Harvard vs. Stanford for Corporate Law Forum

[somethinggeneric]

-The schools you are considering: Harvard and Stanford

-COA: About the same for both

-Your general career goals: M&A law at Biglaw

-Where you are from and where you want to work, and other places where you have significant ties (if any): From Chicago, would like to spend a few years working in the Bay Area and then move back to Chicago

A few people I've talked to have said that it pretty much boils down to locational preference but I'd love to hear your opinions. Feel free to PM me as well. Thanks in advance!

[malleus discentium]

Why are you going to H or S if you just want corporate biglaw? Take the money and run dude.

[krads153]

Why are you going to H or S if you just want corporate biglaw? Take the money and run dude.

We don't know what the cost is though - might be relatively cheap

That said, I'd always pick S over H. Cambridge sucks.

[blackcup]

There are a lot more Harvard grads in Chicago than Stanford grads. It is probably a product of self-selection (why would anyone in Palo Alto want to come to Chicago), though.

[BigZuck]

Why are you going to H or S if you just want corporate biglaw? Take the money and run dude.

This is what I thought too

[jbagelboy]

What are your other offers? How much merit aid are these schools offering?

[PotenC]

If you're limited to picking between the two and you want to start out in the Bay I would pick Stanford over Harvard. This would serve to establish ties and S unequivocally>everything else for Bay Area placement.

[Cobretti]

There are a lot more Harvard grads in Chicago than Stanford grads. It is probably a product of self-selection (why would anyone in Palo Alto want to come to Chicago), though.

Harvard's class size dwarfs Stanford's.

There are a handful of S guys at my firm and I'm sure you'd get back here just as easily as if you went to H.

[Mack.Hambleton]

Want to start in the bay area? Seems like a pretty obvious choice lol. Only thing that would sway it would be if there was a significant money difference between the two.

Based on my research they're equal for Chicago market

[OhBoyOhBortles]

What are your other offers? How much merit aid are these schools offering?

[Mack.Hambleton]

Considering its June 16th they've probably withdrawn their other offers..

[KaNa1986]

If you're limited to picking between the two and you want to start out in the Bay I would pick Stanford over Harvard. This would serve to establish ties and S unequivocally>everything else for Bay Area placement.

Getting Bay Area from H is easy (MoFo, Cooley, Wilson Sonsini all hire below median at H) if you have strong ties. If you want M&A, New York is the place to be. Bay Area largely focuses on smaller private tech M&A.

[jingosaur]

Both are about equal in corporate law placement. H has a much bigger OCI and probably more resources for corporate law because it's so much bigger, but S is probably better if you want to start off in the Bay area. Cambridge is expensive and boring for a college town. Palo Alto is even more expensive and also boring.

[iamgeorgebush]

Stanford would probably be better if you wanted to start in the Bay Area, but I would question starting in the Bay Area if you want to practice M&A and your ultimate goal is to end up in Chicago. It would probably be better to start in Chicago or New York if that's the case, and Harvard might have a slight edge over Stanford for NYC. (Couldn't say for Chicago.) But here's a question: Did you get into UChi, Columbia, or another top school? If so, what have they offered you in terms of scholarships?

[Instinctive]

You can do the things you want from either.

Stanford's a pretty awesome place to live. The people mentioning PA as boring clearly didn't go here - CalTrain up to SF on weekends is super easy, and there's always stuff going on up there. And the grad student population here parties pretty regularly.

Bay Area will be way easier to do from Stanford, obviously. But with equal COA, you can't really go wrong if you fall in love with Harvard for some reason. I'd never choose H over S (and didn't, obviously), but it's not like you've chosen wrong if you do. Pick the one you feel is a better fit, the career stuff will all fall into place.

[EvelynS]

Both schools are great for corporate law. And the Bay Area is way better than Cambridge. Although, snow days could be fun...but since you are from Chicago, I don't think you will be that much into that. lol However, S's corporate class offerings may be geared a bit more towards the needs of the Bay Area, i.e., M&A in the context of tech transactions. But, since corporate groups in PA are not as big as in NY, you may get a chance to take on serious responsibility very early in your career (like handling your own small M&A transactions from the very beginning). That being said, whether you go to S or H doesn't really matter in terms of getting a job in the Bay Area. For very obvious reasons (like self-selection), you may see more S grads working in corporate practices in the Bay Area. But all the H people I know who wanted to be in the Bay Area had no problems doing that. I don't know if you have any ties to the Bay Area, but that something to consider as well in choosing a school. Bay Area is big on ties. If you go to S, there is a presumption that you kind of have ties to the Bay Area (take it with a grain of salt), but I don't think that really hurts your chances if you are coming from H. If you chose UChi, I could see "ties" issue being a bit of a problem, but choosing either H or S would not make a huge difference on that issue, in my opinion. I would choose S just because Bay Area is much better than Cambridge in terms of food and things to do. I guess this boils down to where you feel more comfortable. Anyways, congrats and good luck! You can't go wrong with either choices.

[BigZuck]

No but seriously, why would you go to one of these schools if you just want to do corp big law?

Take the money and RUN

[malleus discentium]

No but seriously, why would you go to one of these schools if you just want to do corp big law?

Take the money and RUN

jfc people, this is the only answer to his question. he wants M&A biglaw. that is the path of least possible resistance for a T14 law student. you don't need HYS for that.