Duke (20k/yr) v. Georgetown (30k/yr) v. Fordham (45k/yr) Forum

[NYeagle21]

My goal is to work in NYC Biglaw. I received a HTE from NYU so I will not know their decision for about a month or two. As of now, I am leaning towards Duke because I am very impressed with their NYC placement. However, given my goals, I am not sure if it is worth the additional 25k/yr over Fordham. (I can also save $ by living with my parents if I go to Fordham).

Any advice is appreciated!

[The Lsat Airbender]

My goal is to work in NYC Biglaw.

Then don't roll the dice on GULC/Fordham. (A full ride at Fordham would be an intriguing value option, thanks to living at home, if you were totally okay with missing out on biglaw.)

Whether Duke is a good idea depends on your other T13 offers and their prices.

[Libya]

If these are your only options, go to Duke and don't look back. It is definitely worth the additional money over Fordham. It is probably closer in cost to GULC then the scholarships indicate given the differents COLs; and even if not, imo Duke is worth the additional money over GULC.

[decimalsanddollars]

Agree with the above that Duke is worth the extra tuition over the other schools, and that your real decision should be between Duke and other lower t13s based on pricetag and location (for the three years of school and possibly for second-choice markets). Did you apply to every school in that range?

[LSATWiz.com]

Duke. The difference in COL is at least $10k/year anyway.

[QContinuum]

My goal is to work in NYC Biglaw.

Then don't roll the dice on GULC/Fordham. (A full ride at Fordham would be an intriguing value option, thanks to living at home, if you were totally okay with missing out on biglaw.)

Whether Duke is a good idea depends on your other T13 offers and their prices.

Seconding this in its entirety. Given your goal of working in NYC BigLaw, rule Fordham and Georgetown out - too risky when you have Duke on the table.

What are your other T13 offers? Did you apply to the most generous T13s, Cornell and Michigan?

[AJordan]

All else equal (including the COL from living at home) If you have none of UVA/Cornell/Penn/Michigan coming close to the Duke offer, take Duke.

[wishywashy]

Duke with money and don't look back. However, if NYU said yes I would go there in a heartbeat as it will make your summer associate gig a bit easier (already have NYC housing, easier to network, etc.). Personally I would take NYU sticker over Duke with $20k/yr but you could make a solid argument that is a bad call as $60k is a lot of money at 7% interest in a world of 1.4% 10 year bonds. I would rate being in NYC and slight bump in job prospects as worth the 20k/yr hit (hard to control ex-ante where you land in the law school curve - very easy to control which of two acceptances you accept!).

Grats on the great choices.

edit: do look into $$ at other t14 schools though, especially Cornell.

[wishywashy]

I didn't make this clear in my last post and it is worth mentioning. OP said they would able to live free if attending Fordham and NYU is pretty close to Fordham. I am assuming OP can live rent free and go to NYU - if that is true then NYU, even at sticker, makes a lot of sense. COL at Duke could easily be 20k/yr so we can re-frame the choice set as: (1) Sticker at Duke but free CoL; (2) Sticker at NYU but free CoL. With the decision framed like that I would go NYU assuming they come back with an admit.