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Top 10% at UIUC. Law Review. 25k/year scholly. Biglaw is the goal - I would actually prefer Texas, but its a toss up between NY and Chicago.

Admitted to NYU.

Is leaving a stupid decision?

Go. Also, is the $25k guaranteed for both years?

OP here

Yea, the 25k/year is guaranteed. My profs are pushing the fact that I could secure a nice clerkship if I stayed (CALI con law, etc), but I don't really think that's something I want to do. Also, being on TLS for years has taught me not to trust those sneaky devils.

I guess my hesitation is because I don't wanna pay tens of thousands more for something I could lock up at UIUC. But I am really afraid of striking out.

pay deposit at NYU. Compare their OCI prospects to UIUC's. If u have time, wait for screener invitations from UIUC to come out and see what u'd be giving up or gaining by leaving.

Only fed clerkship top 10% at uiuc is getting is S.D.Ill, if even.

OP here

Yea, I'm not really concerned with the clerkship route. I just don't want to leave a bad taste in my mouth by taking on $80k more debt for a name.

Anonymous User wrote:Top 10% at UIUC. Law Review. 25k/year scholly. Biglaw is the goal - I would actually prefer Texas, but its a toss up between NY and Chicago.

Admitted to NYU.

Is leaving a stupid decision?

If you would prefer Texas why is UT not an option? From what I've read, other than HYS, Texas firms tend to stick to their own and hire UT grads over other ivy's and stress ties pretty heavily.

nointerests wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:Top 10% at UIUC. Law Review. 25k/year scholly. Biglaw is the goal - I would actually prefer Texas, but its a toss up between NY and Chicago.

Admitted to NYU.

Is leaving a stupid decision?

If you would prefer Texas why is UT not an option? From what I've read, other than HYS, Texas firms tend to stick to their own and hire UT grads over other ivy's and stress ties pretty heavily.

This assumes that OP has Texas ties. He can still apply to UT now, but he's missed the boat on OCI. Getting a job as a transfer afterwards would be an enormous uphill battle.

Anonymous User wrote:Top 10% at UIUC. Law Review. 25k/year scholly. Biglaw is the goal - I would actually prefer Texas, but its a toss up between NY and Chicago.

Admitted to NYU.

Is leaving a stupid decision?

Any chances of UIUC bumping up your scholarship?

Op here

No meaningful Texas ties. That's the problem with ut.

I have tried to leverage scholarship to no avail.

Anonymous User wrote:Op here

No meaningful Texas ties. That's the problem with ut.

I have tried to leverage scholarship to no avail.

Hmm..odd...I know someone who got accepted as a transfer from UIUC into a T14 ranked lower than NYU that got a scholarship bump in response.

Go to NYU if you want to get to Texas. Big Texas firms go to OCI at NYU (Akin, V&E, Baker, etc.) and rarely fill their interview slots. I doubt they show up at Illinois.

middlemarch wrote:Go to NYU if you want to get to Texas. Big Texas firms go to OCI at NYU (Akin, V&E, Baker, etc.) and rarely fill their interview slots. I doubt they show up at Illinois.

OP here. Do Big Tex firms come to NYU expecting to hire people from Texas, or will they take a legitimate look at kids who have an actual reason to want Texas but lack ties?

I can't be sure, but I assume they'd be willing to take a legitimate look if you bid on them during OCI (as I said, they don't fill up) and can cogently and enthusiastically explain why you want to move to Texas during the screening interview. There's also an opportunity, generally, to talk to firms at their hospitality suites, and to leave a second impression. At least you have a foot in the door, which is better than mass-mailing from Illinois without ties. Worst-case at NYU you end up with NYC Big Law.

You should be fine at UIUC. If top 10% + LR doesn't get you some form of biglaw at OCI, then NYU's OCI may not bode much better for you, i.e., poor apps or interviewing. The only difference will be access to preftigious firms at NYU + a marginally better chance at TX biglaw. It's not worth an extra 80k.

Why do you want to work in Texas when you have no ties there? If its the COL factor, Chicago is a ton cheaper than NYC. NYC will probably be the easiest place to get biglaw in, though, and NYU's OCI will maximize your odds of that. Also, if you don't have ties to Chicago, you should strongly consider transferring to NYU, taking NYC biglaw, and never looking back. Chicago firms care a lot about ties, and top 10% + LR is far from a guarantee of Chicago biglaw right now (Chicago is a very competitive market because of the lack of SA spots in Chicago). I calculated the NALP numbers back when I was in law school, and I remember there being somewhere around 250 SA spots total in Chicago in the summer of 2010, and you're competing against students from the t14 (particularly UChi and NU) for one of those spots. Just to give you an idea of how competitive it is, a recruiter in Chicago told a friend that not even federal law clerks are finding jobs in Chicago right now (unless they were hired through a 2L SA).