<p>What are the subtle differences between Harvard, Yale, Stanford, and Columbia Law school?
If I’m not mistaken, it seems that columbia focuses more on corporate law, yale more on the political track…?? Harvard and Standford__?</p>
<p>Columbia and Harvard are more corporate, while Yale is more academic. The remaining differences are very subtle. Harvard is more academic than Columbia, for example. There’s somewhat more of a politics bent at Yale, but it’s very mild. Harvard and Yale will have more of a non-profit angle than Columbia, but not by much.</p>
<p>The major difference is that Yale is on a very different grading scale compared to every other law school in the country and is far smaller than Harvard and Columbia. So there’s a major lifestyle difference at YLS compared to HLS or CLS.</p>
<p>In terms of eventual career focus, the differences are pretty mild. In general, they’re all strong at every legal job, although HLS and YLS are slightly stronger. Where there’s a more noticeable difference is that HLS and YLS are better for clerkships, academia, and politics – YLS especially so.</p>
<p>Columbia = Harvard, but less prestigious. </p>
<p>Stanford = Yale, but fewer policy wonks.</p>
<p>I believe Stanford’s grading is almost identical to Yale’s. Harvard’s is very different (with graduation honors based on a GPA like number)</p>
<p>I really, really like bluedevilmike’s description. I think it’s spot-on.</p>