Michigan $$ vs. Northwestern $$ Forum

[James.K.Polk]

Just want to be sure I'm not crazy. Please don't quote.

I posted all of my options in an earlier thread and my stats, but here are the basics:

3.10/171. STEM. Will try to take the patent bar this summer. I want to do patent law, big firm or boutique, preferably Chicago. Midwestern.

Choices:

Michigan at 90k scholarship.
Northwestern at 90k scholarship.

On mobile so I can't calculate COAs right this second, but Northwestern is ~30k more. I really hope I can get a bump to make up the difference and make this easy, but I don't know that I will.

Is it a bad choice to take Northwestern here? Can a lower-ranked school be worth a 30k hit?

[urbanist11]

NU is defensible at that cost difference IMO. Not sure why you keep getting hung up on the "lower rank" of Northwestern compared to Michigan, especially if you are interested in working in Chicago.

[Leonardo DiCaprio]

go to northwestern. northwestern has had better job numbers than michigan for like 6 years now.

[star fox]

Just don't live in Streeterville.

[Nebby]

NU is the CLEAR winner here

[HP5450]

go to northwestern. northwestern has had better job numbers than michigan for like 6 years now.

Go to Northwestern if you want; it makes sense if you know you want to be in Chicago. But don't believe the job stats are better. Michigan's LST employment score is 9.2 percentage points higher. Northwestern has more students go into large firms, because Michigan has more public interest focused students. But substantially more Northwestern students are ending up unemployed.

[miku015]

go to northwestern. northwestern has had better job numbers than michigan for like 6 years now.

Go to Northwestern if you want; it makes sense if you know you want to be in Chicago. But don't believe the job stats are better. Michigan's LST employment score is 9.2 percentage points higher. Northwestern has more students go into large firms, because Michigan has more public interest focused students. But substantially more Northwestern students are ending up unemployed.

Man I actually had to double-check the numbers to see if you're right because that sounded so wrong what with all the anti-Mich posts everywhere, but NU does indeed have more unemployed than Mich. After looking at schools only based on BL+FC for so long my eyes have started to glaze over for every other stat.

[Johann]

NU is the CLEAR winner here

[californiauser]

Northwestern is absolutely not worth 30k more than Michigan unless you have a compelling reason to be in Chicago

you're going to be fine going into patent law from either school, so you might as well save 30k

[guynourmin]

Northwestern is absolutely not worth 30k more than Michigan unless you have a compelling reason to be in Chicago

you're going to be fine going into patent law from either school, so you might as well save 30k

I'd agree with this. Both schools place well in Chicago. NU moreso, but I'd imagine that's self-selection as much as anything else. Unless you HAVE to go to school in chicago, I'd spend a few years in A2.

[tuesdayninja]

Go blue, you're IP, you're getting similar results from both schools. Save the money and buy football tickets to a good team.

[star fox]

go to northwestern. northwestern has had better job numbers than michigan for like 6 years now.

Go to Northwestern if you want; it makes sense if you know you want to be in Chicago. But don't believe the job stats are better. Michigan's LST employment score is 9.2 percentage points higher. Northwestern has more students go into large firms, because Michigan has more public interest focused students. But substantially more Northwestern students are ending up unemployed.

Man I actually had to double-check the numbers to see if you're right because that sounded so wrong what with all the anti-Mich posts everywhere, but NU does indeed have more unemployed than Mich. After looking at schools only based on BL+FC for so long my eyes have started to glaze over for every other stat.

NU is going to have lower FT-LT Bar Passage positions because there are a significant number of JD-MBAs many of whom elect to go into Business positions that don't require a JD (like Consulting).

[miku015]

go to northwestern. northwestern has had better job numbers than michigan for like 6 years now.

Go to Northwestern if you want; it makes sense if you know you want to be in Chicago. But don't believe the job stats are better. Michigan's LST employment score is 9.2 percentage points higher. Northwestern has more students go into large firms, because Michigan has more public interest focused students. But substantially more Northwestern students are ending up unemployed.

Man I actually had to double-check the numbers to see if you're right because that sounded so wrong what with all the anti-Mich posts everywhere, but NU does indeed have more unemployed than Mich. After looking at schools only based on BL+FC for so long my eyes have started to glaze over for every other stat.

NU is going to have lower FT-LT Bar Passage positions because there are a significant number of JD-MBAs many of whom elect to go into Business positions that don't require a JD (like Consulting).

I was referring to just raw unemployment based on the newest ABAs, NU has 12/288 unemployed whereas Michigan has 10/354.

[star fox]

go to northwestern. northwestern has had better job numbers than michigan for like 6 years now.

Go to Northwestern if you want; it makes sense if you know you want to be in Chicago. But don't believe the job stats are better. Michigan's LST employment score is 9.2 percentage points higher. Northwestern has more students go into large firms, because Michigan has more public interest focused students. But substantially more Northwestern students are ending up unemployed.

Man I actually had to double-check the numbers to see if you're right because that sounded so wrong what with all the anti-Mich posts everywhere, but NU does indeed have more unemployed than Mich. After looking at schools only based on BL+FC for so long my eyes have started to glaze over for every other stat.

NU is going to have lower FT-LT Bar Passage positions because there are a significant number of JD-MBAs many of whom elect to go into Business positions that don't require a JD (like Consulting).

I was referring to just raw unemployment based on the newest ABAs, NU has 12/288 unemployed whereas Michigan has 10/354.

With Michigan having an offsetting higher amount of Underemployment. I wouldn't read too much into this.

[cron1834]

1) $30k is more like $40k over the lifetime of a loan on a 10-year plan

2) These are peer schools, and if you're legit IP-secure it doesn't matter anyway

3) Unless Chicago is, like, the be-all and end-all, I'd save the $40k dude

[James.K.Polk]

Appreciate all the advice. Chicago has more pull (SO and brother live there) than Ann Arbor, but I did really enjoy A2 when I visited.

Again, I asked for a slight boost to make up the COL difference and hopefully they come through to help me feel a little safer, but I've really been feeling good about Northwestern lately. I like the convenience of summer jobs being (hopefully) in the same city, especially if patent bar passage can help me find a summer job for the 1L summer.