If those doors are worth 200k+ (after you factor in all the interest payments), then great.

I think Yale really would open more doors to more prestigious clerkships and academia. Appointment to the bench, I think not. That comes after you have practiced for a while and have something to show for it. Yale vs Columbia probably isn't going to be a factor unless we are talking about SCOTUS or DC COA or something like that. And if you are going to put yourself in hock six figures so you can have a shot at that, well, you should play the lottery.

Yale sticker vs random tier 1 school free ride? Yes, indeed.

Yale sticker vs full ride at Columbia? Heck no, unless I'm going into a field that pays so little that I will never pay the loans back. Then, Yale sticker (which really is a free ride).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I chose Yale with zero scholarship over Columbia with full scholarship, and have not regretted it once. Yale's loan repayment program is so generous that, as a public interest/gov't lawyer, I have yet to pay a single penny towards my loans and yet somehow they are more than 50% paid off.

Duh, who wouldn't choose yale?

In the PP's circumstances, I wouldn't have, if I had my sights set on biglaw, but public interest where Yale was apparently going to pay all my loans off for me, then hell yes. I suspect that if you do biglaw out of Yale, you are paying everything back because of your high income. In that case, I'd much rather come out of C debt free.

That's extremely shortsighted. 15 years after graduation, loans will be a thing long in the past, and the Yale degree will open doors that even a Colombia degree doesn't get you through. Appointments to the bench, deputy assistant associate Atty. Gen. for something, etc.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I chose Yale with zero scholarship over Columbia with full scholarship, and have not regretted it once. Yale's loan repayment program is so generous that, as a public interest/gov't lawyer, I have yet to pay a single penny towards my loans and yet somehow they are more than 50% paid off.

Duh, who wouldn't choose yale?

In the PP's circumstances, I wouldn't have, if I had my sights set on biglaw, but public interest where Yale was apparently going to pay all my loans off for me, then hell yes. I suspect that if you do biglaw out of Yale, you are paying everything back because of your high income. In that case, I'd much rather come out of C debt free.