Top Law Schools

The schools you are considering
- Berkeley ( $23k need base grant x 3 = $69k more or less? )
- Cornell ( $150k scholarship )

Other considerations
- Georgetown ( $150k scholarship )

How you will be financing your COA, i.e. loans, family, or savings
- Parents may help with COL but rest Loans

Where you are from and where you want to work, and other places where you have significant ties (if any)/general career goals
- preference for CA Biglaw but not ruling out NY Biglaw, but eventually back to CA
-Strong ties to LA ( born and raised, family in LA)
-Would like to work Biglaw for 3-4 yrs, then in-house

Your LSAT/GPA numbers
-168/ 3.8

bravenewworld123 wrote:The schools you are considering
- Berkeley ( $23k need base grant x 3 = $69k more or less? )
- Cornell ( $150k scholarship )

Other considerations
- Georgetown ( $150k scholarship )

How you will be financing your COA, i.e. loans, family, or savings
- Parents may help with COL but rest Loans

Where you are from and where you want to work, and other places where you have significant ties (if any)/general career goals
- preference for CA Biglaw but not ruling out NY Biglaw, but eventually back to CA
-Strong ties to LA ( born and raised, family in LA)
-Would like to work Biglaw for 3-4 yrs, then in-house

Your LSAT/GPA numbers
-168/ 3.8

Since you already have CA ties, take that Cornell money and run. Berk is nowhere close to worth it since you want big law.

So what is the actual COA difference between Berkeley and Cornell? Isn't Cornell's tuition $10K+ more than Berkeley for a Cali resident? If the total COA difference here is like $40K, and if you have a strong preference for California, then I think Berkeley might be worth it.

On TLS lately, I've seen a lot of "Cornell students with strong ties do fine in California." As someone who has participated in associate hiring at two California firms, I would say that "Cornell students with strong ties AND good grades do fine in California." You'll need better grades at Cornell (compared to Berkeley) to be safe for California big law.

rpupkin wrote:So what is the actual COA difference between Berkeley and Cornell? Isn't Cornell's tuition $10K+ more than Berkeley for a Cali resident? If the total COA difference here is like $40K, and if you have a strong preference for California, then I think Berkeley might be worth it.

On TLS lately, I've seen a lot of "Cornell students with strong ties do fine in California." As someone who has participated in associate hiring at two California firms, I would say that "Cornell students with strong ties AND good grades do fine in California." You'll need better grades at Cornell (compared to Berkeley) to be safe for California big law.

Sorry if this isn't entirely related to your question OP, but what about other schools in California (i.e. UCLA or USC) vs. Cornell? Would you still need better grades at Cornell to be safe?

seansj1 wrote:

rpupkin wrote:So what is the actual COA difference between Berkeley and Cornell? Isn't Cornell's tuition $10K+ more than Berkeley for a Cali resident? If the total COA difference here is like $40K, and if you have a strong preference for California, then I think Berkeley might be worth it.

On TLS lately, I've seen a lot of "Cornell students with strong ties do fine in California." As someone who has participated in associate hiring at two California firms, I would say that "Cornell students with strong ties AND good grades do fine in California." You'll need better grades at Cornell (compared to Berkeley) to be safe for California big law.

Sorry if this isn't entirely related to your question OP, but what about other schools in California (i.e. UCLA or USC) vs. Cornell? Would you still need better grades at Cornell to be safe?

Relative to UCLA and USC? No. But keep in mind that you also need good grades (i.e., significantly above median) from either of those schools to be safe for California big law.

rpupkin wrote:So what is the actual COA difference between Berkeley and Cornell? Isn't Cornell's tuition $10K+ more than Berkeley for a Cali resident? If the total COA difference here is like $40K, and if you have a strong preference for California, then I think Berkeley might be worth it.

On TLS lately, I've seen a lot of "Cornell students with strong ties do fine in California." As someone who has participated in associate hiring at two California firms, I would say that "Cornell students with strong ties AND good grades do fine in California." You'll need better grades at Cornell (compared to Berkeley) to be safe for California big law.

I'm really torn between the two schools. The difference between Berkeley and Cornell will be about $56-$60K. I've visited both and I really liked Berkeley and Cornell was alright as well. However, When I visited Cornell, it was nice and sunny. Although I've gotten used to the cold weather (currently in Northeast for undergrad), I'm wondering if Cornell's extremely cold and gloomy weather will be depressing.

On TLS, everyone mentions how miserable coming out of law school with a large debt is and it scares me a bit. I am wondering if I should suck it up for three years, go to Cornell,come out of school with small debt, work in NY, then try to comeback to LA (not sure how hard that is) or take on the large debt and attend Berkeley as CA is my first preference and I really did like Berkeley a lot. I know I will be happier there. But the debt! Is Berkeley worth $56-$60K more?

.

There is value in law school connections in your targeted market. Both professors & classmates can help when seeking references during a job search. Are those connections in California worth an extra $56,000 to $60,000 to you ?

(Also, it would be interesting to know your current undergraduate school.)