Top Law Schools

Why Chicago over Northwestern or why Northwestern over Chicago?

Did you just get into the former?

To me, this is one of those that so completely depends on your career goals, interests, and what kind of life you want to have in Chicago, you can just ask a plain question.

I think you need to give more info on your situation. Are you already at NU thinking of transferring or are you somewhere else but were accepted to both?

yeah, in at NU, waitlisted at U of C. just wondering what the primary reasons are that someone would choose one over the other.

They have transfer waitlists?

If you get in, go to U of C. NU is a better place to go to school, but U of C has the placement.

Not sure if that's even true:

LAW SCHOOLS
In a Tight Job Market, Northwestern Is Top Feeder School for BigLaw Firms
Posted Feb 22, 2010 10:50 AM CDT
By Debra Cassens Weiss

A legal publication’s list of go-to law schools highlights how bad the job market is for first-year associates.

The National Law Journal determined which law schools send the highest percentages of graduates to the nation’s top 250 law firms. Topping the list for 2009 is Northwestern University School of Law, which sent 55.9 percent of its grads to top law firms. The number includes deferred associates.

That percentage pales in comparison to figures from the previous year. In 2008, the top ranked school sent 70.5 percent of its grads to top firms, the NLJ says.

The top five feeder schools sent between 50 percent and 56 percent of their grads to big law firms. The NLJ says they are:

1) Northwestern University School of Law.

2) Columbia Law School.

3) Stanford Law School.

4) University of Chicago Law School.

5) University of Virginia School of Law.

Other NLJ lists shows the firms that hired the most judicial clerks (Covington & Burling comes out on top), and the law schools with the most graduates making partner last year (Stanford tops the list). A separate list shows top law firms and their favorite law schools for first-year associate hires.

rayiner wrote:They have transfer waitlists?

If you get in, go to U of C. NU is a better place to go to school, but U of C has the placement.

Considering RD transfers just got their acceptances a few minutes ago, I think that this fellow is a soon-to-be-1L who accidentally posted in the wrong forum.

edit: Nope, I was wrong! My bad!

But that's deceptive because at the top three schools a lot of people clerk their first year out. Isn't it more of a question of how many people who seek a biglaw job get one?

Bizen boat: actually no, I am a transfer. I applied ED to chicago and was waitlisted.

lawstu2010 wrote:Bizen boat: actually no, I am a transfer. I applied ED to chicago and was waitlisted.

That makes sense then. As a fellow transfer, I would take Chicago over NU (and in fact I have to due to the binding ED) because you're getting no money from either. I don't think many people consider Chi and NU to be on equal footing. Both are better than my current school though, so far it be for me to be elitist.

I just sent in my seat deposit to Northwestern and will be visiting UChi and NW next week. Here is my list of strengths I've heard about each school. Please add more pros (or cons if you can think of any) to my list.

Northwestern
Pros:
* business-like culture, 90% of your classmates have substantial professional work experience
* unique eBay-like "bidding system" for courses
* very warm, friendly, non-competitive atmosphere
* no mandatory curve on non-required courses (everyone can earn an 'A')
* beautiful campus located in an amazing part of Chicago
* self-scheduled exams

U of Chicago
Pros:
* extremely interesting and famous faculty!
* extremely interesting and famous faculty! (can't repeat this enough)
* competitive atmosphere
* extremely cerebral culture
* broad course offerings (e.g., Roman Law with Justinian Code)
* self-scheduled exams

dcpolitico wrote:extremely interesting and famous faculty!

Heh, name one non-Posner.

Nussbaum's a really famous philosopher. Sunstein left. Easterbrook and Diane Wood teach there. Richard Epstein may be leaving for NYU; he's famous. Gerald Rosenberg wrote a famous book.

Don't forget Doug Baird. He and the quarter system are pretty much why I applied.

solidsnake wrote:Don't forget Doug Baird. He and the quarter system are pretty much why I applied.

Yeah, finals 4x/year instead of 2x/year FTW!

Holly Golightly wrote:

solidsnake wrote:Don't forget Doug Baird. He and the quarter system are pretty much why I applied.

Yeah, finals 4x/year instead of 2x/year FTW!

Finals are the biggest adrenaline rush in law school (well, 1L at least). The middling eighth week of a semester-long course starts to feel like you're stuck in the horse latitudes with nothing but salty crackers and excess ramen.

Not gonna lie I'm a little surprised this is even a question anymore all things considered.

lawstu2010 wrote:Bizen boat: actually no, I am a transfer. I applied ED to chicago and was waitlisted.

By waitlisted, do you mean you were deferred on 5/17 and placed into the RD pile?

dcpolitico wrote:
Northwestern
Pros:
* business-like culture, 90% of your classmates have substantial professional work experience
* unique eBay-like "bidding system" for courses
* very warm, friendly, non-competitive atmosphere
* no mandatory curve on non-required courses (everyone can earn an 'A')
* beautiful campus located in an amazing part of Chicago
* self-scheduled exams

Aside: I think U.Tenn. has that. Does any other school?

Go to Chicago.

solidsnake wrote:

Holly Golightly wrote:

solidsnake wrote:Don't forget Doug Baird. He and the quarter system are pretty much why I applied.

Yeah, finals 4x/year instead of 2x/year FTW!

Finals are the biggest adrenaline rush in law school (well, 1L at least). The middling eighth week of a semester-long course starts to feel like you're stuck in the horse latitudes with nothing but salty crackers and excess ramen.

Well that's a thought. I kind of liked not having to take school (very) seriously except for two two-week periods a year though. But yes, the midsections of semesters do get dull. Actually though, my lowest ebb in interest was probably the first few weeks of the second semester; a lot of introductory fluff.

Holly Golightly wrote: finals 4x/year!

wait - do you know something about my school that i don't?

doyleoil wrote:Not gonna lie I'm a little surprised this is even a question anymore all things considered.

Yes, this is really a no-brainer. The Chicago market is NU's bread and butter, and its a disaster right now. U of C places like Columbia in NYC which makes it a much safer bet.

dcpolitico wrote:I just sent in my seat deposit to Northwestern and will be visiting UChi and NW next week. Here is my list of strengths I've heard about each school. Please add more pros (or cons if you can think of any) to my list.

Northwestern
Pros:
* business-like culture, 90% of your classmates have substantial professional work experience
* unique eBay-like "bidding system" for courses
* very warm, friendly, non-competitive atmosphere
<b>* no mandatory curve on non-required courses (everyone can earn an 'A')</b>
* beautiful campus located in an amazing part of Chicago
* self-scheduled exams

Really? I didn't know that! ...sorry, I'm not adding anything of consequence to this discussion, just pleasantly surprised.

With respect to NU, this is a complete no-brainer. FFS, in my transfer class, there was someone who transfered from NU to UChicago.