ED Columbia? Forum

[andy2016]

My cousin asked me to post because he doesn't have an account set up yet. He is applying for law school next month and Columbia and Berkeley are his top two choices. He has a 169 and 3.87. Should he apply for ED Columbia? Money is not a factor here because no matter which school he attends, his parents will pay for it. He took the LSAT three times so he can't retake it. He wants to work in California only, especially in the Bay Area. He's from San Francisco. Any comments are welcome. Thank you.

[PrezRand]

Since money is not an issue, I don't think many people here would say do not apply. Just pick which you prefer and ED to that choice

[dabigchina]

CLS's placement is ok in the bay area. with a GPA like that though, he would prob be better served going to Cal. Get a few more points in the LSAT and he could go to Stanford.

[theconsigliere]

His situation sounds perfect for Berkeley. Does he prefer Columbia over Berkeley or would he ED just for the perceived bump in admissions? I wouldn't ED Columbia just for the bump (if there even is one) because Berkeley seems like the better fit. Also, he may as well take a flyer at Stanford, because crazier things have happened, and if his parents are willing to pay $300k for school then they'll probably pay $100 for him to apply to Stanford.

[andy2016]

Thanks for all of your replies. He likes Berkeley more than Columbia, but Columbia is ranked higher. Which should he choose given the difference in rankings? He definitely wants to work in the Bay Area.

[Dcc617]

Don't pick a law school based on US News.

[theconsigliere]

Thanks for all of your replies. He likes Berkeley more than Columbia, but Columbia is ranked higher. Which should he choose given the difference in rankings? He definitely wants to work in the Bay Area.

Firstly I feel the need to say that he must apply and get accepted before needing to make this choice. Id be surprised if he got rejected from Berkeley, and less so with Columbia.

Rankings don't really matter. The only rankings that matter are the ones in the heads of those doing the hiring at law firms, and in the Bay Area these people think highly of Berkeley.

Also, consider that CLS sent 309/413 grads to jobs in NY for class of 2015 (most recent class for which this info is available) and only 28/413 to Cali. Compare this to Berkeley which sent 159/278 grads to jobs in Cali. There won't be any data on which jobs were in LA vs SF vs SD vs where ever

Source: http://employmentsummary.abaquestionnaire.org

[andy2016]

Thank you for all of the replies. Reading the job data was very helpful. I think he should do RD to every school.