Top Law Schools

Hello whoever will help,

I am currently frantically flip flopping between NYU and Columbia. I hope to pursue a career in prosecution on a federal level or a career in National Security Law. By the way, the NYU 90k converts to 105K if I make crappy money my 2L summer (which I likely will, with my interests).

I will be financing the rest of my COA through loans. COA would be 50K NYU and 68K Columbia with grants taken into account.

I visited both schools recently and definitely got a better vibe from NYU (not to say I got a bad one from Columbia). At the moment, I've been telling those who ask that I will be attending Columbia, but I'm starting to feel like I'm only saying this for its prestige factor. I want to go to the school where I will be happiest, but not at the expense of passing up opportunities.

Is there that much of a difference between the two schools? In y'alls opinion, does Columbia put you in contact with people and open doors that NYU simply could not? Or am I letting the Ivy League mystique cloud my thought process?

Thank you in advance for any feedback.

NYU.

Also note that Columbia's tuition costs more (although people say this is offset by the housing cost).

Ivy League prestige means shit for law prospects. Go to NYU.

http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 1&t=206299

Also check out this thread if you are interested in PI:

http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 5&t=262492

For what you want to do, CLS stronger and has better faculty. Not typical PI, where NYU is superior.

Columbia. Not sure what the increase in prestige is worth, but if you get more of it for such a small cost, take it.

I had almost the identical scholarships from both schools and chose NYU b/c I liked the people/location more. Would do it again since there isn't really a prestige difference for the two law schools.

This is a nice problem to have. I'd personally go Columbia at equal cost, let alone cheaper. In the same way that Lavitz is the go-to guy for Cornell around here, JBagelboy is the Columbia guy, so see if he'll post.

longtimelurking wrote:I will be financing the rest of my COA through loans. COA would be 50K NYU and 68K Columbia with grants taken into account.

This is...per year, right?

Also, if you're committed to gov and end up with that 105k then that really is a substantial discount compared to CLS.

Clemenceau wrote:

longtimelurking wrote:I will be financing the rest of my COA through loans. COA would be 50K NYU and 68K Columbia with grants taken into account.

This is...per year, right?

Also, if you're committed to gov and end up with that 105k then that really is a substantial discount compared to CLS.

Correct, per year. Thanks for the feedback! The more I read around, the more it seems to me the difference is nominal, which has been reassuring.

I think my paranoia stems from my experience with job hunting post-undergrad. I was applying to places in California that would throw away your application if it wasn't from Stanford, Berkeley, or UCLA. I understand this is a completely different ballgame now, but I want to avoid any semblance of that scenario (hence why I registered an account and posted)

cron1834 wrote:This is a nice problem to have. I'd personally go Columbia at equal cost, let alone cheaper. In the same way that Lavitz is the go-to guy for Cornell around here, JBagelboy is the Columbia guy, so see if he'll post.

To be clear, Columbia will be costing more than NYU. I'm sorry, I don't use the site often, but I was under the impression the values in parenthesis next to the school names in the subject line were for scholarship amounts.

No, my bad. COA is what matters. Both are extraordinarily good bargains either way so my answer is the same.

wons wrote:For what you want to do, CLS stronger and has better faculty. Not typical PI, where NYU is superior.

Could you elaborate a bit? Not trying to put you on the spot, just would like to understand how we arrive at that. Is it better placement in those fields? Or stronger faculty? Or something else?

This is a good problem to have. Honestly I'd go where you're happier. They're very similar. Money + fitting in leads me to think you should go to NYU.

longtimelurking wrote:

wons wrote:For what you want to do, CLS stronger and has better faculty. Not typical PI, where NYU is superior.

Could you elaborate a bit? Not trying to put you on the spot, just would like to understand how we arrive at that. Is it better placement in those fields? Or stronger faculty? Or something else?

CLS has Matt Waxman, Michael Doyle, George Fletcher, Bobbitt, and a number of other important permanent national security faculty, not to mention the dozens of visiting faculty from government and the public policy schools or the faculty with state department experience like Damrosch. If you want to get published on topics in the field or have access to the best internships, that's where these people come into play. Consider for example the dominance of CLS students in elite fellowships like Salzburg Cutler fellows and ASIL. For post-grad employment, its tough to say since so few people are really starting their career in "national security law", but everyone charts their own course and institutional support matters.

CLS because the LRAP is better

Nebby wrote:CLS because the LRAP is better

I dunno. Seems like they're largely the same (with NYU actually having the edge if you have to switch from IBR to a 10-year plan). Basing that on this spreadsheet: http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 5&t=262492

cavalier1138 wrote:

Nebby wrote:CLS because the LRAP is better

I dunno. Seems like they're largely the same (with NYU actually having the edge if you have to switch from IBR to a 10-year plan). Basing that on this spreadsheet: http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 5&t=262492

They're the same, but CLS let's you choose what plan.

Which is a huge deal - as I understand it, NYU forces you to be on IBR/PSLF unless your job doesn't qualify for PSLF. But how many jobs out there don't qualify for PSLF? I'm not sure, but I would think most do.

CLS' IBR cap is also 20k higher; NYU's straight am plan cap is 7k higher. NYU's main plus is that they help you out if you bail on PI early, irregardless of how early it is you bail. But CLS straight amortization option starts helping you out after 3 years.

Basically what Nebby said though.