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Michigan vs Northwestern
hlkoo1212
Alum Member
I visited both schools and liked them both. They have very different campus vibes. I think I may be a slightly better fit for Northwestern because I'm an "older" non-traditional student and I grew up in a city all my life-- being in the heart of Chicago seems attractive to me. I would like to return to NYC after graduating but I'm open to the west coast as well. As for academics, I'm not sure how the two compare. Anyone have thoughts on comparing these two schools assuming that cost of attendance would be equal?
Comments
Michigan seems to place a lot of emphasis on clerkships; the numbers reflect that, with around 12% federal clerkship rate (Northwestern 7%). The representatives from Michigan that I've spoken to always bring this up to potential students. Northwestern seems to be more focused on Big Law with around 61% placement into those positions (Michigan 53%). This data is from 2012.I'm sure that you have access to this information or more recent.
Given that price is the same and that employment numbers are similar, (though they seem to favor Michigan slightly) soft factors play a bigger role in making a final decision. Is Chicago downtown a good fit for you academically, or would a quieter more academic community like Ann Arbor be a better fit? These are the type of questions that you have to decide for yourself.
You could also ask around in the legal community to see what New York Big Law prefers between those two schools.
Depends on your career goals.
I'm partial to Michigan, but that probably has more to do with the atmosphere of the school than anything else (secluded, quiet, cold, cozy, beautiful), which you said may not be a better fit for you than Northwestern.
Cost of attendance being equal seems unlikely. Cost of living at U of M is a lot cheaper than in Chicago. So with the same scholarship U of M would be a lot cheaper. If you have scholarship offers at both schools, the chance of Northwestern's scholarship exactly offsetting the cost of living difference seems fairly remote.
Northwestern places better into big law over all because it places very well in Chicago. Michigan places better into New York City and the rest if the country and gets more clerkships. So in the event that they were the same cost of attendance then I think you would be trading off living in a city for three years for the better chance of working in the city you want to after law school.
@"Seeking Perfection" Ya I'd agree.
The area around UChicago has a relatively low cost of housing/living (but it's also a high crime area), but Northwestern is in Evanston which is soooooooooooooooooooooooooooo expensive.
Living in the bay now, I find this comment to be awkwardly funny (you don’t know how bad it can get!). But, in any case, two things:
(1) I thought the NUs law school is downtown and not connected to the main campus...
(2) Of course there’s low housing and high crime on the south side. But no one going to the Law school would think (for a second) about living in,say, Washington Park. You’d stay in Uchicago’s bubble of Hyde Park (not bad, but a little disjointed from the loop given the L ride).
@acsimon
Oh I didn't realize that about NU's law campus lol, I just visited their undergrad a month ago.
And yeah! I'm looking at staying in the Bubble of Hyde Park haha. North of campus is decently safe.
Family friends son attended uchicago, not for law. He had his windows shattered by hoodlums
I'd go with Chicago if I were you. Ann Arbor has the appeal of a cute town but not the city vibe that you're looking for. I don't know how expensive Chicago is but Ann Arbor isn't cheap to live either. The law library here is damn beautiful though, something out of Hogwarts. I go to grad school at U-M now, and its just really really cold but the resources are great and there is always somewhere to study. So, yea depends on what you value most.
Congrats though, both great schools!
Despite which law school you choose, keep in mind that you wont have too much time to enjoy the city even if you went to school in one. I would attend the school that I would be able to focus in and be able to do my best work without distraction
By the standard of an actual city Ann Arbor is extremely cheap. I know people living there paying as little as $500 a month for shared housing and people with pretty nice places for about $700 or $750 a month each. You are not going to find that in a safe part of Chicago.
Yea you can prob find shared housing for cheap but if you wanna live close to the school, it's gonna be 900+. Then again, depends what you think its nice. And depends what you think is expensive. Overall Ann Arbor is not considered a cheap place to live at all, maybe if you have money its a cheap place to live.
Maybe not a cheap place to live in Michigan, but extremely cheap compared to a real city. Ann Arbor is expensive compared to Flint, Kalamazoo, or East Lansing, but not compared to Chicago. At $900 a month people would just hole up in the lawyers club and save the stress of trying to find a subletter.
Yea, I live in East Lansing now and its considerably cheaper here. About an hour drive, but if you're in law school thats not a good idea. I don't know much about Chicago so I'm sure Chicago is prob more expensive though. Just saying, AA you gotta be more strategic to find a good place.
I live in Seattle and was lucky to find a studio for $1200, so Ann Arbor does sound pretty cheap to me lol. It’s all perspective. Especially since many law schools are in major cities, I base the “cheap COL” relative to what it would be at other law schools. Northwestern’s would be significantly higher. WUSTL would probably be similar or less. Any of the NYC schools or Berkeley are astronomical in comparison. Michigan’s is quite reasonable (and I personally would say cheap, given my prior life experiences in Los Angeles and now Seattle).
Michigan has a more solid reputation in PI, although Northwestern is trying to up its name in that area and has allocated a tonnn of money toward PI. I think it may now have the most generous program for that, and less competition with peers since there are fewer PI focused students. But if that’s not your focus, Northwestern is also very reputable for BigLaw. I believe does very well with BigLaw too but they have more of a PI bent to the school overall.
Basically, both schools are great. I think it sounds like you are more inclined to NU and that is an excellent school. I’ve seen folks say that NU will match Mich scholarships, so that is also a possibility. Granted again, with COL, the same scholarship money will result in bigger loans. But crunch the numbers and I really think you can’t go wrong with either school.