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Hello!

So I'm struggling to make a decision between Cornell and NYU. Cornell has offered me $25k a year, while NYU has yet to offer me anything. I heard back from NYU very late in the game so I haven't been able to send them my merit request form until just yesterday. I expect to hear back by the end of the week.

I'm living on Long Island, and I'm looking to join big law in NYC right out the gates, at least to pay off my debt. I'm leaning towards Cornell because, the way I see it, less debt means I have more freedom to pursue other career choices if I find that big law isn't for me.

I am planning to use Cornell's offer to try and get something from NYU, but I'm not expecting much of anything. I took the lsat once and got a 171, and my gpa is a 3.63.

Is attending NYU worth the extra debt? Would I have a better law school experience at NYU because it's in the city?

Any help is appreciated! Thank you!

Don't go to NYU at sticker.

penguinJAM wrote:Hello!

So I'm struggling to make a decision between Cornell and NYU. Cornell has offered me $25k a year, while NYU has yet to offer me anything. I heard back from NYU very late in the game so I haven't been able to send them my merit request form until just yesterday. I expect to hear back by the end of the week.

I'm living on Long Island, and I'm looking to join big law in NYC right out the gates, at least to pay off my debt. I'm leaning towards Cornell because, the way I see it, less debt means I have more freedom to pursue other career choices if I find that big law isn't for me.

I am planning to use Cornell's offer to try and get something from NYU, but I'm not expecting much of anything. I took the lsat once and got a 171, and my gpa is a 3.63.

Is attending NYU worth the extra debt? Would I have a better law school experience at NYU because it's in the city?

Any help is appreciated! Thank you!

Between the scholly, cost of living differences, and interest, you're probably looking at NYU costing about $100k more. You'll probably end up in biglaw from either place. I would not spend a few more years in debt paying off an extra $100k for a "better law school experience" in NYC, particularly since most of the time you'll be too busy to enjoy that experience. And if you end up hating biglaw (which many people do) spending 2-3 more years there to pay off that debt probably won't seem even remotely worth the added value of living in NYC for law school.

NYU 3L here.

If NYU ends up offering you nothing, go to Cornell and never look back.

Don't go to NYU at sticker.

Do not attend NYU at sticker. Ask Cornell for more money in order to make your decision even easier that it already appears.

Any other offers ?

You can probably get more $ from Cornell through negotiation
NYU at sticker is beyond insane

Hutz_and_Goodman wrote:You can probably get more $ from Cornell through negotiation
NYU at sticker is beyond insane

What would OP negotiate with? I don't know if Cornell's upping $75k based on an NYU acceptance

ETA: they're not.

CanadianWolf wrote:Do not attend NYU at sticker. Ask Cornell for more money in order to make your decision even easier that it already appears.

Any other offers ?

None of my other offers interest me at all. I got money at BU and GW but I want to stay in NY.

And I didn't think I could negotiate with Cornell with just an NYU acceptance. I figure if maybe NYU gives me some money I could use that. But I'm also running really short on time to put my first deposit down.

penguinJAM wrote:

CanadianWolf wrote:Do not attend NYU at sticker. Ask Cornell for more money in order to make your decision even easier that it already appears.

Any other offers ?

None of my other offers interest me at all. I got money at BU and GW but I want to stay in NY.

And I didn't think I could negotiate with Cornell with just an NYU acceptance. I figure if maybe NYU gives me some money I could use that. But I'm also running really short on time to put my first deposit down.

Did you not blanket the T14, at least for negotiation power?

Winston1984 wrote:

penguinJAM wrote:

CanadianWolf wrote:Do not attend NYU at sticker. Ask Cornell for more money in order to make your decision even easier that it already appears.

Any other offers ?

None of my other offers interest me at all. I got money at BU and GW but I want to stay in NY.

And I didn't think I could negotiate with Cornell with just an NYU acceptance. I figure if maybe NYU gives me some money I could use that. But I'm also running really short on time to put my first deposit down.

Did you not blanket the T14, at least for negotiation power?

I did. Got rejected/waitlisted from everywhere else.

penguinJAM wrote:

Winston1984 wrote:

penguinJAM wrote:

CanadianWolf wrote:Do not attend NYU at sticker. Ask Cornell for more money in order to make your decision even easier that it already appears.

Any other offers ?

None of my other offers interest me at all. I got money at BU and GW but I want to stay in NY.

And I didn't think I could negotiate with Cornell with just an NYU acceptance. I figure if maybe NYU gives me some money I could use that. But I'm also running really short on time to put my first deposit down.

Did you not blanket the T14, at least for negotiation power?

I did. Got rejected/waitlisted from everywhere else.

Sorry to hear that.. Well your Cornell offer definitely isn't bad. And it is much better than NYU with nothing. I would ride some of those waitlists out though. That 171 could be pretty valuable to some schools once first and second deposits pass.

You can still negotiate--just do it gently & politely. And, of course, respectfully.

You don't have to negotiate against another acceptance and/or scholarship offer, negotiate against the total COA at Cornell.

So I tried to negotiate with NYU and Cornell, and neither of them changed their offers.

I'm still torn though. Wouldn't I have an easier time interning in the city over the Summers if I already had a place set up there?

And if I go to Cornell, I'll have to get a new car. My current car can't handle the hills and snow at Ithaca. That would probably cost me around $20k.

COA for NYU would be at around $250k, and Cornell would be about $180-190k. Cornells COA is including the car.

Is it still open and shut?

Get off the waitlists, continue negotiating, then get a bit more $ from Cornell.

runinthefront wrote:Don't go to NYU at sticker.

But do go to Cornell with $180-190K of debt?

penguinJAM wrote:So I tried to negotiate with NYU and Cornell, and neither of them changed their offers.

I'm still torn though. Wouldn't I have an easier time interning in the city over the Summers if I already had a place set up there?

And if I go to Cornell, I'll have to get a new car. My current car can't handle the hills and snow at Ithaca. That would probably cost me around $20k.

COA for NYU would be at around $250k, and Cornell would be about $180-190k. Cornells COA is including the car.

Is it still open and shut?

Why do you need to buy such an expensive car?

bretby wrote:

penguinJAM wrote:So I tried to negotiate with NYU and Cornell, and neither of them changed their offers.

I'm still torn though. Wouldn't I have an easier time interning in the city over the Summers if I already had a place set up there?

And if I go to Cornell, I'll have to get a new car. My current car can't handle the hills and snow at Ithaca. That would probably cost me around $20k.

COA for NYU would be at around $250k, and Cornell would be about $180-190k. Cornells COA is including the car.

Is it still open and shut?

Why do you need to buy such an expensive car?

This. ETA: http://ithaca.craigslist.org/cto/4956591605.html Pretty sure you'll be fine for 3 years with a much lower auto budget.

OhBoyOhBortles wrote:

bretby wrote:

penguinJAM wrote:So I tried to negotiate with NYU and Cornell, and neither of them changed their offers.

I'm still torn though. Wouldn't I have an easier time interning in the city over the Summers if I already had a place set up there?

And if I go to Cornell, I'll have to get a new car. My current car can't handle the hills and snow at Ithaca. That would probably cost me around $20k.

COA for NYU would be at around $250k, and Cornell would be about $180-190k. Cornells COA is including the car.

Is it still open and shut?

Why do you need to buy such an expensive car?

This. ETA: http://ithaca.craigslist.org/cto/4956591605.html Pretty sure you'll be fine for 3 years with a much lower auto budget.

I'll admit that after having visited Ithaca and experienced these past two NY winters I am very worried about transportation. If I was to spend ~$5000 on a new car, that would put my Cornell COA at around $165k.

Collegetown is walkable, dude. Fuck the car. Plus you can always carpool for grocery shopping.

You absolutely do not need a car at Cornell. A substantial number of law students do not have one.

penguinJAM wrote:

OhBoyOhBortles wrote:

bretby wrote:

penguinJAM wrote:So I tried to negotiate with NYU and Cornell, and neither of them changed their offers.

I'm still torn though. Wouldn't I have an easier time interning in the city over the Summers if I already had a place set up there?

And if I go to Cornell, I'll have to get a new car. My current car can't handle the hills and snow at Ithaca. That would probably cost me around $20k.

COA for NYU would be at around $250k, and Cornell would be about $180-190k. Cornells COA is including the car.

Is it still open and shut?

Why do you need to buy such an expensive car?

This. ETA: http://ithaca.craigslist.org/cto/4956591605.html Pretty sure you'll be fine for 3 years with a much lower auto budget.

I'll admit that after having visited Ithaca and experienced these past two NY winters I am very worried about transportation. If I was to spend ~$5000 on a new car, that would put my Cornell COA at around $165k.

Damn you're trying way too hard to justify NYU here.

Word dude. 0L here, but Cornell is like the backdoor to NYC Big Law. Don't be fooled by the prestige.

I am an NYU grad and loved it there, but if I had your choice, I would likely lean Cornell. 75K is an awful lot of money. And Cornell's placement into NYC biglaw is very strong. If NYU were willing to negotiate and close the gap a bit, the choice may be different. But at those numbers, I'd say Cornell probably makes most sense.

I myself used T6 acceptances to leverage a 10K/year scholarship out of Cornell, which wasn't enough to justify picking it (at least for me). But 75K would be a different story.

What is this OP talking about with the car and biglaw arguments? Has he ever seen Cornell's numbers, or been to Ithaca? Dude, go to NYU if you want to; it's your life. But, don't try to justify it by arguing that NYU is the objectively better decision (it's not).