NYU or wait a year? Forum

[lunixer]

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[Hutz_and_Goodman]

You have to retake and reapply. Otherwise you are selling yourself short.

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[transferror]

How will you be financing law school?

[lunixer]

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[transferror]

How will you be financing law school?

Almost entirely loans.

Ok. What are your career/job goals?

[shump92]

NYU at sticker? Interest in clerkships/DC government work?

Either true reapply. Even without a second LSAT bump the 5 point improvement you had will improve your cycle.

[lunixer]

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[transferror]

How will you be financing law school?

Almost entirely loans.

Ok. What are your career/job goals?

My not-gonna-happen goal is to be a federal judge, which obviously pretty much requires going to Harvard or Yale. My probably-gonna-happen goal is to be some kind of legal researcher. My masters is in library science, and while I don't want to be a last librarian, I could see myself as a perpetual clerk out a research type for a nonprofit. Really, I'm sure I would like most anything other than biglaw (and I honestly don't care at all how much money I make) so I'm thinking that I'll figure out my plans more solidly in school.

Edit: meant law librarian, not last librarian. Sorry, typing on my phone.

Then you need to minimize debt if you're going into a low/moderate-wage career. Retake, reapply and if you hit your 174+ goal you'll receive substantial scholarship (100k - full tuition) from at least one T14. Take the money. Sticker price is generally a bad idea and especially with your goals.

Good luck.

[Killingly]

I was also accepted to NYU off the wait list and attended at sticker.

Now a grad with a big law job lined up and I still regret my decision.

Retake.

[lunixer]

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[Ron Howard]

I was also accepted to NYU off the wait list and attended at sticker.

Now a grad with a big law job lined up and I still regret my decision.

Retake.

Why do you regret your decision?

He probably regrets it because of the massive debt load.

[Johann]

I was also accepted to NYU off the wait list and attended at sticker.

Now a grad with a big law job lined up and I still regret my decision.

Retake.

Why do you regret your decision?

He probably regrets it because of the massive debt load.

He's about to regret it because of the biglaw.

[Killingly]

I was also accepted to NYU off the wait list and attended at sticker.

Now a grad with a big law job lined up and I still regret my decision.

Retake.

Why do you regret your decision?

He probably regrets it because of the massive debt load.

I'm a she, but yeah, the debt. Job sucks by he debt is worse. Imagine being in big law and knowing you're free to leave anytime. Imagine being in big law and knowing you're stuck there until you pay off the debt.

[Tom Joad]

PAYE

[OhBoyOhBortles]

Then you need to minimize debt if you're going into a low/moderate-wage career. Retake, reapply and if you hit your 174+ goal you'll receive substantial scholarship (100k - full tuition) from at least one T14. Take the money. Sticker price is generally a bad idea and especially with your goals.

Good luck.

This is great advice. Take it.

[lunixer]

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[ndirish2010]

How will you be financing law school?

Almost entirely loans.

Ok. What are your career/job goals?

My not-gonna-happen goal is to be a federal judge, which obviously pretty much requires going to Harvard or Yale. My probably-gonna-happen goal is to be some kind of legal researcher. My masters is in library science, and while I don't want to be a last librarian, I could see myself as a perpetual clerk out a research type for a nonprofit. Really, I'm sure I would like most anything other than biglaw (and I honestly don't care at all how much money I make) so I'm thinking that I'll figure out my plans more solidly in school.

Edit: meant law librarian, not last librarian. Sorry, typing on my phone.

By the way, it's not necessary at all to go to HYS to become a federal judge. In fact quite a few district judges, especially in non-major cities, went to the local flagship school or other top regional schools. But you have to have connections/know a senator or someone who knows the senator. It's very political, obviously. Definitely not a goal you should start off with from law school.

[lunixer]

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[dnptan]

Anecdotal: I got an offer from NYU (Sticker) with a 170/3.8 and declined it to reapply. I then got a half-schol witha 173/3.8 which I accepted, but got off the WL at H so I decided to go there. But, my parents are 100% financing my education. Otherwise, I would have gone with NYU.

I suggest you retake, a few steps down the ladder without debt is the smarter choice. Your youth should not be wasted paying off debt if it's avoidable.

[lunixer]

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[dnptan]

You want a 174 to be competitive at H, and nobody is really competitive at Y. If name is your only goal, you could always transfer. Also you should consider Stanford - they do fine with clerkship placement. Retake the LSAT (Try #3) and see where you stand.

Note that the top 5% at NYU could be seen as more impressive than the middle of H's class - just something to consider. You also said in a previous post that you got into Columbia. Why would you consider NYU over Columbia at sticker for clerkships?? I'd take Columbia NOW - they were pretty unpredictable in my case. I didn't get in despite getting WLd at Yale and in at H.

If you think a subjective boost is worth $300,000, that's your call to make. As Billy Joel said: "You can see when you're wrong but you can't always see when you're right". Good luck.

[lunixer]

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[jbagelboy]

You want a 174 to be competitive at H, and nobody is really competitive at Y. If name is your only goal, you could always transfer. Also you should consider Stanford - they do fine with clerkship placement. Retake the LSAT (Try #3) and see where you stand.

Note that the top 5% at NYU could be seen as more impressive than the middle of H's class - just something to consider. You also said in a previous post that you got into Columbia. Why would you consider NYU over Columbia at sticker for clerkships?? I'd take Columbia NOW - they were pretty unpredictable in my case. I didn't get in despite getting WLd at Yale and in at H.

If you think a subjective boost is worth $300,000, that's your call to make. As Billy Joel said: "You can see when you're wrong but you can't always see when you're right". Good luck.

EDIT: to answer your other points:

1) I agree with 174 at H. Unfortunately, I don't want to move to the west coast. I don't do well being that far from my family.
2) I had not considered the relative class placement, although I am acting on the assumption that everybody in these schools is super smart, so I will probably be middle of the class or lower wherever I go (except maybe Georgetown). Like I said earlier, I am impressive but not stellar, and certainly not someone who can get through without a ton of studying.
3) Thanks for the advice with Columbia. I was shocked that I even got as far as I did with them with my 165. According to Ann Levine (whom I had a brief consultation with) they have weirder entry criteria than other schools.

Not to argue with you, but just to explain:

a) It's not $300,000 because:
1) It is unlikely that I would go to a school that would give me a full ride
2) Cost of living has to be factored in anyway, regardless of scholarship and tuition really only comes to like $200,000
3) I'm young-ish (24), and I have a long career ahead of me. If I work a few more years with higher pay because of a better school, in the long run that saves me money.

b) It's also not really a subjective boost (for me at least). If you are referring to other people judging me, then it is, but for me, I can objectively say that I would get better jobs and higher pay out of Yale than out of NYU.

Seems like you have a pretty stylized and unsophisticated view of the legal profession and legal hiring, which makes sense given you aren't in law school or an attorney, so I'm not trying to criticize you. For top feeder judges, yes, it helps tremendously to go to Yale. The opportunities from that school for many students are without compare. But you have no idea what you want to do yet, other than "not biglaw," which the vast majority of students at top schools end up working in anyway (with yale as the one exception). The outcomes from the other top set of schools are not so dissimilar to justify a categorical approach here. I don't feel like explaining what's been exhaustively flushed out on this site in many threads, but suffice to say that debt is a far more limiting agent for your career than the vagaries of the US News survey.

It may wind up making perfect sense for you to go to harvard over a scholarship at NYU, but lets also not put the cart before the horse here. You're at a 170/3.75. No offense but those numbers as they stand are not competitive for Harvard or Columbia/Chicago. Your GPA might be too low to make YS an option ever. So focus on that LSAT -- you seem to know what you're doing prep wise -- and worry about school selection when you actually have options on the table.

[lunixer]

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