Northwestern (120k) vs Cornell (120k) Forum

[Lord Rochford]

Hello everyone,

I'm a prospective law student and have narrowed down my options to Northwestern Pritzker in Chicago and Cornell. Both are offering 120k in scholarship money. Both are excellent options but I am having a hard time deciding which school to choose as they will offer me very different experiences.

In terms of location, I do enjoy Chicago but also enjoy how peaceful Ithaca is. But I worry that Ithaca might get old after the first semester or year.

In terms of school culture, I have liked both. However, I am 30 and am assuming that Northwestern's student body might be older on average, which would make socializing easier or more interesting for me.

Northwestern also has better IP class offerings than Cornell and this is an area that I am interested in, along with corporate/business.

I also like to the possibility of being able to take classes at the Kellogg school but dislike that Northwestern law is far away from the main campus. From that perspective, Cornell felt more interesting.

In terms of career goals, I would like to clerk after law school and work in the private sector then potentially do something in local or national politics. I am not however sure where I'd like to be (Chicago or the east coast are my preferred areas).

Assuming I receive no extra money from either school, what advice would you guys give me? Any insights would be welcome.

Thanks!

[beinghuman]

Both are great schools so it's tough to say. I agree though that NU and Cornell will offer you very different law school experiences.

[blackmamba8]

Would you rather go to law school in a college town or a big city?

[Lord Rochford]

I don't have a preference really. I wish I did.

Would you rather go to law school in a college town or a big city?

[RedPurpleBlue]

With respect to NU, I will say that there are a ton of events happening seemingly every day at the law school. Yes, it's not attached to the undergraduate campus (where I also attended), but it's no less social or exciting. Quite frankly, I prefer the environment at the law school. Every day, I rather run into people I'm friends with on the Chicago campus than see a ton of randoms walking to class in Evanston.

In collaboration with Kellogg, the law school now offers five classes that are taught by full-time faculty exclusively to law school students (Accounting for Decisionmaking; Business Analytics; Business Strategy; Finance 1; and Leadership in Organizations). I believe those classes are listed as law courses, so you sign up for them like you would any class. If those classes don't appeal to you though, you can take other Kellogg classes next door at Wieboldt Hall (a very nice building that is used for the part-time MBA program and the School of Professional Studies). From my understanding, these classes are also taught by full-time Kellogg professors. You just need get permission from an administrator, which isn't very hard. If you really wanted to, you could probably take courses at the Kellogg Global Hub in Evanston, but that just seems like a massive pain in the ass.

If Chicago is one of the areas you'd prefer, I'd pick NU. It's got a great b-school and JD-MBA cohort you can use for networking, is in a big city (I lived in a town like Ithaca and it got old really quickly), a fantastic community, and offers ties to Chicago without hurting your chances at NY (the same can't be said about Cornell, which is strong in NY but will make Chicago a hard sell w/o previous ties).

Honestly though, you can't really go wrong here. You have great scholarship at two outstanding schools.

[Lord Rochford]

Thank you. This is really helpful.

With respect to NU, I will say that there are a ton of events happening seemingly every day at the law school. Yes, it's not attached to the undergraduate campus (where I also attended), but it's no less social or exciting. Quite frankly, I prefer the environment at the law school. Every day, I rather run into people I'm friends with on the Chicago campus than see a ton of randoms walking to class in Evanston.

In collaboration with Kellogg, the law school now offers five classes that are taught by full-time faculty exclusively to law school students (Accounting for Decisionmaking; Business Analytics; Business Strategy; Finance 1; and Leadership in Organizations). I believe those classes are listed as law courses, so you sign up for them like you would any class. If those classes don't appeal to you though, you can take other Kellogg classes next door at Wieboldt Hall (a very nice building that is used for the part-time MBA program and the School of Professional Studies). From my understanding, these classes are also taught by full-time Kellogg professors. You just need get permission from an administrator, which isn't very hard. If you really wanted to, you could probably take courses at the Kellogg Global Hub in Evanston, but that just seems like a massive pain in the ass.

If Chicago is one of the areas you'd prefer, I'd pick NU. It's got a great b-school and JD-MBA cohort you can use for networking, is in a big city (I lived in a town like Ithaca and it got old really quickly), a fantastic community, and offers ties to Chicago without hurting your chances at NY (the same can't be said about Cornell, which is strong in NY but will make Chicago a hard sell w/o previous ties).

Honestly though, you can't really go wrong here. You have great scholarship at two outstanding schools.