Penn ($) vs Cornell ($$$) for PI Forum

[jurisdoctor2020]

Would love to hear some thoughts on the relative PI merits and culture of these two. I'm also still studying the various ins and outs of each school's LRAP, so if anyone has experience dealing with those at one of these schools I'd love to hear how it's going.

I've visited both campuses and am torn. Philly seems like a great city, and its close to NYC (my ideal market) and DC. The people at Penn were friendly and super driven. Cornell was really beautiful and the people seemed so down to earth and relaxed (especially considering that it's law school we are talking about here). Big obvious downer is that it is so far from everything.

The cost differential between these schools for me would be about $100K. They both have good LRAPs but with slight differences between them.

Please help! Any thoughts are appreciated. Have to decide by Monday...

[Rigo]

Can't speak to either culture. Both will likely be pretty Biglaw focused (like most top schools). I don't see Penn being worth anywhere near $100k more with basically similar LRAP's.

[jurisdoctor2020]

Can't speak to either culture. Both will likely be pretty Biglaw focused (like most top schools). I don't see Penn being worth anywhere near $100k more with basically similar LRAP's.

I've read that PI jobs can be just as competitive as biglaw, if not more so, due to the slow turnover rate of jobs. Do you think there would be any boost in terms of career prospects that Penn would offer over Cornell, or are they pretty much at par?

[cheaptilts]

I would take Cornell here in a HEARTBEAT if you think there's (a) any chance, at all, that you may want to dabble in the private sector; (b) any chance, at all, that these loan forgiveness programs will be altered/go away.

If you are SURE that you're in it for the long haul (and by turning down Cornell, you're basically locking yourself into PI due to the debt)...then take Penn. As I explained in anther thread, Cornell's location makes it hard to do PI work outside of the Ithaca/Syracuse area without taking a full-time externship somewhere for an entire semester. Some students are able to commute a few times a week to the AG's Office in Albany; PD/AUSA office in Syracuse; do judicial externships in Syracuse; etc., but other PI opportunities throughout the semester--absent relocating and do it full-time for a semester in lieu of classes--are sparse. At Penn, you'd probably be able to work in NY or DC 1-2x a week while still taking doctrinal classes at Penn.

I think Philly would even offer you better opportunities in the city itself. Sure, if you only want to do PI work in Atlanta or San Francisco, then I would take Cornell because I do not think that the Penn name opens any more doors, so to speak. But if you're cool with working in Philly during the school year and want the ability to work somewhere while still taking classes, then Penn (and most T13s) >> Cornell (and probably Mich).

But once again, if you think there's (a) any chance, at all, that you may want to dabble in the private sector; (b) any chance, at all, that these loan forgiveness programs will be altered/go away, you should take Cornell's offer. It just makes sense.

[luckyirish13]

Would love to hear some thoughts on the relative PI merits and culture of these two. I'm also still studying the various ins and outs of each school's LRAP, so if anyone has experience dealing with those at one of these schools I'd love to hear how it's going.

I've visited both campuses and am torn. Philly seems like a great city, and its close to NYC (my ideal market) and DC. The people at Penn were friendly and super driven. Cornell was really beautiful and the people seemed so down to earth and relaxed (especially considering that it's law school we are talking about here). Big obvious downer is that it is so far from everything.

The cost differential between these schools for me would be about $100K. They both have good LRAPs but with slight differences between them.

Please help! Any thoughts are appreciated. Have to decide by Monday...

Penn is not worth 100K more than Cornell. Cornell will set you up well with NYC law, as much as Penn would, for $100,000 cheaper. Cornell is the obvious choice here. Also if you wanna talk PI, Cornell actually has better numbers on that. They put 12% of their graduates in PI, whereas Penn places 8%.

Take the hundred thousand dollars (seriously, that is what is being given to you. A hundred. thousand. dollars.) and be extremely happy.