Top Law Schools

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Cornell is the best choice here.

Also +1 vote for Cornell.

Cornell has outstanding placement into NYC so it makes even more sense for you.

Cornell.

Assuming debt-financed, that's still a lot of money for Cornell, but your debt-aversion might be different than mine. Cornell is the best option for your goals, but that's still a hefty price tag even with the tuition discount.

ETA: Missed the part about SO ponying up serious cash, so Cornell is the easy choice here

Come to Cornell. Since your SO is ponying up dat ca$h, you will get a lot of bang for your buck since our employment stats are superior to a lot of the other T13s.

PS invest in a nice jacket or coat, and congrats!

Also would like to point out that your SO is a true keeper. My own parents wouldn't drop $150k for my law school even if they had it lol

lilitiger99 wrote:Would I be crazy to choose Cornell over the other schools?

Why would you think this? None of the other T13 schools are worth > $70,000 more than Cornell for NYC biglaw, and the full-ride schools definitely don't have the same placement power. Don't think it would be crazy at all, especially if your SO is making sure you don't graduate with a ton of (or any) debt.

Lavitz wrote:

lilitiger99 wrote:Would I be crazy to choose Cornell over the other schools?

Why would you think this? None of the other T13 schools are worth > $70,000 more than Cornell for NYC biglaw, and the full-ride schools definitely don't have the same placement power. Don't think it would be crazy at all, especially if your SO is making sure you don't graduate with a ton of (or any) debt.

Some of the TLS wisdom I've seen and people I've spoken to are set on higher ranking being the "best" choice. I'm not sure of how much these rankings actually matter, but still.

Thomas Hagan, ESQ. wrote:Also would like to point out that your SO is a true keeper. My own parents wouldn't drop $150k for my law school even if they had it lol

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Pragmatic Gun wrote:Come to Cornell. Since your SO is ponying up dat ca$h, you will get a lot of bang for your buck since our employment stats are superior to a lot of the other T13s.

PS invest in a nice jacket or coat, and congrats!

Haha thanks! Can I PM you regarding more info re: Cornell, student life, etc.

lilitiger99 wrote:

Thomas Hagan, ESQ. wrote:Also would like to point out that your SO is a true keeper. My own parents wouldn't drop $150k for my law school even if they had it lol

Haha my parents wouldn't either. I've worked for the past 3 years and more or less supported him and myself while we were both in school. When he made it big (professional sports) things switched up.

Thanks for the insight too. I felt a little iffy for some reason based on rankings, but outside the TLS bubble I guess it doesn't matter.

WHAT?!

lilitiger99 wrote:

Pragmatic Gun wrote:Come to Cornell. Since your SO is ponying up dat ca$h, you will get a lot of bang for your buck since our employment stats are superior to a lot of the other T13s.

PS invest in a nice jacket or coat, and congrats!

Haha thanks! Can I PM you regarding more info re: Cornell, student life, etc.

Sure, dude.

lilitiger99 wrote:

Lavitz wrote:

lilitiger99 wrote:Would I be crazy to choose Cornell over the other schools?

Why would you think this? None of the other T13 schools are worth > $70,000 more than Cornell for NYC biglaw, and the full-ride schools definitely don't have the same placement power. Don't think it would be crazy at all, especially if your SO is making sure you don't graduate with a ton of (or any) debt.

Some of the TLS wisdom I've seen and people I've spoken to are set on higher ranking being the "best" choice. I'm not sure of how much these rankings actually matter, but still.

TLS wisdom is that employment numbers matter more than anything else, and USNWR rankings are meaningless except for the fact that the T13 in USNWR happen to have much better employment numbers / national reach. Within the T13, there's going to be little difference, although HYS will always be on a slightly higher level. So no, higher ranking isn't the "best." Paying 70K more for Chicago here would make no sense.

Also, stop going by the ranking. Go by Law School Transparency's employment statistics. If you really need a ranked list, then go by ATL's Law School Ranking, which reflects employments a lot more accurately. Prestige does not matter as much as outcomes do.

ETA: scooped by the Oracle.

Lavitz wrote:

lilitiger99 wrote:

Lavitz wrote:

lilitiger99 wrote:Would I be crazy to choose Cornell over the other schools?

Why would you think this? None of the other T13 schools are worth > $70,000 more than Cornell for NYC biglaw, and the full-ride schools definitely don't have the same placement power. Don't think it would be crazy at all, especially if your SO is making sure you don't graduate with a ton of (or any) debt.

Some of the TLS wisdom I've seen and people I've spoken to are set on higher ranking being the "best" choice. I'm not sure of how much these rankings actually matter, but still.

TLS wisdom is that employment numbers matter more than anything else, and USNWR rankings are meaningless except for the fact that the T13 in USNWR happen to have much better employment numbers / national reach. Within the T13, there's going to be little difference, although HYS will always be on a slightly higher level. So no, higher ranking isn't the "best." Paying 70K more for Chicago here would make no sense.

I don't know any lawyers at all (none in my immediate family, friends, etc.), so I was unsure of how things work really. This site has been amazing for a lot of things, but given me pause re: rankings. I wasn't sure if Chicago was THAT Much better than Cornell, so thanks for this. Helps me feel better about my choice

Pragmatic Gun wrote:Also, stop going by the ranking. Go by Law School Transparency's employment statistics. If you really need a ranked list, then go by ATL's Law School Ranking, which reflects employments a lot more accurately. Prestige does not matter as much as outcomes do.

ETA: scooped by the Oracle.

Do you know why Columbia is ranked so much lower on the ATL? Just wondering, wasn't aware of their ranking system and just saw now

lilitiger99 wrote:

Pragmatic Gun wrote:Also, stop going by the ranking. Go by Law School Transparency's employment statistics. If you really need a ranked list, then go by ATL's Law School Ranking, which reflects employments a lot more accurately. Prestige does not matter as much as outcomes do.

ETA: scooped by the Oracle.

Do you know why Columbia is ranked so much lower on the ATL? Just wondering, wasn't aware of their ranking system and just saw now

Possibly because cost of attendance is 15% of the ranking and Columbia's got to be the most expensive school. Some other random factors may play into it like "alumni rating." I wouldn't even bother with the ATL rankings either. I think Pragmatic had it right when he said to just look at the stats on LST.

Pragmatic Gun wrote:ETA: scooped by the Oracle.

Thomas Hagan, ESQ. wrote:

lilitiger99 wrote:

Thomas Hagan, ESQ. wrote:Also would like to point out that your SO is a true keeper. My own parents wouldn't drop $150k for my law school even if they had it lol

Haha my parents wouldn't either. I've worked for the past 3 years and more or less supported him and myself while we were both in school. When he made it big (professional sports) things switched up.

Thanks for the insight too. I felt a little iffy for some reason based on rankings, but outside the TLS bubble I guess it doesn't matter.

WHAT?!

.

lilitiger99 wrote:

Thomas Hagan, ESQ. wrote:

lilitiger99 wrote:

Thomas Hagan, ESQ. wrote:Also would like to point out that your SO is a true keeper. My own parents wouldn't drop $150k for my law school even if they had it lol

Haha my parents wouldn't either. I've worked for the past 3 years and more or less supported him and myself while we were both in school. When he made it big (professional sports) things switched up.

Thanks for the insight too. I felt a little iffy for some reason based on rankings, but outside the TLS bubble I guess it doesn't matter.

WHAT?!

Haha don't want to really out myself or seem too obnoxious to my future classmates - but we went to a PAC 12 school together, and he was drafted to the NFL last year. Basically made a commitment along the way that regardless of anything that happened, he would invest in my education. Definitely lucky, and definitely been a hard road haha.

Thats insane! Well, congrats to him and congrats to you on all of your acceptances!

I would try to get money from other places with your Cornell offer, ride the waitlists into the summer and see if you can get money with an acceptance (as a female URM you're in the best place for this to happen), and go to Cornell if all of that fails. Not a bad place to be.

Mullens wrote:I would try to get money from other places with your Cornell offer, ride the waitlists into the summer and see if you can get money with an acceptance (as a female URM you're in the best place for this to happen), and go to Cornell if all of that fails. Not a bad place to be.

I don't disagree with the riding the waitlists into the summer, trying to negotiate scholarships, etc., but with the generic NYC Biglaw goals mentioned and the SO paying his NFL paychecks toward her education, I'm not sure there's ever going to be an objectively better offer on the table than Cornell with that scholarship. I'm not saying it won't happen, but it's pretty unlikely (FTR, I don't think Columbia at sticker or even small discount is better than Cornell with a big scholarship for NYC Biglaw, so we might just differ on that) anything comes up that is a better place to be than Cornell in these circumstances.

Probably a pointless debate not worth having, but I'd be hard-pressed to find a better offer that will come through waitlists and negotiation than Cornell in this specific situation.

UVA2B wrote:

Mullens wrote:I would try to get money from other places with your Cornell offer, ride the waitlists into the summer and see if you can get money with an acceptance (as a female URM you're in the best place for this to happen), and go to Cornell if all of that fails. Not a bad place to be.

I don't disagree with the riding the waitlists into the summer, trying to negotiate scholarships, etc., but with the generic NYC Biglaw goals mentioned and the SO paying his NFL paychecks toward her education, I'm not sure there's ever going to be an objectively better offer on the table than Cornell with that scholarship. I'm not saying it won't happen, but it's pretty unlikely (FTR, I don't think Columbia at sticker or even small discount is better than Cornell with a big scholarship for NYC Biglaw, so we might just differ on that) anything comes up that is a better place to be than Cornell in these circumstances.

Probably a pointless debate not worth having, but I'd be hard-pressed to find a better offer that will come through waitlists and negotiation than Cornell in this specific situation.

I mean idk the odds of a better offer coming but it's better than 0% so might as well ride the waitlists.

Thomas Hagan, ESQ. wrote:

lilitiger99 wrote:

Thomas Hagan, ESQ. wrote:

lilitiger99 wrote:

Thomas Hagan, ESQ. wrote:Also would like to point out that your SO is a true keeper. My own parents wouldn't drop $150k for my law school even if they had it lol

Haha my parents wouldn't either. I've worked for the past 3 years and more or less supported him and myself while we were both in school. When he made it big (professional sports) things switched up.

Thanks for the insight too. I felt a little iffy for some reason based on rankings, but outside the TLS bubble I guess it doesn't matter.

WHAT?!

Haha don't want to really out myself or seem too obnoxious to my future classmates - but we went to a PAC 12 school together, and he was drafted to the NFL last year. Basically made a commitment along the way that regardless of anything that happened, he would invest in my education. Definitely lucky, and definitely been a hard road haha.

Thats insane! Well, congrats to him and congrats to you on all of your acceptances!

Thanks, good luck to you as well in your cycle and thanks for the input

Mullens wrote:

UVA2B wrote:

Mullens wrote:I would try to get money from other places with your Cornell offer, ride the waitlists into the summer and see if you can get money with an acceptance (as a female URM you're in the best place for this to happen), and go to Cornell if all of that fails. Not a bad place to be.

I don't disagree with the riding the waitlists into the summer, trying to negotiate scholarships, etc., but with the generic NYC Biglaw goals mentioned and the SO paying his NFL paychecks toward her education, I'm not sure there's ever going to be an objectively better offer on the table than Cornell with that scholarship. I'm not saying it won't happen, but it's pretty unlikely (FTR, I don't think Columbia at sticker or even small discount is better than Cornell with a big scholarship for NYC Biglaw, so we might just differ on that) anything comes up that is a better place to be than Cornell in these circumstances.

Probably a pointless debate not worth having, but I'd be hard-pressed to find a better offer that will come through waitlists and negotiation than Cornell in this specific situation.

I mean idk the odds of a better offer coming but it's better than 0% so might as well ride the waitlists.

I was going to withdraw all but H, Columbia, & Nyu if I get WL, and then honestly just send the deposit to Cornell, and withdraw the rest. I'm hoping on getting SEO and having that be my boost into big law. I have been trying to negotiate for a while, but have been unsuccessful.

Also, I am half Hispanic, (PR), which is why I think my scholarships are non-existent - less desirable compared to other URM groups.