Law school- Yale vs UC Berkeley

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are the PPs lawyers?

No practicing lawyer would recommend turning down Yale for UC Berkeley.

OMG. Plenty of practicing lawyers would suggest this.

practicing lawyer here, former biglaw partner (at a boutique midlaw firm now). i would absolutely recommend UCB with a near-free ride vs yale full cost. i'd go a step further and call you stupid for not following my advice.

btw, yale grads tend not to do well in biglaw for some reason. must be the whole gay sex and cocaine thing; they often wind up in academia.

Wait what? This poster sounds crazy.

A lot of the posters seem to be missing that OP’s kid wants to do human rights now, not BigLaw or private equity. For human rights law, I’d say definitely YLS.

I agree with this. If you really want to make it in a field like human rights law you will benefit from the YLS name and working the connections HARD.

My spouse is in a different field of law but turned down a full ride to a top 20 school to go to YLS. The financial piece was hard for me to understand at the time, even though he was able to get financial help from his family. Right out of school it opened so many doors, and for even about 10 years longer he could call an old professor and get a connection with someone nearly anywhere he wanted. It was astonishing and with the way the job market is now I’d want that ability.

I say this as someone who also got a graduate degree from Yale, but in a program where they are a top 5 MAYBE. The name opens doors for sure but it’s not the same. I wouldn’t give this advice for Yale generally but for YLS it’s worth it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are the PPs lawyers?

No practicing lawyer would recommend turning down Yale for UC Berkeley.

The above selectively admits an important distinction; Yale is full pay and UC-Berkeley is almost free. Only a wealthy person would even consider Yale in this situation. Only a non-wealthy fool would pass up UC-B for free and pay full sticker price at Yale.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are the PPs lawyers?

No practicing lawyer would recommend turning down Yale for UC Berkeley.

OMG. Plenty of practicing lawyers would suggest this.

practicing lawyer here, former biglaw partner (at a boutique midlaw firm now). i would absolutely recommend UCB with a near-free ride vs yale full cost. i'd go a step further and call you stupid for not following my advice.

btw, yale grads tend not to do well in biglaw for some reason. must be the whole gay sex and cocaine thing; they often wind up in academia.

Wait what? This poster sounds crazy.

A lot of the posters seem to be missing that OP’s kid wants to do human rights now, not BigLaw or private equity. For human rights law, I’d say definitely YLS.

I agree with this. If you really want to make it in a field like human rights law you will benefit from the YLS name and working the connections HARD.

My spouse is in a different field of law but turned down a full ride to a top 20 school to go to YLS. The financial piece was hard for me to understand at the time, even though he was able to get financial help from his family. Right out of school it opened so many doors, and for even about 10 years longer he could call an old professor and get a connection with someone nearly anywhere he wanted. It was astonishing and with the way the job market is now I’d want that ability.

I say this as someone who also got a graduate degree from Yale, but in a program where they are a top 5 MAYBE. The name opens doors for sure but it’s not the same. I wouldn’t give this advice for Yale generally but for YLS it’s worth it.

This. If you are fine just working in biglaw, then yes, berkeley or yale is the same and it comes down to proving yourself. But if you ever want to leave biglaw, or go back into biglaw in a time of turmoil like this, yale will make a big difference. It's about the connection and the network. And OP - your debt will be manageable. Bet on yourself.

[Anonymous]

If you just want to work Biglaw or some inhouse job, go to Berkley.

If you have ambitions beyond that, go to YLS.

You can obviously make it coming from either, but people from YLS go on to do a variety of interesting things in the law and beyond the law that make for a interesting, diverse network.

[Anonymous]

This is the same question you see in MBA threads. Should I pay to go to the Harvard Business School or full ride to Columbia/Wharton/Chicago? No matter where you go, there are only so many people who wind up in top positions. And yes, certain people will tell you that if they had not gone to Harvard, they would not have the job they are currently occupying. But I know other HBS grads who are not really doing anything extraordinary.

No matter how intelligent, hardworking, and gorgeous you are, it's a crapshoot. OP needs to decide how much that is worth to them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is the same question you see in MBA threads. Should I pay to go to the Harvard Business School or full ride to Columbia/Wharton/Chicago? No matter where you go, there are only so many people who wind up in top positions. And yes, certain people will tell you that if they had not gone to Harvard, they would not have the job they are currently occupying. But I know other HBS grads who are not really doing anything extraordinary.

No matter how intelligent, hardworking, and gorgeous you are, it's a crapshoot. OP needs to decide how much that is worth to them.

No reasonable MBA student would turn down a full ride to Wharton/Columbia/Chicago to pay full retail at Harvard Business School. In fact, the group of MBA programs indicates that you know very little about MBA programs as Chicago, Wharton, & Columbia are all much stronger in finance than is Harvard--which is strong in general Management, but not in Finance.

[Anonymous]

Other forums are packed with, "you have to go to HBS, it's a life changer" posts. OK, bring it down a notch. Exchange the schools mentioned with Haas, Kellogg, Ross, Stern, etc. each has great outcomes, but does HBS shoot you into a much higher job that you could only get from the other schools with a great deal of timing and luck? Classic question. Is it coincidence that the PE firm who owned my company was strictly HBS grads?

[Anonymous]

I'm a practicing lawyer and the student loan debt is no joke. I was able to do PSLF but I'm worried the door has been shut on that program. Sure someone going the Big Law route can pay off that debt, but being locked into decision right now will affect your options. People do pivot in law school.

Berkley is a fantastic school and unless you're trying to do something like clerk for the Supreme Court, almost certainly won't limit your options.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm a practicing lawyer and the student loan debt is no joke. I was able to do PSLF but I'm worried the door has been shut on that program. Sure someone going the Big Law route can pay off that debt, but being locked into decision right now will affect your options. People do pivot in law school.

Berkley is a fantastic school and unless you're trying to do something like clerk for the Supreme Court, almost certainly won't limit your options.

Great post, although the final sentence should be ignored as US Supreme Court clerkships are rare (plus, such clerkships are offered to US court of Appeals clerks based on their work & relationships there).

[Anonymous]

I turned down Yale to get a full ride to NYU. I have come across a few Yale lawyers who took out loans. I think overall I had to work a little harder for my reputation but ended up in the same place career wise as others with degrees from Harvard and Yale (I also got into Harvard but they wanted my parents to take out a mortgage on their house to pay and that wasn’t going to happen). In some instances, I think my reputation was better than a Yale colleagues among people we both worked with but I definitely saw doors open more easily with the Yale law degree when amongst those who did not have direct knowledge of our work. I have a had a lot more career flexibility not having loans and will retire early to focus on interests outside the law. I have wondered if it would have been worth it to pay for my kids to be legacies, but that may be all gone soon enough. I will add that working in human rights is an extremely hard career path. If you know what that looks like for you more specifically and have some background already, then Yale may be the better fit. But then inquire as to how those loans get paid back.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I turned down Yale to get a full ride to NYU. I have come across a few Yale lawyers who took out loans. I think overall I had to work a little harder for my reputation but ended up in the same place career wise as others with degrees from Harvard and Yale (I also got into Harvard but they wanted my parents to take out a mortgage on their house to pay and that wasn’t going to happen). In some instances, I think my reputation was better than a Yale colleagues among people we both worked with but I definitely saw doors open more easily with the Yale law degree when amongst those who did not have direct knowledge of our work. I have a had a lot more career flexibility not having loans and will retire early to focus on interests outside the law. I have wondered if it would have been worth it to pay for my kids to be legacies, but that may be all gone soon enough. I will add that working in human rights is an extremely hard career path. If you know what that looks like for you more specifically and have some background already, then Yale may be the better fit. But then inquire as to how those loans get paid back.

Wait, what? YLS confers Yale undergrad legacy status on putative children? Learning something new on DCUM every time