I agree with a lot of this as well. The only thing I would disagree about is whether using big firm % and clerkship % data to pick a school. I think that if Cornell gives the most bang for their buck - an acceptable chance at biglaw at the lowest cost - then OP should jump on that like everyone else who is paying with loans should. That is not to say that to some ppl x better percentage chance of getting biglaw isn't worth extra money. But I think all in all if you are going to get Biglaw from say Columbia 9 times out of 10 you would have gotten it from Cornell.toothbrush wrote:To give you some food for thought - 8 people last year from the 1L class chose to pay more money to go to an objectively worse (using the data points you chose) [[EDIT - decided to fact check. NYU does have a better big firm score by .8%. However, NYU's clerkship placement is -2.1% comparatively, making it a loss of -1.3 for the two data points. I could edit this post for a better example, but I think most of what I say is still ok., just covering myself w/ this edit]] school and pay more money for it. I am speaking of those who transferred to NYU. I guess you can wonder why so many people did that (mind you, 17 transferred out of Cornell, only two of which went to HYS).bobbybird wrote: Thank you for your response. This, honestly, was my feeling from what I've read thus far about Cornell. It seems like such an undervalued school for it's employment data, so now that I'm in with the potential to get very good scholarship money, it's really high on my list. However, I keep doubting myself, thinking maybe I'm missing something critical.
Without this being too cryptic, consider (1) Cornell's location. There are varying opinions on Ithaca and whether it's a good place to study or not. I fall in the camp that Ithaca was pretty awesome and is an excellent place to study. (2) Cornell's student body. The group tends to be a bit younger compared to some other t14. This, anecedotally, helps shape the atmosphere of the 1L class. In addition, there is indeed an isolating factor about Ithaca (compared to, say, NYC) whereby the attributes of the class are amplified. I'm not just talking out of my ass but a few current 1Ls have PM'd me saying the same thing. (3) Your career goals. Cornell is a NYC big law feeder. It is comparatively difficult to get many resources from the school or find like-minded individuals who don't want NYC big law. If you're in this camp who wants NYC big law, then great. If not, maybe you'd do better at somewhere like NYU that tends to have a broader class in terms of employment interests. That is not to say that PILU or CALSA or whatever don't do a good job in bringing like-minded individuals together - but they can't be as good as NYU for PI or places like Berk or Stanford for CA west coast.
Those are just some thoughts. Congrats on your acceptance and future money, though! Cornell is an excellent school and a great place to study - just maybe not for everyone. Using big firm % and clerkship % should not be the only consideration in choosing to spend three years somewhere, really.
The reason why I say this is because when you think about it its really 2 years of law school. 1L is shit everywhere you go. You should really be busting your ass and honestly I don't know any 1L that is like damn I love my life right now anywhere . But those second two years could be better in a place that you like especially after you are biglaw secure. Now I know a lot of people believe it or not pay sticker for Cornell. So those people aren't really giving up anything by transferring to another school. But I do know several people who could have gotten HYS who stayed because they didn't want to give up class rank and scholly.
I'm in the camp that really enjoyed my time in Ithaca. I'm just saying if you look at the other threads and from talking to ppl that have graduated debt fucking sucks. You can suck up two years if it means saving tens of thousands of dollars.
Just my 2 cents. Otherwise solid post by Toothbush.
Oh well!
