Berkeley Culture vs. UVA/Penn/NYU Forum

[RParadela]

Although I do agree that choosing substantial money over social scene is a pretty dumb thing to do, social scene and atmosphere of the law school/city is pretty important to me in my circumstance. I don't have a long term SO and I won't know anyone in whichever law school I go to (unless I went to my UG for law school, but I'm not). I'm essentially going to have to restart my social life in law school, so I really don't want to be in a place where I didn't like the people there. Granted, I think the differences are minor between the schools, but QOL is still pretty important to me.

[cavalier1138]

Although I do agree that choosing substantial money over social scene is a pretty dumb thing to do, social scene and atmosphere of the law school/city is pretty important to me in my circumstance. I don't have a long term SO and I won't know anyone in whichever law school I go to (unless I went to my UG for law school, but I'm not). I'm essentially going to have to restart my social life in law school, so I really don't want to be in a place where I didn't like the people there. Granted, I think the differences are minor between the schools, but QOL is still pretty important to me.

Again, this is not something to focus on.

Your law school class is going to be made up of enough people that you will find someone to make friends with (even if you're an antisocial weirdo, because guess what group is weirdly over-represented in law school?). And after three years there, you'll be done. Making decisions about your entire future career and debt level based on not wanting to feel out of place for a short time period is fucking idiotic.

If the OP had indicated that there was no difference in COA, no specific desired career outcomes, and literally no other consideration they could possibly make in determining which school was a better fit, then it would make sense to look at the social scene. But trust me on this: you're young. 30-year-old you will think that 20-something-year-old you was an absolute moron for paying $50k for friends.

[existentialcrisis]

Although I do agree that choosing substantial money over social scene is a pretty dumb thing to do, social scene and atmosphere of the law school/city is pretty important to me in my circumstance. I don't have a long term SO and I won't know anyone in whichever law school I go to (unless I went to my UG for law school, but I'm not). I'm essentially going to have to restart my social life in law school, so I really don't want to be in a place where I didn't like the people there. Granted, I think the differences are minor between the schools, but QOL is still pretty important to me.

I just don't really buy that the cultures are dramatically different at any of the T14.