Northwestern vs. NYU Forum

[cavalier1138]

Long-time lurker, first-time poster.

I'd love to have some input from anyone (especially current students) on my situation. I really want to study international human rights law, and I've narrowed my choices down to Northwestern and NYU. Both schools are offering similar amounts of money ($75k from Northwestern, $90k from NYU), and they both have great programs from where I'm sitting.

On the Northwestern side, I already live in Chicago and love the city. The school is smaller, and I'm already admitted to the JD/LLM in IHR, which means I'm guaranteed a lot of close contact and work with professors in that field. So it seems like it's just going to be a more personalized experience. Chicago is also cheaper than New York when it comes to COL.

NYU, on the other hand, is know for having the best international law program in the country. They have an amazing team, and they seem to be able to place more students in the type of jobs I want to be working in. The catch for me seems to be that it is a large school, and I may not be able to get in to an LLM program (I'd be gambling on applying for it in my second year). Additionally, I'm not sure that the job numbers are as good a barometer, because NYU is a larger school and just has more students going out for that kind of work.

A large chunk of me thinks that if I can talk Northwestern into raising their offer a bit, that'll make my decision for me. But I'm always up for crowd-sourcing stuff like this. So what would you do in my situation?

[trebekismyhero]

If you're happy in Chicago and already in the program that you want at NU just let them know about NYU's offer. I am sure they'll at least match it if not exceed it

[irishballa]

Easy—Get NU to match, then enjoy Chicago.

[cavalier1138]

If you're happy in Chicago and already in the program that you want at NU just let them know about NYU's offer. I am sure they'll at least match it if not exceed it

That's what I'm hoping. I have a 173/3.7, so I'm thinking that leveraging NYU and one of my other offers should give me some bargaining power.