Top Law Schools

I applied last-minute in the cycle because I was abroad until the Feb LSAT. I was accepted into UGA and UVA, neither with scholarship monies. I have resident tuition available in each, which means $14k at UGA versus $43k at UVA.

I do not want to be banished to Atlanta, Florida, the Carolinas, or some backwater in Alabama after graduation. I doubt I would work for a huge firm regardless (so their on-site recruitment isn't too relevant), but wonder if a UGA degree would allow much mobility. Current students say you can "go anywhere" with a Georgia JD; however, they each seem to have decided to remain in Georgia. Except for the apocryphal "that one girl" who went to the Netherlands. I've been to the Netherlands--neh (cows, bicycles, and hobbit huts).

Georgia is now ranked 28th compared to UVA's consistent Top 10 placement. Maybe in three years, the public at large will no longer disdain the Deep South? Maybe Georgia will no longer be the "third fattest state"? Maybe the Shamwow guy writes cinquains about suffragettes in his free time?

I should add I attended undergrad at UGA (graduated '03), which could contribute to a possible typecasting later. That and my hoop skirts and gun rack.

I hate to start a topic on my decision, but you TLS kids have tons of experience and information to share.

Thanks!

LOL, wut?

tl;dr - uva

If you don't want to be stuck in a regional area around UGA, then pick UVA. UVA has a much better national reach and is a better school in general (trolling sorta...).

Also I want you to go to UVA with the rest of us because your post made me literally LOL...

Sorry my post was "longassed" as we say. As no one told me again that UGA is a "great value in legal education" I guess UVA's looking even better.

If you want BigLaw: UVA

If you don't want BigLaw and want to work some place other than GA: UVA

If you don't want BigLaw and want to work in GA: UGA

RVP11 wrote:If you want BigLaw: UVA

If you don't want BigLaw and want to work some place other than GA: UVA

If you don't want BigLaw and want to work in GA: UGA

And that just about sums it up.

Fellow Georgian, weighing in:

dorothy_larker wrote:I do not want to be banished to Atlanta, Florida, the Carolinas, or some backwater in Alabama after graduation.

Then pick UVA.

dorothy_larker wrote:Current students say you can "go anywhere" with a Georgia JD.

False.

dorothy_larker wrote:Georgia is now ranked 28th compared to UVA's consistent Top 10 placement.

Irrelevant. The two are still worlds apart by every metric -- job placement, clerkship placement, peer assessment, general degree portability, national reputation, etc etc. No comparing, not by a long shot.

In conclusion, given your stated preferences, I think you'd be mistaken to take UGA over UVA, especially considering that they didn't even give you a scholarship.

RVP with some powerful brevity. Number 2 sort of decides it; I don't want to have to work in GA.

Thanks Tangerine...it does seem odd that people insist it's not such a regional school but 80% of the class is from GA, a good % UGA grads, and a tiny percent across a state line after.

The low initial investment appealed to me in part because if something happens and I flunk, change my mind, etc. I'd only be out approximately a Kia.

While this is true, it's also true that you'll be relegated to driving a Kia with that UGA J.D.

OK, maybe not...but UVA will definitely give you more options. Given that you are in the "I really don't know what I'll be doing after law school" category, I'd wager that it's safer to spend more money on a degree that will give you more options instead of less on a degree that will give you fewer options.

Three years at Georgia for the cost of one year at Virginia, thus, if finances are the deciding factor, then your choice is clear; but, if national portability of your law degree is of utmost importance, then Virginia is the better choice.