Top Law Schools

Dear TLS commentators,

I would like to make a decision by the end of this week and would really appreciate any advice I could get.

My options are (with total scholarships):
U Chi 30K
Columbia 45k
NYU 75k
Northwestern 120k
Cornell 126k

Career goals: private practice, corporate/biglaw and ideally a federal clerkship upon graduation.

Personal info: I just turned 32 and I am concerned about debt since I will be starting my career a little later in life. I will be financing my education with loans and for this reason, I am leaning toward the latter two. At the same time, I worry that I would be sacrificing "prestige" should I go with the cheaper options.

What do you think I should do?

NU might be the best option for you here. I don't know if the difference in money is worth the difference in prestige.

It is not worth 90k to have slightly better clerkship prospects, particularly not given your age and your desire for fairly normal biglaw jobs. I think this comes down to whether you want to live in Chicago or Ithaca for three years and where you want to practice after.