<p>I think you are right. I’m not in law school (yet!) but my dad got a masters in poli sci from yale and his partner went to law school at harvard, and he said that yale is so theoretical that their bar passage rates are a lot lower, because it’s not so great at teaching practicalities. this was 30 years ago, but i think the yale = academia and harvard = business/practicing is a fair generalization</p>
<p>You’ll only have “amazing experiences” if you get median or above median–else you’re sunk for BigLaw.</p>
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<p>1) Plenty of people below median at HS got biglaw jobs this year. Even people at my top 5 got biglaw below median. I don’t know how you can possibly make the above claim without any evidence whatsoever.
2) It’s pretty difficult to believe that people “below median” at Yale don’t get biglaw… especially since–as far I know–they don’t grade… and the Hs and Ps aren’t distributed on a curve. Hmmmm…</p>
<p>What a dumb thread. Does anyone really care about someone who has the “horrible” dilemma of deciding between Yale and Harvard law school? It’s not like he stuck between a rock and a hard place. Geeze. Please, just flip a coin, and don’t consult us. Like those poor high school seniors on the news each April who were accepted by all of the ivies: “Oh dear, which one should I choose? I am so conflicted. Woe is me. What do I do?”</p>
<p>There are some great posts on this thread. LOL</p>
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<p>Thought I’d comment on this very bothersome post. The problem with the Vault rankings is their tendency to come up with ridiculous results, and pre-law students tend to rely on them religiously, as if they are the USNews of law firms.</p>
<p>Case in point, Skadden might be in the Vault 5, but it’s definitely the odd one out, and is almost never uttered in the same breath as Wachtell, Sullivan and Cromwell, Davis Polk, or Cravath. It just isn’t. No one at my law school would seriously consider Skadden when faced with offers from the other V5.</p>
<p>Similarly, Weil is “V6,” but it’s again not in the same league as the above 4 of the V5, and it’s definitely not in the same league as Cleary, Simpson, Covington, Debevoise, Paul Weiss, or Kirkland. Again, I don’t know anyone at my law school who would seriously consider a Weil offer when given offers from the above firms.</p>
<p>There are many reasons for this:
- The ranks of Skadden and Weil don’t really reflect the health of the firm.2
- Skadden and Weil happen to be one of the most leveraged firms in the nation. I would have job security issues at either.
- Weil’s practice is heavily recession-contingent. Yes, the bankruptcy work is good, but once it dries up, watch Weil’s health and its rank tank. See Wilson Sonsini and the dot-com bubble. Same result.</p>
<p>Curiously enough, Skadden was still recruiting candidates for the NY office IN NOVEMBER. Literally. They held new callbacks and made new offers. This tells me either (a) they were too selective during recruiting season or (b) the people who got offers were pretty turned off by Skadden, at least compared to the other options they had. I think it’s a combination of both.</p>
<p>The Vault rankings have many problems, but those aren’t really them. Weil has always been top 10, recession or not, and certainly in New York it’s a fine choice over many of those firms, especially over a branch office like Covington or Kirkland. The real problem 2Ls have with Skadden and Weil is that they recruit at lower schools, so if they go there, people might not admire their prestige (the Skadden is a sweatshop argument would be more compelling if if wasn’t competing with Cravath and S&C). In terms of sheer strength of practices, Skadden matches up to anyone. Maybe Skadden is 6th in NY instead of 3rd, and Weil is 10th instead of 6th (and in fact they are often closer to that during their random fluctuations), but it’s not a big deal. </p>
<p>The real issue is the NY-centricness of the rankings. Firms like W&C, Munger, Irell etc. are severely underrated (by like 30 spots, not by 3). Also, really large TTTs like Baker McKenzie or DLA Piper are probably overrated in terms of desirability to go there as an associate. Lastly, of course the specialization of law firms makes them impossible to sum up in one number, so if you want to do appellate or IP or tax, the rankings might not tell you all that much.</p>
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<p>My goodness, you have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about!</p>
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<p>This I can agree with, though I think if W&C is underrated by 30 spots, its rank should be something like -19…</p>
<p>But yes, I’d take any of those over most of the V10 (assuming I didn’t want to be in NY).</p>
<p>One thing to look at these days is loan repayment programs. If you go to a top law school with a good loan repayment program, then if for whatever reason you don’t end up at BIGLAW, the school will pick up your loan payments over a certain percentage of your income. </p>
<p>Apparently Yale has the most generous loan repayment program around.</p>
<p>Who got into Harvard but not Yale or viceversa?</p>
<p>Not true, especially when you put business into the mix. Check the stats, as of '10 Harvard is in the lead for both programs, JD and MBA</p>
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<p>Lots.</p>
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<p>Not lots.</p>
<p>Yeah my TA in the Law School said that everyone who got into Yale law also got into Harvard. He also–if I am not mistaken—said Harvard Law was easy to get into.</p>
<p>While that may seem arrogant the guy was a Stanford undergrad, some type of British scholar recipient (Marshall?), and was one of the TOP students at Yale law. Oh and he had worked on a paper with John Yoo. Yeah, he was the BEASTLY TA I have had.</p>
<p>Not EVERYONE.</p>
<p>No, he definitely said EVERYONE.</p>
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<p>Yes, and bluedevilmike (and I) definitely DISAGREE (not with the fact that he might have said that, but with the truth of that statement).</p>
<p>YLS admit definitely does not imply HLS admit. YLS is more likely to admit “special flowers” with lower numbers (low in this context being like 171/3.9) than HLS in my opinion. </p>
<p>HLS is not necessarily easier, just more predictable. This is because YLS has a crazy admissions procedure where three different people give their subjective opinion on the app, and you need a perfect score from each to get in. </p>
<p>Both usually require a 99th LSAT score and a near perfect GPA.</p>
<p>A good law school to consider in Santa Clara University in California.</p>
<p>It’s better to get a gold medal in the Olympics than a silver. People also have great respect for bronze medal winners. People are also impressed if you merely make the team.</p>
<p>“You can keep your gold and your silver, too; all I want is my ring dang do.” Pogo.</p>
<p>^ Indeed, and that’s what this topic is about.</p>
<p>If you had a choice between gold and silver, which of the two would you choose?</p>
<p>Think about it from the perspective of an Olympic athlete.</p>