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Just shut up and go to yale
notsurifsrs
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Well, from what I have read…
Going into academia = Yale
Going into practice = Harvard
However, not sure how true this holds. Anyways, congrats on your accomplishments, that is quite a choice to have.
Forget these other people, I think it’s a fair question to ask. I have two friends that chose H over Y, but they were URMs. Harvard has a much larger minority population and very engaged URM alum networks, so for them it was a matter of comfortability, and I don’t blame them. Both schools are great if you want to clerk, Yale is just slightly better. From most every practicing lawyer I talk to, and people in the business world in general, it seems that Harvard is the gold standard. For public service and academia it seems like Yale has the edge. Though obviously there are plenty of people from both schools who succeed everywhere. Anyway, that’s my two cents, I wish you the best in this enviable decision.
I highly doubt you’ll fine anyone who’ll tell you they ended up regretting going to Harvard over Yale (especially since the fact they got into Yale suggests they have some stuff going for them which, combined with the fact they go to frickin’ Harvard, makes success in their future endeavors very likely).
I read an exact number for cross-admits who pick Harvard, and it was somewhere in the range of 20%, I think. A significant portion of those who pick Harvard went there for undergrad, or are JD-MBAs.
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Someone already pointed out that Harvard places better for practice, the other edge I would give Harvard over Yale is the alumni base. By virtue of the substantially larger class size Harvard has a substantially larger alumni base. If you choose H over Y I certainly won’t call you crazy.
It could also be argued that Harvard now has sizable advantage over Yale. Harvard has re-emerged from a couple of lost decades. The reputation of HYS used to be H=Y>S based on USNews ratings; however, now it is H>Y=S among people in the know. Harvard Law’s lay prestige, international renown, and reputation in business/finance has always been unmatched. If you want to enter business/finance after practicing for a few yeas, Harvard is better. If you want to enter academia, Yale is better.
Congrats, brother.
Yes, Harvard Law School was really toiling in obscurity for a while there.
Threads like that are why people hate Ivy leaguers. HTH
If I remember Yale wins about 80%-20% of cross admits with H and S.
There are a few significant advantages, mostly in academia and clerking. If you are strongly leaning in that direction, Yale is the way to go (although it’s not close to guaranteed by any means there either). That being said H is usually either #2 or #3 for both of those categories and isn’t exactly closing doors.
The first semester isn’t graded at Yale, which is nice. At H you’re on the H/P system and the myth of the killer LP is something which exists more on TLS than in reality. The culture of the two student bodies have very different reputations. How much of that is based in reality I don’t know.
But in all seriousness, there’s no wrong choice.
OP, how did you get WL’d at Columbia? http://lawschoolnumbers.com/countercouper/jd
flip a coin
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I think it’s totally fine to choose H over Y for just gut instinct and fit. Some of the other reasons offered ITT seem a little overblown. A higher percentage of Y grads go into academia and a higher percentage of H grads go into private practice, but it’s hard to tell if those differences reflect differences in placement power.