<p>HI I’m a high school senior trying to put my life together for the next 4 years so I can be on the right track to a nice life post graduation. Currently, I want to major in Finance and International Business and continue on to law school for corporate law. For my whole life I have know that New York is where I will live and work, plain and simple. I am willing to do whatever it takes to get me there as long as it is within reason. That being said, I know that in order to get a job at a ‘biglaw’ company in New York it will be advantageous to actually go to law school in New York (preferably NYU or Columbia). The only issue is money. NYU (top choice) can get up to 80k a year. So would it make sense for me to attend a less expensive undergrad school in order to save money for law school? I’m considering UMN or UW Madison so if I were to go with the cheaper option it would be UMN which is still a great school. Do I necessarily have to go to NYU or Columbia in order to get a job at a NYC company? And does it matter to law schools like those where you spent your undergrad? I just need a little more information because I have to make some decisions in the next few months that will affect the rest of my life.</p>
<p>Edit: Also I have seen that if you cant go to a T25 law school, well don’t bother at all. If NYU didn’t work out I would go for one of the UCs and my other option would be UMN Twin Cities law school… Is it true what they say? That if I cant get into one of the tops that I shouldn’t bother at all?</p>
<p>If you want to work in New York as a BigLaw transactional lawyer, you should go to the best school you get into, provided it is within the top 14 schools. To do that you should maintain a college GPA of 3.6 or better. Then, when college finishes, you want an LSAT score in the 170s. As I advised in the other thready you made, you should also take the time to get some first-hand experience with the practice of law. It’s impossible to know that it’s really what you want until you’ve got some idea of what it really is.</p>
<p>As a NY lawyer: no, you certainly don’t have to go to law school in NYC to get a job at a NYC firm (not “company”). A degree from anywhere in the top 10-15 schools will open plenty of doors in NYC, as will a degree from a local NYC school if you’re high in your class. </p>
<p>It is helpful though, for making interviews go well, to have some kind of connection to NYC, or something that shows interest in NYC, so going to school in NYC would make looking for a job in NYC certainly explainable. Even if you have no prior connection to NYC before starting work in a firm there, though, there’s always some way of explaining a NYC interest.</p>