Law School Discussion

Any NYUers have experience with MACs for taking exams? I know you can use macs with the beta software, but the waiver from the tech department is kind of off putting since it mentions how the software isn't production level and is likely to have glitches. I don't want to have to buy windows to run boot camp, so if my mac doesn't work I'll be out of luck. Is the mac software reliable enough for me to use the mac as my sole computer?

I have to decide by friday and I love both schools too much to say no to either one.

I'm fairly set on becoming a Public Defender and doing death penatly work (as set as one can be without having taken a law class yet, so take that as you will.) NYU has the edge because of the death penatly clinics and classes (and professors Amsterdam and Stevenson) that don't seem to have a Columbia equivalent. If I don't do death penalty work, however, it seems like NYU and Columbia are pretty equal for other PI oppurtunities. The LRAPs also seem like they will be equally good for me. Scholarship money is negligibly different, with NYU giving me the better offer.
Columbia, despite not having PD oriented clinics, is for some reason engrained in my mind as the vastly superior school in all respects. I guess thats the prestige issue for you, but I can't shake the fact that everytime I tell a non 0L friend or family member my options the first response is "wow, columbia is a great school." So i'm afraid that if i pick NYU i'll be one of those bitter people walking around with NYU highlighted in the USN&WR. And if I pick Columbia I'll kick myself for being a prestige prostitute and giving up a great clinic for no reason (not that my oppurtunities will be worse, but still.)
Location and rent are not deciding factors since I don't know whether i'll be commuting to school yet (depends on SO). Nightlife is not a factor because I'm getting married this summer (zing).

I know I'm lucky to be in this situation, and I wouldn't have dreamed four months ago that I'd be complaining about this choice, but I'm still stressing over the decision.

I'm a Junior in college and I've been on Varsity crew for three years. I used to debate in high school and did it a bit freshman year. Now that i'm thinking about law school, it seems like it might be smart for me to go back to debating so that i can put it on my resume. My question is would it be noticeably better for my application if I joined debate now and did that for two years instead of continuing to row? (I do have to choose one or the other, though. Doing both is impossible!)

I know extra-curriculars don't matter very much, and I'm pretty sure being a varsity athlete is negligible.  However if debating does look good to law schools, then I would consider going back.