choice. Just a tip.

Your COA figures are confusing.

Thank you everyone for the replies. Sorry for posting confusing COA numbers, OP is edited now. Also realized I was a bit optimistic about NYU, student housing/COL is really expensive there. So now I anticipate a smaller difference in debt.

I keep going back and forth. I'm debt averse and I think I could be happy at NYU for 3 years, so I was ecstatic about the $$ they offered. On the other hand my goals are somewhat vague and HLS may be worth ~70,000 more for the greater range of options (e.g. Fed. circuit clerkship, IP lit in DC or Boston).

I know they're tough to get for everyone, but would HLS give me a significantly better shot at a 1L SA? Also how do NYU and HLS compare in V5 placement? One V5 in particular has a longtime PA client that I'd love to work for down the road. I always hear that HLS, NYU, and CLS are nearly identical for NYC biglaw, but does this hold up at the top firms? Thanks again.

Update: NYU upped their offer to a full scholarship + some nice perks. I'm pretty blown away. Debt at HLS still stands at 120-150k. Would I be crazy to turn down NYU with my goals?

Yes you would. Enjoy NYU.

NYU

Nyu and it's not even close.

NYU - you'd get the same 1L SA from either.

There is literally no debate here. NYU easily.