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I was offered a full tuition plus stipend to Michigan and got, imo, lowball offers from Duke and Cornell which both offered me 35k per year (about half of what Mich offered).

I'm pretty interested in Cornell but haven't visited. Should I reach out to Cornell now, while they might have more money available? Or I do I wait until after the admitted students visit so I can be sure it's a school I would really want to go to over Michigan (is it "bad" to negotiate if you're not seriously considering the school)? Or do I even bother negotiating period?

I would take the UMich offer to Cornell now. Even though you still seem undecided on a school, there is no harm in trying to get Cornell to match now rather than later when they may be low on funds. Do it now

Why would you go to Cornell over Michigan? Duke could make sense if you want to practice in the South, but Michigan is a much better school than Cornell, right?

TLS_Dreamer wrote:Why would you go to Cornell over Michigan? Duke could make sense if you want to practice in the South, but Michigan is a much better school than Cornell, right?

Ranking doesn't mean better. Cornell crushes Mich in Biglaw jobs, and is noticeably better in overall employment score.

theboringest wrote:

TLS_Dreamer wrote:Why would you go to Cornell over Michigan? Duke could make sense if you want to practice in the South, but Michigan is a much better school than Cornell, right?

Ranking doesn't mean better. Cornell crushes Mich in Biglaw jobs, and is noticeably better in overall employment score.

Wow, you're right!

theboringest wrote:

TLS_Dreamer wrote:Why would you go to Cornell over Michigan? Duke could make sense if you want to practice in the South, but Michigan is a much better school than Cornell, right?

Ranking doesn't mean better. Cornell crushes Mich in Biglaw jobs, and is noticeably better in overall employment score.

Mostly bc of distance. But I have negative desire to do big law and specifically interested in public interest and plaintiff-side litigation so Michigan is probably a much better fit overall. The distance is just sort of a bummer.

LawTweet wrote:

theboringest wrote:

TLS_Dreamer wrote:Why would you go to Cornell over Michigan? Duke could make sense if you want to practice in the South, but Michigan is a much better school than Cornell, right?

Ranking doesn't mean better. Cornell crushes Mich in Biglaw jobs, and is noticeably better in overall employment score.

Mostly bc of distance. But I have negative desire to do big law and specifically interested in public interest and plaintiff-side litigation so Michigan is probably a much better fit overall. The distance is just sort of a bummer.

I'd be careful with attributing reasoning as we don't know why one does better...but Michigan has cut its class size so we can expect outcomes to improve. Really they're peer schools, at equal or close cost choose your favorite.

theboringest wrote:

LawTweet wrote:

theboringest wrote:

TLS_Dreamer wrote:Why would you go to Cornell over Michigan? Duke could make sense if you want to practice in the South, but Michigan is a much better school than Cornell, right?

Ranking doesn't mean better. Cornell crushes Mich in Biglaw jobs, and is noticeably better in overall employment score.

Mostly bc of distance. But I have negative desire to do big law and specifically interested in public interest and plaintiff-side litigation so Michigan is probably a much better fit overall. The distance is just sort of a bummer.

I'd be careful with attributing reasoning as we don't know why one does better...but Michigan has cut its class size so we can expect outcomes to improve. Really they're peer schools, at equal or close cost choose your favorite.

Well there's absolutely zero way I could justify taking out like 100k in loans for Cornell when I could go to Michigan and take out literally 0.

LawTweet wrote:

theboringest wrote:

LawTweet wrote:

theboringest wrote:

TLS_Dreamer wrote:Why would you go to Cornell over Michigan? Duke could make sense if you want to practice in the South, but Michigan is a much better school than Cornell, right?

Ranking doesn't mean better. Cornell crushes Mich in Biglaw jobs, and is noticeably better in overall employment score.

Mostly bc of distance. But I have negative desire to do big law and specifically interested in public interest and plaintiff-side litigation so Michigan is probably a much better fit overall. The distance is just sort of a bummer.

I'd be careful with attributing reasoning as we don't know why one does better...but Michigan has cut its class size so we can expect outcomes to improve. Really they're peer schools, at equal or close cost choose your favorite.

Well there's absolutely zero way I could justify taking out like 100k in loans for Cornell when I could go to Michigan and take out literally 0.

He'll no, Michigan wins ten times out of ten in that scenario.

OP still wondering about his question...