Levy/Darrow/Mordecai/Chicago($$)/Stanford Forum

[geebies]

Hi! I'm hoping for some feedback on a happy but agonizing dilemma.

Currently debating between:
-Darrow w/stipend (minimal COA)
-Levy (~69k COA)
-Mordecai (~69k COA)
-Chicago (~137k COA w/$105k merit aid - not sure if it's worth trying to negotiate)
-Stanford (don't know about need-based aid yet, but assuming sticker for now)

Still waiting to hear about:
-RTK
-aid from CLS, NU, Berkeley
-Harvard
-Yale

If I don't take the Darrow, I'll be financing with loans. I have minimal savings and no parental support to speak of, but I can mooch off my significant other for living expenses to some extent. My family is in the Midwest and I would love to move closer to them, but I'm worried doing so will limit clerkship opportunities/odds of eventually returning to the East Coast/PI job prospects. I am interested in a very niche type of PI litigation, and the organizations that do it are concentrated in NY and DC.

I'm somewhat debt averse and would rather forgo law school altogether than take on a debt servicing biglaw job. I hear great things about LRAP at HYS, but I get nauseous when I think about turning down a perfectly respectable full ride for prestige reasons. I guess my real question is, which of these options will maximize my ability to maneuver into an admittedly unicorn PI job? Are the job prospects coming out of a place like Stanford really so much better that they'll afford more flexibility than I'd have with a free degree from Penn/Michigan/Duke? Does the calculus change at all if I get a RTK? If I get into Yale? Any advice appreciated!

[jbagelboy]

I voted for the Levi, but the Darrow is also a great option here. It would be one of the two for me. I think you can safely cancel Chicago right now unless they raise their scholarship to bring total COA to about $100K. Similarly, Columbia would have to offer more than a Butler to justify it.

What would change this? RTK would be your best offer on the table. A large aid grant from Stanford or Yale that brings their COA down could also win out (although sticker is ridiculous, and the job prospects are not "really so much better" from these other great programs). Yale's LRAP is somewhat unique, but other then that most of the LRAPs are very similar among the top set of schools.

Congratulations on all the full rides!

[Skool]

I would do Levy because Philly is a really great PI city and you'll be able to network year round with professors who are nationally known in the PI/impact litigation field, and there are at least two really awesome impact litigation cases going on in the city that I know of right now.

If the RTK is on the table, I would take it. There's no better city to learn to be an impact litigator in. NYU simply has the best clinics/externships around. Bryan Stevenson? Connections with SDNY/EDNY Civil AND Federal Defenders? You can't go wrong there. NYU's training is top notch for PI litigation.

I think when money/prestige are so close, it really comes down to the minutae of the programs/cities.

[abl]

For unicorn + lrap + clerkships + geographic flexibility, Stanford (or Yale if you get in) is TCR.

--PI litigator and former fed clerk several years out of law school

[Mack.Hambleton]

1. are you anticipating significant need based aid at HYS?

If not, I would say Levy/Darrow, based on whether you weigh the employment boost from penn more or the 10k/yr from uofm.

I would forget about Duke and Chicago unless Chicago increases a good bit.

[eed333]

For unicorn + lrap + clerkships + geographic flexibility, Stanford (or Yale if you get in) is TCR.

--PI litigator and former fed clerk several years out of law school

unicorn?

[malleus discentium]

For unicorn + lrap + clerkships + geographic flexibility, Stanford (or Yale if you get in) is TCR.

--PI litigator and former fed clerk several years out of law school

unicorn?

If I don't take the Darrow, I'll be financing with loans. I have minimal savings and no parental support to speak of, but I can mooch off my significant other for living expenses to some extent. My family is in the Midwest and I would love to move closer to them, but I'm worried doing so will limit clerkship opportunities/odds of eventually returning to the East Coast/PI job prospects. I am interested in a very niche type of PI litigation, and the organizations that do it are concentrated in NY and DC.

[eed333]

For unicorn + lrap + clerkships + geographic flexibility, Stanford (or Yale if you get in) is TCR.

--PI litigator and former fed clerk several years out of law school

unicorn?

If I don't take the Darrow, I'll be financing with loans. I have minimal savings and no parental support to speak of, but I can mooch off my significant other for living expenses to some extent. My family is in the Midwest and I would love to move closer to them, but I'm worried doing so will limit clerkship opportunities/odds of eventually returning to the East Coast/PI job prospects. I am interested in a very niche type of PI litigation, and the organizations that do it are concentrated in NY and DC.

interesting.

[geebies]

1. are you anticipating significant need based aid at HYS?

I'm not expecting much. I'm under 26, my parents make low six figures, and they're nearing retirement so they have quite a bit saved up. (They will be totally dumbfounded if I turn down a full ride, fwiw). But who knows? Maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised.

[cc78]

1. are you anticipating significant need based aid at HYS?

I'm not expecting much. I'm under 26, my parents make low six figures, and they're nearing retirement so they have quite a bit saved up. (They will be totally dumbfounded if I turn down a full ride, fwiw). But who knows? Maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised.

Yup this sounds like trouble city from the YHS need based perspective. I still think Yale if you get it should be in the running even with a small amount of aid. Yale's COAP (LRAP) is very generous and really distinguishes itself from Harvard and Stanford once you get above $50k/year in salary.

[abl]

1. are you anticipating significant need based aid at HYS?

I'm not expecting much. I'm under 26, my parents make low six figures, and they're nearing retirement so they have quite a bit saved up. (They will be totally dumbfounded if I turn down a full ride, fwiw). But who knows? Maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised.

Yup this sounds like trouble city from the YHS need based perspective. I still think Yale if you get it should be in the running even with a small amount of aid. Yale's COAP (LRAP) is very generous and really distinguishes itself from Harvard and Stanford once you get above $50k/year in salary.

Say more re COAP. I thought Stanford's was really very similarly generous (with the biggest difference being whether legal fellowships qualify or not--yes for YLS, no for SLS).