Choosing between Yale and another T10 Forum

[KBJ022]

I feel impossibly lucky to be struggling with this decision right now. I have been accepted into Yale, a school I never believed I would ever get into. However I have already enrolled at another top school. It is in the region that I hope to eventually work in, and where I already live, so I would be able to keep my community. I was elated in the aftermath of this decision. However, the opportunity to attend the best law school in the country changes the math here.

I do not know for sure what I want out of my legal career. I know I want to spend a few years shoring up my financial future in Big Law. I believe that one day I might like to work a clerkship, and possibly work in academia, for which Yale is clearly the stronger school. But I also value maintaining the sense of home I've created in the area around the T10. As a bachelor who wants to eventually have a family, I am also concerned about spending a chunk of my youth in a smaller community.

My brain says Yale and my heart says the other school. What would you do? I greatly appreciate any advice on this matter.

[cavalier1138]

What's the specific school you're considering besides Yale, and what's your total COA at both?

[Rule23andMe]

This reads like you're wanting us to tell you it's ok to turn down Yale - yes, it's ok. Your goals (besides academia, but not sure how serious you are about that) are perfectly achievable from any t10 school and you'll do well enough where you're happy.

[nixy]

Agreed, it's okay to turn down Yale if you want. Things to consider though: cost of attendance (as cav noted) and whether you'll always wonder "what if I went to Yale?" (not that the latter is a great reason to pick a school but it's still a factor).

Also, I don't think "spending a chunk of my youth in a smaller community" is an issue here given that you'd be in a university setting surrounded by thousands of potentially appropriate partners (I feel like it's much easier to meet people in a university setting than almost any other time in your life).

[KBJ022]

Agreed, it's okay to turn down Yale if you want. Things to consider though: cost of attendance (as cav noted) and whether you'll always wonder "what if I went to Yale?" (not that the latter is a great reason to pick a school but it's still a factor).

Also, I don't think "spending a chunk of my youth in a smaller community" is an issue here given that you'd be in a university setting surrounded by thousands of potentially appropriate partners (I feel like it's much easier to meet people in a university setting than almost any other time in your life).

That latter question is the big one nagging at me. My professional goals are relatively humble now, but if they expand later, will I regret not going to the school that seems to really open every door?

[crazywafflez]

In my opinion, it is perfectly fine to turn down Yale for a fullride/great scholarship at like Duke or UVA etc.

I'd certainly turn down Yale for a ruby. I think part of this depends on what the other T10 is. I'll also say that academia in general is tough to land from Y, and a lot of it has to do with your publications, right place and time, flexibility with moving around for tenure, and being okay with possibly never getting tenure- and you can adjunct at Arizona State with a Duke, ASU, or Yale degree just as easily.

I don't think any serious doors are closed to someone by attending Penn or something rather compared to Y- and those unicorn outcomes are tough to get from anywhere.

[nixy]

Agreed, it's okay to turn down Yale if you want. Things to consider though: cost of attendance (as cav noted) and whether you'll always wonder "what if I went to Yale?" (not that the latter is a great reason to pick a school but it's still a factor).

Also, I don't think "spending a chunk of my youth in a smaller community" is an issue here given that you'd be in a university setting surrounded by thousands of potentially appropriate partners (I feel like it's much easier to meet people in a university setting than almost any other time in your life).

That latter question is the big one nagging at me. My professional goals are relatively humble now, but if they expand later, will I regret not going to the school that seems to really open every door?

Depends when and how your goals expand. While Yale is an awesome school (and certainly wouldn’t have accepted me), the further you get in your career, the less your school matters (and certainly not the distinction between Yale and Michigan and above, though I’m assuming Michigan because T10 isn’t really a thing). Even for academia and other unicorn goals, a lot depends on your performance and experience. If you want academia, you’re going to have to publish well-regarded work, and if you don’t, going to Yale won’t save you. If you want to clerk, you still need to do well enough that people will recommend you enthusiastically, and you don’t need to go to Yale (though I’ll admit that’s probably its biggest advantage).

If you decide 2L that you want some kind of unconventional unicorn outcome, then Yale would probably be the better place for you to make that happen; but if you graduate, go work big law, clerk, and then decide you want to change gears completely, your ability to do so will be much more determined by the experience you get in and out of big law, the skills you develop, and the people you meet, than having Yale or Michigan on your diploma.

(It’s true that incrementally, Yale may send to you a firm that better sets you up for a career change down the line, or help you get a clerkship with someone who can set you up for that career change, etc. But the more you parse that kind of long term causation the more crazy you will get.)

But yeah, there’s something to be said for knowing you’ve given yourself the best shot you could to open every door out there. Spending 3 years away from your current community isn’t a bad thing, especially depending on whether you have lived away from there before or not (if you haven’t, it could be a good experience to see what it’s like). You can easily go back.

Honestly the money is a big thing here. If you have a full ride to your T10 that’s a very different situation than if you don’t.