does rank matter Forum

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dolcevita99

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does rank matter

Post by dolcevita99 » Wed Aug 02, 2017 4:21 pm

Hi all,

I have been committed to Berkeley for awhile now. I loved the ASW and think I will get a quality education there. But I turned down Columbia & Chicago for it and am now rethinking my choices... everyone seems to be obsessed with rank and correlate that with prestige. I can't tell if I made the right choice not going to the highest ranked school? The COA is around 140k for berkeley and 190k for CCN. Are there any prestigious govt positions or even firms that would look down on Berkeley vs CCN? I spoke with a ton of students who chose it over Columbia and had no regrets, but they all were mostly concerned with generic corporate law. Thanks!
Last edited by dolcevita99 on Wed Aug 02, 2017 4:48 pm, edited 2 times in total.

Anon-e-miss

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Re: COLD FEET !

Post by Anon-e-miss » Wed Aug 02, 2017 4:26 pm

dolcevita99 wrote:Hi all,

I have been committed to Berkeley for awhile now. I loved the ASW and think I will get a quality education there. But I turned down Columbia & Chicago for it and am now rethinking my choices... everyone seems to be obsessed with rank and correlate that with prestige. I can't tell if I made the right choice not going to the highest ranked school? The COA is around 140k for berkeley and $190 for CCN. Are there any prestigious govt positions or even firms that would look down on Berkeley vs CCN? I spoke with a ton of students who chose it over Columbia and had no regrets, but they all were mostly concerned with generic corporate law. Thanks!
In order to receive the best feedback in this forum, please provide as much of the following information in your original post as possible:

-The schools you are considering
-The total Cost of Attendance (COA) of each. COA = cost of tuition + fees + books + cost of living (COL) + accumulated interest - scholarships. Here is a helpful calculator.
-How you will be financing your COA, i.e. loans, family, or savings
-Where you are from and where you want to work, and other places where you have significant ties (if any)
-Your general career goals
-Your LSAT/GPA numbers
-How many times you have taken the LSAT
Last edited by Anon-e-miss on Fri Jan 26, 2018 8:53 pm, edited 1 time in total.

dolcevita99

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Re: does rank matter

Post by dolcevita99 » Wed Aug 02, 2017 4:52 pm

chose Cal, just curious as to if it was the right choice (over Columbia and UChicago)

loans, URM (Mexican), career goals not completely known. Big firm then transition into govt work? around median lsat and gpa (for berkeley)
Last edited by dolcevita99 on Wed Aug 02, 2017 5:02 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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cavalier1138

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Re: does rank matter

Post by cavalier1138 » Wed Aug 02, 2017 4:56 pm

dolcevita99 wrote:chose Cal, just curious as to if it was the right choice (over Columbia and UChicago)

loans, URM (Mexican), career goals not completely known. Big firm then transition into govt work? around median lsat and gpa
Where do you want to practice? What is your total COA at each school? What do you mean by "govt work"? And what are your actual numbers? "Around median" isn't very helpful when you list multiple schools).

Decisions like this cannot be made in a void, even if you really, really wish there were some objective measure of the relative "prestige" of each institution. For some applicants, Texas might be a better choice than Yale.

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Wild Card

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Re: does rank matter

Post by Wild Card » Wed Aug 02, 2017 9:13 pm

Makes sense only if you intend to spend the rest of your life in CA.

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globetrotter659

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Re: does rank matter

Post by globetrotter659 » Thu Aug 03, 2017 2:24 pm

There's no real difference between Chicago/Columbia and Berkeley for federal government employers. If you end up doing an honors program, you'll find that maybe half of our entering class came from schools outside the T14.

RedPurpleBlue

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Re: does rank matter

Post by RedPurpleBlue » Thu Aug 03, 2017 5:55 pm

Wild Card wrote:Makes sense only if you intend to spend the rest of your life in CA.
Or, you know, if you want to minimize your debt while still having stellar career outcomes.

candidlatke

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Re: does rank matter

Post by candidlatke » Thu Aug 03, 2017 6:14 pm

RedPurpleBlue wrote:
Wild Card wrote:Makes sense only if you intend to spend the rest of your life in CA.
Or, you know, if you want to minimize your debt while still having stellar career outcomes.
with berkeley's employment numbers, CCN isn't indefensible at 50k more

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cavalier1138

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Re: does rank matter

Post by cavalier1138 » Thu Aug 03, 2017 6:30 pm

Based on the OP's general trend of asking a single question and then immediately disappearing when anyone asks for clarification, I'm not hopeful that this is going to get resolved...

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globetrotter659

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Re: does rank matter

Post by globetrotter659 » Thu Aug 03, 2017 8:43 pm

OP has already made the decision to attend Berkeley and is just looking for confirmation that s/he made the right decision. OP's decision is no longer between Berkeley and Chicago/Columbia but whether to matriculate at Berkeley or not.

So should OP attend Berkeley with a $140 COA, a 167 LSAT, a 3.79 GPA, and standard 0L goal of big law? Or should OP decline to matriculate and reapply.

RedPurpleBlue

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Re: does rank matter

Post by RedPurpleBlue » Fri Aug 04, 2017 12:05 am

candidlatke wrote:
RedPurpleBlue wrote:
Wild Card wrote:Makes sense only if you intend to spend the rest of your life in CA.
Or, you know, if you want to minimize your debt while still having stellar career outcomes.
with berkeley's employment numbers, CCN isn't indefensible at 50k more
It's perfectly defensible to pay 50k more for CCN. The OP I replied to said Berkeley > CCN only makes sense if you wanted to stay in CA. I was just pointing out that Berkeley > CCN can also make sense if you're debt-adverse and Berkeley is 50k cheaper.

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BlendedUnicorn

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Re: does rank matter

Post by BlendedUnicorn » Fri Aug 04, 2017 9:24 am

Problem is OP asked two questions. Did they make the right choice? Maybe/probably/man it really depends on your goals.

Are there firms or government positions that would favor CCN (read:draw from deeper in the class) over Berkeley? Absolutely. There are also firms that wouldn't.

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jbagelboy

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Re: does rank matter

Post by jbagelboy » Sat Aug 05, 2017 11:34 pm

You didn't make the "wrong" choice. Berkeley for you was justifiable. But going to Chicago or Columbia for $50k more would have made sense as well. Yes, on average, those schools offer superior opportunities, but they were also more expensive and everything has a dollar value in the professions. You made a tough call: live with it.

Does "rank" matter? As in US news? No, it does not. Placement power matters and there's indisputably a distinction in class here. But its not a large one and $50k is real money. Don't get lost in the noise

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