Fordham or GW for BigLaw? Forum

[alexancs1]

From the 509s Fordham puts a higher percentage of students into Biglaw and GW is ranked higher.

[cavalier1138]

What's your total COA at each? Where (as in region) do you want to work? LSAT/GPA?

[alexancs1]

I'm a transfer that has been admitted to both. 3.5 TTT Top 12ish%. My parents don't want me in debt, so they are covering sticker. I'm an evening student who works for a company with offices in NYC and DC. I want to work in NYC or LA after graduating.

[cavalier1138]

Oh, transfer is different.

Assuming that there's no difference in OCI participation for transfers, Fordham probably gives you the best chance at biglaw. Unless you have California ties, I'd focus on NYC firms with large classes.

[alexancs1]

Awesome. Thank you!

[QContinuum]

I'm a transfer that has been admitted to both. ... I'm an evening student who works for a company with offices in NYC and DC. I want to work in NYC or LA after graduating.

Given your desire to work in NYC or LA (but not DC), you should definitely attend Fordham. Congrats on your 1L success and your transfer offers!

(Also: I know this isn't what you're asking here, but I strongly recommend focusing on large class-size NYC firms at 2L OCI. California firms are much more selective. Key is to land that first BigLaw gig - it'll be much easier to lateral to LA in a few years if you wish than to land LA now.)

[alexancs1]

Thank you for the response too, Q.

Where would I find out who the big law firms are that take bigger class sizes in NYC? Will law schools have that list or can I actually find that information myself online?

[QContinuum]

Thank you for the response too, Q.

Where would I find out who the big law firms are that take bigger class sizes in NYC? Will law schools have that list or can I actually find that information myself online?

A lot of that info is available here on TLS. Search through current & past years' OCI threads in the Legal Employment board.

Your new school's Career Services office will also have school-specific data available. How much of that data they share with students/what level of granularity they provide varies from school to school, but typically schools will provide students with a list showing how many students went to each firm historically, and how grade-selective those firms were.

Obviously the most accurate data will come from whatever your school's Career Services office provides, and past (Fordham) OCI threads here on TLS, but you can also get some info from other schools' OCI threads. E.g., a firm that's grade-selective even for Columbia/NYU students, like (random example) Cravath, is going to be even more grade-selective for Fordham students.