If you're wondering why USC is even in this discussion, its because I live in Southern California (and currently go to UCLA), my number one priority- other than just getting a good job- is to return to California to work, and I have a strong personal and family connection to SC. I also would love to work in Sports or Entertainment Law, and obviously LA is the best place to be for that along with New York City.

On the other hand, sports/entertainment are very hard to get into and people typically do so by working at a large firm first. For that reason, I'm thinking Cornell might be a good place to be since it is a T-14 with a lot of national respect. Not to mention it is in New York and could perhaps provide me with similar internship/externship opportunities to what I could find in LA. That being said, I really don't want to jeopardize my chances of finding a job in California after I graduate. I've gotten mixed responses on whether or not going to a T-14 outside of the top 3-5 would do so or not.

Obviously Harvard and Stanford are Harvard and Stanford, so I don't even need to explain why I'd like to go to one of those schools. However, now that I have a full scholarship offer from a T-14, I don't think I would choose Harvard with no money (which will be the case).

So does anyone have any thoughts? Any info you have on these schools or on sports/entertainment law would be appreciated! Thank you.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2861708&forum_id=2#27743827)

Duke - no, unless they will give you a full scholarship. 120k will still leave you taking out a six figure loan.

Cornell if you are willing to (a) live in Ithaca for three years, and (b) work in NYC biglaw, at least initially. You may then be able to lateral out to a Cali branch office in 3-4 years - I've seen several associates do this.

USC if you are not willing to work or live in NYC/East Coast and are committed to living in Cali. Sounds like the USC scholarship is a little better than Cornell but I imagine that would be offset by higher COL.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2861708&forum_id=2#27743956)

oh brother

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2861708&forum_id=2#27743960)

just do no debt...ur path from all these schools is the same

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2861708&forum_id=2#27743970)

Plus it's not like you want to go into some public interest thing that pays shit and that would make it hard to pay off debt.

Stanford FTW, and congratulations.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2861708&forum_id=2#27743965)

If not for cost of living, USC would be the credited choice. It may still be since you care a lot about SoCal and (maybe) entertainment law. What's your estimated difference in debt load upon graduation from these options?

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2861708&forum_id=2#27744060)

You'll almost certainly be ranked high enough in the class to get a great biglaw job. You will be better situated to be in the office you will want to end up in, and won't get stuck in NYC for 3 years after graduating.

You don't have to ditch your entire life.

If you hate law after a few years of practicing, and don't want to feel trapped, you'll be OK because you have NO DEBT!

Also -- you can fuck USC undergrads. Naturally.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2861708&forum_id=2#27746602)

I chose HYS at sticker over UCLA/GULC with nearly full money and I don't regret it at all. No grades = 3 years to fuck around. You will get a good jerb regardless. I'll have my loans paid off before I'm 30, preftege, and I took a 3 year vacation in law school. Only reason to take the scholarship and run is if you have some credible alternative option to biglaw after graduation, and you won't unless you know someone or have prior experience. Otherwise just suck it up, you are doing biglaw for a few years anyway, might as well enjoy LS a bit more and take the lifetime prestige bump. Not to mention you don't want to get bad grade pwned 1L and then feel like a jackass staring down unemployment after turning down HLS/SLS.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2861708&forum_id=2#27746768)

EDIT: I should add that PAYE makes a huge difference. I have no idea what everyone else is talking about regarding the chains of debt. I have debt but I could quit tomorrow and become a teacher and just PAYE and let it do. The idea you can't downshift to a more chill jerb because you have debt is flame if you cop PAYE.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2861708&forum_id=2#27747022)

It's a decently big prestige hit, but it sure as hell is not worth 200k in debt. You can't understand what that kind of debt is like -- and how it limits your ability to do what you want in life -- until you are actually under it. You honestly cannot comprehend it until you have it. Don't try and trick yourself into six figures of high interest debt so you can wear a slightly more prestigious sweatshirt when you go home for the holidays.

The above average but not superstar dude at Cornell and Harvard have essentially the same outcome -- biglaw. Your firm may be slightly "better" at Harvard, but you'll be miserable because your whole paycheck will go to loans. If you went to Cornell and have no debt, on the other hand, you'll be stacking cash to the ceiling.

And if you decide you don't want to do biglaw, either in school or after ... well, if you choose cornell that's fine - go work gov or try to start your own firm or quit law altogether, whatever you want. If you choose harvard ... oooh sorry buddy, get your ass back to work you got loans to pay. I'm gonna need that doc turned before monday morning's call.

don't ruin your life with BIG DEBT bro. A full scholarship to a t14 school that reliably leads to biglaw is about as good a position as you could be in if going to law school -- don't throw it all away for a moderate prestige bump.

USC is cool too I guess, but you have a much better chance of getting no jerb pwned from there than from Cornell.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2861708&forum_id=2#27746976)

I graduated from HLS with about 130k in debt. Did COA clerkship and then biglaw. Lived in a shitty apartment with roommates and paid it off as quickly as possible.

I worked in a particularly toxic group, so i know that not everyone's experience is this bad. BUT I hated biglaw stress so much, and felt so trapped by my debt, that I thought that I was losing my mind. There were occasions, after I cabbed home around midnight--only to receive an additional 3 emails demanding work while I was taking a shower--that i fell asleep wondering if it wouldnt be better if I just never woke up again.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2861708&forum_id=2#27747076)

I took HLS and don't regret it at all. I think that's partially because I am doing government work, and HLS does really really well there.

I did a couple of years of Biglaw, paid the loans down substantially and have been okay since. I wouldn't do Cornell - either go big (SLS and HLS) or go home (USC).

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2861708&forum_id=2#27747205)

As such, in three years you will rack up at least $250,000 in *principle debt.* The problem is, the majority of those loans will immediately start compounding interest, which will capitalize and further add to the principle that you will repay upon graduation. Law School Transparency has a nice calculator which shows you'd owe $312,000 at graduation, with a $3600 monthly payment. All in, when its said and done, you'd end up paying $432,000 for your Harvard law degree. Almost half a million dollars. http://www.lstscorereports.com/schools/harvard/costs/2013/

With NYC biglaw market at 160k, you can guestimate netting about $7000 per month, give or take, depending on 401k and medical plan expenses. In other words, over 50% of your take home pay will be immediately be sucked up by student loans. Will your salary go up? Sure - for as long you can grind it out and/or not get fired in Biglaw. But whatever you decide to do years 1-10 post law school, you will still have a $3600 a month debt repayment.

Alternatives:

Bank on PAYE and/or IBR (10 years if public service, 20-25 if otherwise). This might be viable as of now, but it is guaranteed there will be a harsh reckoning on these programs in the next few years. When it comes time to pay the piper, the Gub'Mint won't actually support windfalls to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

But even if those programs maintain the current status quo, you are beyond "locked in" once you decide to go that route. I literally cannot imagine what would happen to the principle of a $312,000 loan if you decided to go public interest. The income based repayment programs allow you to make payments based on a certain percentage of your income, but the actual principle you owe sits in the background, growing every month that you don't make a full payment, until you reach either 10 years of public interest, 20-25 years in private employment, at which time the remainder of the loan is "forgiven."

So, it is entirely different to take Harvard nowadays at full sticker, if you plan on going to clerk then moving into biglaw therafter, as other posters have indicated. It is impossible to make a $3600 loan repayment as a clerk - I doubt you'd cover even half of the interest of the loan. You'd have no choice but to go into an income based repayment program, which would balloon the fuck out of your principle debt, forever subjecting you to the iron chainz of student loan debt.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2861708&forum_id=2#27748181)

Decent analysis for the most part, but you're wrong about the principal ballooning. Income-based repayment plans cap the principal at 110% of the starting principal, meaning that it doesn't just balloon indefinitely for 10/20/25 years.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2861708&forum_id=2#27748434)

The point is, assuming that these programs even survive in their current form, at full tilt tuition pricing, you are completely beholden to income based repayment options for a long ass time, should you choose to go that route.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2861708&forum_id=2#27749141)

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2861708&forum_id=2#27749173)

Lawyers tend to be pretty rankings obsessed, so if BigLaw, MBB or anything like that is something you're considering I'd write off USC (since the money vs Cornell isn't that much but you are at least at an ivy). I'd pick the money over Harvard/Stanford since (as other posters point out), grinding in BigLaw to service your never-ending debt is terrible. But that is a choice that usually requires a bit more life experience (if you are picturing yourself at an admit event at Cornell telling everyone how you got in to Harvard but turned it down for scholarship then you probably just need to accept that about yourself and send in your deposit now).

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2861708&forum_id=2#27748738)

think about that before you say cornell is in "new york"

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2861708&forum_id=2#27749167)

Hth

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2861708&forum_id=2#31707060)