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Is it worth taking on debt to go to Cornell, if my end goal is to be in litigation (not necessarily BigLaw) in Chicago. Does a school like Cornell have a name that's powerful enough to open up doors across the nation? Or is it only helpful for NY? Also, i'm an international student.

Thanks in advance for your help!

JDrat wrote:Is it worth taking on debt to go to Cornell, if my end goal is to be in litigation (not necessarily BigLaw) in Chicago. Does a school like Cornell have a name that's powerful enough to open up doors across the nation? Or is it only helpful for NY? Also, i'm an international student.

Thanks in advance for your help!

Cornell is most helpful for nyc but has a nationally recognized name. How much would you have to pay for each school? How are you paying for law school

JDrat wrote:Is it worth taking on debt to go to Cornell, if my end goal is to be in litigation (not necessarily BigLaw) in Chicago. Does a school like Cornell have a name that's powerful enough to open up doors across the nation? Or is it only helpful for NY? Also, i'm an international student.

Thanks in advance for your help!

Do you have ties to Chicago? If so and your COA is not terrible I would say Cornell. Especially as an international student it will be easier to get big law (which are the most likely to sponsor) from Cornell. If you gun for Chicago you should still be able to get it even from Cornell. Meaning work there 1L and reach out to alums in Chicago.

If you already have a green card and no ties to Chicago, then maybe U of I is more worth it at full ride

We really need to know debt and how you would be financing it, whether you need to be sponsored for work (which seemingly makes you biglaw or bust), and if you have ties to Chicago (if not, you likely won't get there from Cornell).

Tough choice. Assuming you'll need sponsorship, you should choose Cornell because that gives you a much better chance at a biglaw firm that will offer sponsorship. On the other hand, you won't be eligible for US loans without a co-signer, so UIUC would be better financially.

Thanks everyone for taking out time to reply here. I don't have a Greencard yet but I'm on a L 2 visa and my spouse works in Illinois. We're expecting our greencard in a year but even without that, I would not need a sponsor with the L visa.. regarding the money, I will be reducing debt to a minimum by pooling in mine and my husband's personal resources (but there would still be some debt - mostly under 100k)

I will be visiting the campuses personally next month, but I have no doubt that I will be wowed by the Cornell campus going solely by the pictures online. However I would say my main concern at this stage is job opportunities in Chicago after graduation..

Once again, thank you all for weighing in and helping me with your valuable inputs. I really appreciate it!

JDrat wrote:Thanks everyone for taking out time to reply here. I don't have a Greencard yet but I'm on a L 2 visa and my spouse works in Illinois. We're expecting our greencard in a year but even without that, I would not need a sponsor with the L visa.. regarding the money, I will be reducing debt to a minimum by pooling in mine and my husband's personal resources (but there would still be some debt - mostly under 100k)

I will be visiting the campuses personally next month, but I have no doubt that I will be wowed by the Cornell campus going solely by the pictures online. However I would say my main concern at this stage is job opportunities in Chicago after graduation..

Once again, thank you all for weighing in and helping me with your valuable inputs. I really appreciate it!

Is your spouse working in Illinois (not Chicago?) Your sole tie to the are? If so, UIUC gives you better Chicago job prospects overall. Biglaw kind of a crapshoot from UIUC and Chicago biglaw from Cornell without ties seems similarly as difficult? Idk. Tough.

I would also consider the three years of distance, but I'm sure you have that in mind already.