Top Law Schools

Hello everyone,

I am above both of Berkeley's medians and recently applied. In many ways it's a great fit for me. However, I am a native New Yorker and may very well want to practice here. Biglaw is by far the most likely goal.

LST says that only about 10% of last year's class now work in NY. Dean Tom has stated that many students, whether in- or out-of-state, end up choosing to stay in California, which may partly account for this.

Do you think Berkeley makes sense for someone in my position? Does anyone have experience finding NY employment, particularly biglaw, from Berkeley?

As always, thanks for the thought.

ballcaps

2L here. Plenty of people do NY. They even made us aware of NY's pro-bono reqs for the bar pretty early on. OCI seemed to have plenty of NY spots interviewing, and I know a few people who'll be SAing there. Come. Also, you might change your mind and love CA.

ETA: but I also know as many people who struck out at OCI in general, so there's that.

Also remember you picked the biggest black box (outside of YS) in the admissions process, so being above both medians is not indicative of admission.

You won't be locked out of NYC if you do Boalt, but I wouldn't assume you'll get it based on medians alone.

postard wrote:2L here. Plenty of people do NY. They even made us aware of NY's pro-bono reqs for the bar pretty early on. OCI seemed to have plenty of NY spots interviewing, and I know a few people who'll be SAing there. Come. Also, you might change your mind and love CA.

ETA: but I also know as many people who struck out at OCI in general, so there's that.

that's very helpful, thank you. i think you're probably right about california.

Ramius wrote:Also remember you picked the biggest black box (outside of YS) in the admissions process, so being above both medians is not indicative of admission.

You won't be locked out of NYC if you do Boalt, but I wouldn't assume you'll get it based on medians alone.

you mean if i rank at the median?

and that's completely understood. i'm URM with some solid softs, but i'm not exactly counting on getting in.

I meant you just applied, and regardless of URM/numbers/etc. Boalt is a black box, so you shouldn't assume admission based on any conventional metric.

That had nothing to do with the assumed median you might get if you went to Berk.

Ramius wrote:I meant you just applied, and regardless of URM/numbers/etc. Boalt is a black box, so you shouldn't assume admission based on any conventional metric.

That had nothing to do with the assumed median you might get if you went to Berk.

got it, thanks.

Lots of CA students go to NYU ect. Why not the reverse. You'll miss out on some in-state tuition discounts, but that's only a few thousand. Cal's a great school.

I'm not sure it's the best place for your goals though considering the other options you'll have as a 3.8+/168+/URM.

If you really do want to enter the private sector in NYC, Columbia, Harvard and NYU definitely have the most representation at elite firms and corner the market on a percentage basis. This doesn't imply much about cut-offs or selectivity though, and there's always the hovering question of self-selection for targeting NY from a school in a desirable market of its own (e.g. SF). On the other hand, Berkeley's firm numbers haven't been great the last few years and you certainly hear more strikeout stories than other top programs. For that reason if NY is your goal I'd feel safer at one of the three listed above or Stanford and Chicago.

Max out your LSAT takes and try to get your score a little higher. Berk is a good law school and will get you to NY, but they're stingy with money so blanket the schools around it and then make a decision once you get all of your acceptances and scholly $.

jbagelboy wrote:Lots of CA students go to NYU ect. Why not the reverse. You'll miss out on some in-state tuition discounts, but that's only a few thousand. Cal's a great school.

I'm not sure it's the best place for your goals though considering the other options you'll have as a 3.8+/168+/URM.

If you really do want to enter the private sector in NYC, Columbia, Harvard and NYU definitely have the most representation at elite firms and corner the market on a percentage basis. This doesn't imply much about cut-offs or selectivity though, and there's always the hovering question of self-selection for targeting NY from a school in a desirable market of its own (e.g. SF). On the other hand, Berkeley's firm numbers haven't been great the last few years and you certainly hear more strikeout stories than other top programs. For that reason if NY is your goal I'd feel safer at one of the three listed above or Stanford and Chicago.

I chose Berkeley over Chicago, but then only because I was sure I wanted to practice on the best coast. Even then I felt trepidation re: firm #s, and I agree Berkeley might not be the best fit. But if you want it otherwise, go for it.

if you really want to practice in NYC, why bother with berkeley? sure, it's a great school in a great place to live, but it really doesn't make much sense to go there if you want to practice in NYC. berkeley is not known to top other schools' scholarship offers, so you'll probably be getting as much (or even more) from, say, cornell, NYU, or columbia, and those latter three schools have way better NYC alumni networks than berkeley.

iamgeorgebush wrote:if you really want to practice in NYC, why bother with berkeley? sure, it's a great school in a great place to live, but it really doesn't make much sense to go there if you want to practice in NYC. berkeley is not known to top other schools' scholarship offers, so you'll probably be getting as much (or even more) from, say, cornell, NYU, or columbia, and those latter three schools have way better NYC alumni networks than berkeley.

thanks, that makes plenty of sense.

and now i wait.

If you want nyc, take Columbia, NYU, Penn over Berkeley without question.