Columbia or Chicago to End Up in San Diego? Forum

[Tippycanoe]

Trying to decide between Columbia or Chicago, both at negligible cost thanks to scholarships/financial aid. Family's in San Diego and I plan to return there following school, and I don't know that one or the other facilitates that better (into UCLA, USC and USD as well, but am not currently seriously considering them, unless I should be...). I don't yet have a specific practice area I'd like to focus on, and I don't have a preference for NYC or Chicago. Thoughts?

[James.K.Polk]

Hopefully someone who has gone/goes to one of those schools can speak more.

From Law School Transparency, in CA

Chicago places 14.3% of 210 graduates = 30 grads
Columbia places 7.7% of 468 graduates = 36 grads

So, call it a wash... No Stanford?

[Tippycanoe]

Unfortunately, no. I may end up flipping a coin.

[fliptrip]

I hope jbagelboy comes through here. He's a Columbia guy who knows a lot about the CA markets.

Here's one person's take (fellow 0L, feel free to take with a grain of salt).

Your goals are a critical input in school choice. You don't know what area you want to practice in, but do you have any idea what type of work you want to do? Do you want to work in private practice for a large law firm (i.e. the stereotypical "corporate lawyer") or do you want to work as a district attorney/public defender, or do you want to work for a legal organization with a social mission like the ACLU (Please don't yell at me TLS, I know ACLU is a unicorn outome...I am using it here only for illustrative purposes).

If you were going BigLaw, which in SD looks like a big-time challenge, I'd probably go to whichever is cheaper between Columbia and Chicago. If you're super committed to BigLaw, I'd strongly advise you to expand your region to include LA.

If you were trying to be a DA/PD, I'd do whatever I could to make USC or UCLA free and do that or I'd seriously look at full scholarship from USD.

[Sprout]

I can't answer your question because I am not informed enough, but I am a SD native and have several friends in law school/ the legal market there. One friend, who is now a practicing immigration attorney in SD/LA, got a 174 and chose to go to Gould @ USC. I thought she was being insane at the time but it makes sense to me now. So much of your exposure to potential employers will be local.

I personally left CA to WUSTL and regret it a lot now because I didn't realize the importance of being able to connect to the local market. If you're not at the top of the class, those connections are critical. Not sure if you want to be dong big law in SD (you really need to be at a great school/top of your class) or PI or what, but just wanted to share my two cents. Sorry for not being more helpful.

ETA: I'm no expert but if costs aren't at issue, I would pick Columbia. They're essentially ranked the same and Chicago seems to be more of an insular place. I think it will be easier to convince potential employers why you want to be in SD having gone to Columbia rather than Chicago. I feel like not everyone knows that they are ranked so similar, esp in CA. General sentiment I have perceived is that Columbia has more clout, especially wrt breaking into the SD market. Just my opinion though.

[t-14orbust]

Personally have seen people with similar backgrounds get biglaw in SD from both chicago and columbia. I feel like once you reach the threshold for signaling lawyering ability (school, grades, etc) then it comes down to ties, which you have. You'll probably also need to explain why you want your specific practice area(and make sure that area fits in with SD biglegal market) and why you want a smaller satellite office instead of the main hubs. If i were you I'd go to the cheaper option and blanket SD with safeties in LA (whether or not you tell interviewers about LA is another story). SD biglaw wants people who want SD long term from what I've seen.

[SoCalTacos]

Chicago places 14.3% of 210 graduates = 30 grads
Columbia places 7.7% of 468 graduates = 36 grads

This shows that Chicago places twice as many of their class in California that Columbia. Based on this post's argument, you might as well go to Georgetown (large school, which likely has 30+ grads in CA).

I would look at financial aid packages, visit both schools, and choose based on preference (experiences can vary drastically at certain schools).

[TFALAWL]

I went to UVA and ended up having plenty of interviews CB's in SD and will be working in OC.

Either option is fine: the key is to work in SD during your 1L summer to network. Bottom line though is that SD is very small so you will have to bid both in OC and LA. Keep in mind, it's not that difficult to transition between SoCal markets so it's no big deal if you start off in L.A. and lateral to S.D. after a couple years.

[Tiago Splitter]

Whatever you do don't count on San Diego biglaw. There just aren't enough jobs.

I'm a Columbia grad who grew up in San Diego but didn't end up there for a variety of reasons (chief among them zero offers in San Diego). Feel free to PM.

[landshoes]

Are they the same given cost of living?

If all else fails, visit both schools and see how you like the feel, the cities, the profs, etc.

And if you're getting to coin-flip territory, San Diego is a shorter flight from Chicago by about two hours.

[jbagelboy]

As Tiaggo suggested, I don't think you can count on SD biglaw from anywhere without patent credentials. I would look at where you can have the best shot of coming back to OC or LA, since those are two major legal markets close to home that attract students from top east coast schools. I've summered in both of those markets so feel free to PM me about them if you are curious. For OC, Columbia receives more recognition and higher headcount, but in LA, I honestly couldn't tell you between Chicago and CLS--all the top firms view them equally so it should come down to 1) money and 2) culture/city location.

(For me, they were roughly equally priced and I vastly preferred NYC to Chicago, but I can completely see that going the other way).

[rpupkin]

Is Berkeley an option for you? Just anecdotally, it seems like there are a lot of Berkeley grads in SD offices. When you're dealing with a relatively insular market, alumni connections become more relevant.

To be clear, I'm not necessarily recommending Boalt if it's a choice for you. In your situation, I would maybe, probably take CLS or Chi over Boalt....but I'd give Boalt a hard look if I were dead set on San Diego.

[heythatslife]

I think it should be whether you prefer NY or Chicago. It's where you'll be for 3 years, and also where you will most likely end up working if SD biglaw doesn't pan out (which is a non-negligible possibility given the size of the market).

[WheninLaw]

Can't imagine there is much of a difference between the two.

Anecdotally, the two people in my class who wanted SD got it before OCI (from mass mailing).

edit; went to chi

[Troianii]

Trying to decide between Columbia or Chicago, both at negligible cost thanks to scholarships/financial aid. Family's in San Diego and I plan to return there following school, and I don't know that one or the other facilitates that better (into UCLA, USC and USD as well, but am not currently seriously considering them, unless I should be...). I don't yet have a specific practice area I'd like to focus on, and I don't have a preference for NYC or Chicago. Thoughts?

Costs are negligible. You don't want to work in NYC or Chicago. Well... honestly it seems like you have a tough choice, stuck between a sandy beach and a soft place. I think, then, it really just comes down to a kind of personal preference. Do you prefer Chicago or New York? Have you visited and found a preference?

Personally, I'd say Columbia, but I don't think there's any serious difference in regards to your goals.

[cron1834]

I know two people at my lower T14 that got San Diego. It sounds very hit-or-miss. Whichever is cheaper, I guess...