Boalt v. Columbia/NYU v. Cornell/Duke v. USC/UT Forum

[drballison]

EDIT: Staying in California folks. Personal reasons and being honest with myself led me to this decision.

New choices reflected in poll.

I realize the subject-line is sort of ridiculous, but I'm legitimately completely unsure what to do. My offers:

1) Boalt at sticker (got denied a matching scholarship, no idea if I'll get a different scholarship)
2) Columbia at sticker
3) NYU with a 75k total scholarship.
4) Cornell with a full ride
5) Duke with 114k total scholarship ($38k per year)
6) USC with a full ride
7) UT with a full ride +15k total stipend

About me: I'm a SoCal native who went to school here and fully intends to work in California. I am 100% uninterested in NYU or D.C. which scares me off of Cornell. I want to work in Biglaw for sure. Got waitlisted at UCLA (yield protection?) so that's not on the table. LSAT is 173, GPA is a 4.12. Just got rejected from Harvard, no word from Stanford. On a personal note, I would love to stay in California if possible because I am extremely close to my family and my long-term boyfriend (6 yrs. will be living and working in SoCal at least for my 1L).

Is it worth it to pay for Boalt at sticker to give me a better chance at Cali biglaw? Or take a scholarship? USC's connections in LA are great but biglaw stats are scary. Totally not sure about my other options. Any help would be VERY appreciated.

[OhBoyOhBortles]

.

[Atmosphere]

Have you considered a LOCI to UCLA?

[uMe]

BoalTTT at sticker is a terrible idea.

[drballison]

I sent a LOCI right after I heard back, but was told to hold off on sending them a letter until May. :/

[drballison]

BoalTTT at sticker is a terrible idea.

Why is that? Not questioning your opinion, just genuinely would like to know.

[Mack.Hambleton]

if you want to work in biglaw, then Cornell

if you want to work in california and probably not biglaw, then USC

[drballison]

if you want to work in biglaw, then Cornell

if you want to work in california and probably not biglaw, then USC

And if I want to work in California biglaw?

[Mack.Hambleton]

if you want to work in biglaw, then Cornell

if you want to work in california and probably not biglaw, then USC

And if I want to work in California biglaw?

Try again at boalt next year?

[drballison]

if you want to work in biglaw, then Cornell

if you want to work in california and probably not biglaw, then USC

And if I want to work in California biglaw?

Try again at boalt next year?

Definitely not an option to wait a year. Are my options really so bad for California biglaw?

[Auxilio]

if you want to work in biglaw, then Cornell

if you want to work in california and probably not biglaw, then USC

And if I want to work in California biglaw?

Try again at boalt next year?

Yeah I think this is sadly the correct choice. If you are 100% unwilling to work on East coast, then I think your best option is to wait a year.

Now you could go to NYU and try (with pretty good chances) at going back to California, but that cannot be recommended unless you are willing to consider NYU biglaw as a fall back at least.

[drballison]

if you want to work in biglaw, then Cornell

if you want to work in california and probably not biglaw, then USC

And if I want to work in California biglaw?

Try again at boalt next year?

Yeah I think this is sadly the correct choice. If you are 100% unwilling to work on East coast, then I think your best option is to wait a year.

Now you could go to NYU and try (with pretty good chances) at going back to California, but that cannot be recommended unless you are willing to consider NYU biglaw as a fall back at least.

Why is that? I've heard pretty great things from Boalt 3Ls about biglaw job placement. Is it really that bad to just go sticker? Shouldn't I be able to service my debts? Please tell me if I'm totally off

[Big Dog]

LOCI to UCLA is the only correct answer.

173, GPA is a 4.12. Just got rejected from Harvard,

I'm shocked. Any idea on what happened?

[kingpin101]

I think it's pretty obvious Boalt at sticker is an atrocious idea, but if it isn't for you read around this site a bit more.

[drballison]

I think it's pretty obvious Boalt at sticker is an atrocious idea, but if it isn't for you read around this site a bit more.

I've read quite a bit here and haven't gotten that. Can you explain why? I'm honestly asking because I want to make sure I don't have the wrong impression.

[jbagelboy]

NYU

[Auxilio]

There are a lot of better posts (from people who have experienced it) about why taking 300k in debt is ridiculous.
Lets look at BEST CASE scenario: you get the big law job, and keep it for a 5 years, remembering that there is a very real chance this outcome will not happen, and you will have 300k+ debt with a low salary (around 60k).

You will be taking home ~95k after taxes each year, and almost no one stays in big law longer than 6 years.
This means you want the majority of your debt paid off within that 6 years (which is much longer than majority stay in). Say you aim for 240k paid off, that's 40k a year off of a 95k salary. So you would be taking home around 55k while living in a high cost of living area, and working extremely hard to get that.

It is not like Big Law is this really enjoyable/rewarding work. It is a boring, on call constantly, and stressful job - made even more stressful by the knowledge that you CANNOT quit/get fired because of your debt.

It is not the worst situation in the world, but it is silly to take that much debt to get there.

[rpupkin]

Why is that? I've heard pretty great things from Boalt 3Ls about biglaw job placement. Is it really that bad to just go sticker? Shouldn't I be able to service my debts? Please tell me if I'm totally off

It's not a "Boalt" problem; it's a "living with massive debt" problem.

[Auxilio]

http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 4&t=241821

is a good place to start reading on why being locked into biglaw with a mediocre quality of life outside work is not worth it.

[drballison]

In that case, would it be better to go to USC with a full-ride and a much smaller chance of biglaw?

[Dog]

I think you should be picking between:

Stanford (if you get in)
Berkeley (if you get a large scholarship)
UCLA (if you can get off the waitlist and get a full ride)
USC with a full ride
Reapplying (if you don't get the Berk/Stanford options and you aren't comfortable with a USC/UCLA full ride)

Your numbers are really strong, you shouldn't have to do something like Boalt at sticker.

[drballison]

LOCI to UCLA is the only correct answer.

173, GPA is a 4.12. Just got rejected from Harvard,

I'm shocked. Any idea on what happened?

None at all. Got an interview which I think went really well early in my cycle, then radio silence until a few days ago. Majorly disappointing, and have yet to hear back from Yale or Stanford.

[Auxilio]

In that case, would it be better to go to USC with a full-ride and a much smaller chance of biglaw?

If you are comfortable with working outside of biglaw it is not a horrible choice.

[ub3r]

I hope you get into Stanford. I think you will.

[rpupkin]

NYU

I don't know, jbagelboy. That's a lot of NYU debt for someone who is certain they don't want NYC big law. Plus, NYU tuition is what, $10K a year more than Boalt's? And COL for NYU is at a bit higher than COL at Berkeley. At the end of the day, total COA at NYU will probably be around $30K less at NYU compared to Berkeley. But attending NYU means that OP is probably a little worse off (compared to Boalt) for the California big law market he/she wants.

I'm not saying Boalt at sticker is the right choice, but I can't see how NYU w/75K is the right choice either.