Fordham v. Georgetown Forum

[zan895]

I was recently accepted to Fordham and Georgetown, part time. I currently work for a law firm in NYC full-time, and can continue to do so if I attend Fordham. Is Georgetown's notoriety worth making the move to D.C.? Which school has better prospects for employment in New York City? I was in the top 2% at a T2 school. Do you think that I can maintain the same grades at these higher ranked schools?

[stillwater]

I was recently accepted to Fordham and Georgetown, part time. I currently work for a law firm in NYC full-time, and can continue to do so if I attend Fordham. Is Georgetown's notoriety worth making the move to D.C.? Which school has better prospects for employment in New York City? I was in the top 2% at a T2 school. Do you think that I can maintain the same grades at these higher ranked schools?

Fordham doesnt let you do OCI. HTH

[Robot Pimp]

I was recently accepted to Fordham and Georgetown, part time. I currently work for a law firm in NYC full-time, and can continue to do so if I attend Fordham. Is Georgetown's notoriety worth making the move to D.C.? Which school has better prospects for employment in New York City? I was in the top 2% at a T2 school. Do you think that I can maintain the same grades at these higher ranked schools?

Fordham doesnt let you do OCI. HTH

I don't think that does help, considering he/she will be part-time working full-time at a law firm. Doesn't really apply in this situation.


OP - Why can't you stay at your law firm after graduation? Will they not hire you as an associate?

[zan895]

My current employer would hire me as an associate after law school. Current associates start out around $100k (50 hour work weeks).

When I see that other law school grads can start out in the $160-$180k range, I'm not sure if I should stay here or just go to G-town and tear it up.

[Jimbo_Jones]

Do you have scholarship/fin aid money at your current school?

[Robert Paulson]

My current employer would hire me as an associate after law school. Current associates start out around $100k (50 hour work weeks).

When I see that other law school grads can start out in the $160-$180k range, I'm not sure if I should stay here or just go to G-town and tear it up.

Where are first years getting paid $180k? That was rhetorical because market rate for major markets is $160k. Also, you are seriously rolling the dice unless your employer is cool with you going to DC and going back to work if you don't get a job. Furthermore, a 50 hour work week is awesome. Biglaw $160k jobs require 80ish hours of work a week and can even be more.

I know NYC is expensive, but if it was me, I would take your current job and never look back. Of course, you could still bid on firms at OCI and maybe find a better job. If your losing a scholarship, that's also something to think about since that's an accounting cost adding to the opportunity cost of leaving your employer if you go DC.

As far as grades are concerned, being capable of succeeding at a new school shouldn't really factor into the equation. Yeah, you likely won't be top 2% if you go to Gtown, but since you were able to kill your first year, you will likely have somewhat similar success at a new school. Plus more forgiving curves second year.

[Jimbo_Jones]

I agree with everything. You would be taking a really big risk. You have a likely job starting at $100k, plus you're minimizing your costs and gaining experience now by working full-time. I'd hate to give up the class rank plus any scholarship money plus the current job plus the good possibility of having a good job after graduation just to have a shot at STARTING $160k from GTown. You should see if you can find any data on what associates at your firm are making a few years out because it probably isn't bad. If you don't have scholly/fin aid money currently, Fordham might make sense, but not really.

[zan895]

@Robert Paulson and @Jimbo_Jones, I appreciate the advice. My current boss would probably hire me back if I left to go to D.C. and couldn't find employment after graduation. We have a good relationship. However, there are never any guarantees in life.

My current school is NYLS (***T3, not T2). They offered to pay for 60% of tuition.

The notoriety of going to Georgetown isn't worth it?

[zan895]

I would probably go with Fordham(conservative move), but a majority of the associates at my firm are urging me to take on the debt and go to Georgetown. It's a tough choice to make. Does anyone else have any thoughts?

[guano]

As a transfer, employers will judge you by how you did at NYLS, not whichever school you transfer to. Fordham is the safer option, because you can keep your current job. While prospects are better at Georgetown, that applies mostly to fresh student. Sure, 3L OCI will have better odds, but, that's a very risky proposition

(I know there's something critical I'm missing here. Someone will point it out, I'm sure)

[anonymous2882]

I think you would be crazy to give up your job and leave NY. You are lucky to have a job to fall back on and while Gtown may be ranked higher the goal of going to law school is to get a job afterwards. Stay in NY, keep your job and use your networking in NY and at your current firm to get something better. Fordham doesn't let transfers do OCI but I doubt that will hurt you considering you have connections already.