Top Law Schools

I’m stuck deciding between USC and Fordham. Thanks to generous scholarships from both schools, COA ends up being about the same, so money doesn’t move the needle either way.

Here are the main factors I’m considering:
- My goal is to end up in big law on the east coast to be closer to my family. I’ve lived away from home since college, and can tell I’m drifting from them. I would be okay spending a few more years in LA though if it meant significantly better career prospects with a path to the east coast.
- However; I’m not sure if I would be happy in New York. I’ve visited NYC several times, and have never gotten the feeling that I would like living there. I’m also concerned about how seasonal depression could effect my performance at Fordham, as I’ve lived in warm climates for the past 8 years. I can’t tell how well Fordham places in east coast big law outside of NYC.
- At USC, my LSAT scores and GPA are close to the median of their accepted range. At Fordham, I’m in the upper 25%. Thus, I feel like I have a better chance at BL in general at Fordham, whereas at USC I’m concerned about making the ranking cutoff.
- USC is more prestigious and has a real estate law concentration that I’m interested in. Fordham is more focused on general corporate/finance law.
- Fordham has a wider range of journals and clinics that I find interesting, however.

Which way I lean on these issues changes day by day, and I find myself spending a huge amount of time researching and re-researching the same information over again. I do have tours at both schools coming up, which I’m hoping will give me some more clarity.

For anyone else who’s been in a similar situation, how did you ultimately make your decision, and which factors ended up tipping the scale? Do you think you made the right decision in hindsight?

I also welcome any anecdotal experience from anyone who attended/is attending either USC or Fordham! I’ve heard great things about both schools and realize this is a fortunate problem to be having.

Just because you are higher on the LSAT/GPA spectrum does not mean you'll do better at all. I made that bet, and it didn't work. So did many others.
Regardless, USC is the right call here. Fordham really does do well in NYC, but you don't seem interested in it. USC does great in LA, you would be okay with LA, and has stronger placement power overall. If you could stomach biglaw in LA or SoCal for a couple years after graduating, I think you'd be able to get to the east coast. Not that that wouldn't be possible from Fordham either (once you've practiced and get into biglaw going to a different market is hard but not impossible by any means, unless you're shooting for DC).
I made my decision by the cheaper school that was lower ranked thinking I'd do better. I didn't. Still had a good outcome, but only a few folks get into the top of the class, and I'd rather roll the dice with USC than Fordham, personally.
If you really want ultimate portability though, I'd consider retaking and reapplying and aiming for the T14.

Concentration is meaningless, as is prestige. Both of these are excellent regional schools. You don't know how you're going to rank in your class. East coast is NY, DC is very hard to break into; Boston and Philly are small markets; Baltimore doesn't exist. But starting career in NY means it's fairly easy to move later. CA is its own planet.

Personally I'd pick Fordham in this situation but if you really can't see yourself in NY/tri-state even for a few years, then don't.

Retake and reapply if you want biglaw, especially outside of the markets of these two schools. Ignore "concentrations" and specific classes/clinics/specialty rankings for all schools. It's all a bunch of useless marketing propaganda.

Not sure what eastern market you're looking for but I couldn't recommend either of these in good concience for biglaw, let alone for biglaw outside of LA/NYC.

I agree with all the prior posts (you're considering the wrong factors, you can't predict your class rank, these schools aren't going to guarantee you biglaw, etc.). But one thing I want to specifically hone in on: Where do you imagine finding a biglaw job outside of New York?

I think I would say two things : -

- If you want big law, you should probably retake and reapply to get T-14. I say "probably" because it's not like big law is impossible out of these two schools, but it is significantly harder and less certain. In terms of geography, it's tricky to tell if you're better off in one or the other if you want East coast. If this was Penn v Berkeley, that would be easy. But you don't seem to want NYC so Fordham loses some edge, and USC is super California centric but a better school overall.

- In general, if all things are equal you pick the school where your gut tells you'll be happiest. Your LSAT score means very little. Law school can be a crap shoot for everyone and anyone. If you're somewhere where you feel more comfortable/happier, you're more likely to push through that stress and anxiety successfully. You post sounds like you'd be happier at USC.

All these people are giving you good advice, but they’re not really answering the question you asked. It sounds to me like in your mind you view the schools as equals and are having a hard time on pulling the trigger deciding which one you want MORE so that you can get the decision done and be on with your life. If my assessment is right, here’s how you break your analysis paralysis:

Flip a coin. Heads Fordham. Tails USC. Now, flip it really high. While it’s in the air, you are going to find yourself rooting for one outcome over the other. That’s the school you go with.

Then you go one step further (this is where most of the above answers are focused) and you ask yourself: am I comfortable that the school I want to go to is probably going to get me the outcome I want. If the answer is yes, you go there. If the answer is no, you retake LSAT and reapply for the T14.