Career Options From T6 (NYU) vs. T3 Forum

[futurestudent177]

Hello!

I will be matriculating at NYU soon, and am grateful for the opportunity to attend such an amazing school. However, I've been reading a lot about how certain PI positions + tracks in academia are almost exclusively accessible via HYS.

How much truth is there to that statement? Will I be forgoing opportunities by attending a T-6?

I don't want to come across as ungrateful or obnoxious... I'm just curious. I am interested in unicorn PI positions as well as legal academia (perhaps not immediately post-graduation but down the road), and was perviously under the impression that all of those things are accessible from a school like NYU.

Thanks in advance

[talons2250]

Hello!

I will be matriculating at NYU soon, and am grateful for the opportunity to attend such an amazing school. However, I've been reading a lot about how certain PI positions + tracks in academia are almost exclusively accessible via HYS.

How much truth is there to that statement? Will I be forgoing opportunities by attending a T-6?

I don't want to come across as ungrateful or obnoxious... I'm just curious. I am interested in unicorn PI positions as well as legal academia (perhaps not immediately post-graduation but down the road), and was perviously under the impression that all of those things are accessible from a school like NYU.

Thanks in advance

It might be somewhat harder, but it's not impossible. Even coming from HYS, obtaining the positions you describe is generally really difficult. As a general rule, your grades would have to be one notch higher at NYU than they would have to be at HYS to achieve the same position. So, for example, a judge might only hire NYU clerks in the top 10%, but would be willing to hire HYS clerks in the top 25%. But there are tons of exceptions. And if you graduate at the tippy top of the class at NYU, then there are very few opportunities that an HYS person would have that you don't. Just do your best on your 1L exams, see what grades you get, and then take it from there.