Top Law Schools

My partner will be attending Cornell next year, so I've narrowed down my options to three, listed in ascending order of desirability:

Columbia: Haven't received financial aid package yet.

NYU: $75K, going up to $90K if I do PI my 2L summer instead of biglaw.

Cornell: $75K. Already refused a request to increase based on a higher T-14 offer.

Goal: BigFed; if not that, then state or local government; PI-oriented, but willing to consider a brief stint in biglaw. Not interested in doing law firm work in NYC for longer than a couple of years, would be happy to completely avoid it. Same really goes for most major markets. Ties to the West Coast.

I listed Cornell as the most desirable option, but it's really tied with NYU. I'd vastly prefer to live with my SO rather than 4 hours apart, and I'd actually rather live in Ithaca than NYC. But with its higher rank and better LRAP, NYU makes more sense for my career. My partner realizes this and keeps pushing me to consider NYU. I'm quite torn.

What will your debt at graduation be?

I vote for going to be with your partner.

Debt at graduation for NYU or Cornell would be $180,000—add $20,000 for compounding interest and the total would be around $200,000.

For Columbia, debt at graduation would be around $255,000—$280,000 including compounding interest.

I'd like to go with my partner, but if NYU is the better option, then we may end up doing long-distance.

I'd take Cornell. The long distance will add time and stress you don't need to deal with. And it's hard to put a price on happiness.

tigersunite wrote:Debt at graduation for NYU or Cornell would be $180,000—add $20,000 for compounding interest and the total would be around $200,000.

For Columbia, debt at graduation would be around $255,000—$280,000 including compounding interest.

I'd like to go with my partner, but if NYU is the better option, then we may end up doing long-distance.

That's shit ton of debt from all of them....can you retake/reapply (even if you're intent on going to Cornell)? I don't recall thinking that Cornell had a good LRAP.

Sadly I don't think retaking would help. My stats are 3.5/175. You're right that it's a hell of a lot of debt. I'm going to take another crack at Cornell in a few days, using my NYU scholarship money as leverage this time and perhaps promising to attend if they increase. I am worried about the fact that they didn't bump my scholarship at all after my last request though. Hoping that they believed I wasn't serious about attending, and that I can persuade them otherwise this time.

tigersunite wrote:Sadly I don't think retaking would help. My stats are 3.5/175. You're right that it's a hell of a lot of debt. I'm going to take another crack at Cornell in a few days, using my NYU scholarship money as leverage this time and perhaps promising to attend if they increase. I am worried about the fact that they didn't bump my scholarship at all after my last request though. Hoping that they believed I wasn't serious about attending, and that I can persuade them otherwise this time.

The Cornell scholarship is too low for these numbers. The NYU one is about right. Hopefully you'll get $70-90k from CLS too.

Well, I tried to renegotiate using my NYU offer and the fact that I really want to go to Cornell (I do). Offered to immediately deposit if they would bump me up to $45K/year, thinking that they would offer to meet me in the middle somewhere. Got an email back this morning saying that they would only accept one negotiation attempt and that the $25K/year is the best they can do.

... Yikes. Despite my trepidation about living in NYC, this would have me going with NYU for sure under normal circumstances. But my fiancé and I were just looking at apartments in Ithaca last night (cheap as hell too) and ... I don't know. This is a tough call.

tigersunite wrote:Well, I tried to renegotiate using my NYU offer and the fact that I really want to go to Cornell (I do). Offered to immediately deposit if they would bump me up to $45K/year, thinking that they would offer to meet me in the middle somewhere. Got an email back this morning saying that they would only accept one negotiation attempt and that the $25K/year is the best they can do.

... Yikes. Despite my trepidation about living in NYC, this would have me going with NYU for sure under normal circumstances. But my fiancé and I were just looking at apartments in Ithaca last night (cheap as hell too) and ... I don't know. This is a tough call.

If you're going to get married and merge that debt, know that both of you will save living together in Ithaca.