Top Law Schools

dr123 wrote:In state at UCLA?

crossingforHYS wrote:There are plenty of LA firms that interview at Vandy, and plenty of cali people at vandy---so going to vanderbilt will not a disadvantage at all for you...in fact the living cost will be lower.

secondly, I am from L.A. and UCLA does not have the cache that translates as well as Vandy on the east coast

take this with a grain of salt...I am an 0L, but I do know people in biglaw

rad law wrote:At equal money, Vandy brother. UCLA is gonna be more expensive probably even with in-state. Vandy will get you back to CA if you have ties for sure (girlfriend), and will probably give you a better NYC shot. How serious is this gf? I'm guessing not so serious that you can't be away from her for a while (considering you want NYC biglaw). If you really really need to be with this gf, UCLA wouldn't be a terrible choice though.

Also, the time for just "getting away" and going to a school in a new place to experience that place is past bro. Thats what college was for.

fatdouche wrote:If you want NYC, go to Vandy

CanadianWolf wrote:Have you visited both law schools ?

duckmoney wrote:

fatdouche wrote:If you want NYC, go to Vandy

This

bigjinjapan wrote:This is a tough call, and one that I'm contemplating as well. I think financially you'll be in much better shape at Vandy. I can tell you firsthand that CoL in LA is really ridiculous and will be higher than you think (unless you live like a hermit; but the weather's always fantastic so you'll want to go out). In terms of 'just getting away' I think Vandy has the edge too, since you'll likely be practicing in NY or LA after graduation. But it is hard to deny the allure of LA...Is there nothing specific at either school that's a real draw for you?

I'll be interested to hear which way you end up going.

fingersxd wrote:Two points.

(1) Although financially "I" will be better off at Vandy (and would probably make the choice if single), I have a SO who would be MUCH better off with me at UCLA. Since we don't want to do long-distance, that is not an option. That said, the financial discrepancy between the two schools is largely mitigated bty SO's employment prospects.

(2) Vandy is better than UCLA in NY (though I wonder how much of that is self-selection -- I suspect most), but likewise UCLA>Vandy in LA. If I would be happy working in either market, does Vandy's strength in NYC outweigh UCLA's advantage in LA?

bigjinjapan wrote:

fingersxd wrote:Two points.

(1) Although financially "I" will be better off at Vandy (and would probably make the choice if single), I have a SO who would be MUCH better off with me at UCLA. Since we don't want to do long-distance, that is not an option. That said, the financial discrepancy between the two schools is largely mitigated bty SO's employment prospects.

(2) Vandy is better than UCLA in NY (though I wonder how much of that is self-selection -- I suspect most), but likewise UCLA>Vandy in LA. If I would be happy working in either market, does Vandy's strength in NYC outweigh UCLA's advantage in LA?

Now officially making this decision... /

One thing I'm considering about the LA placement issue is how much competition you'll have from classmates for those jobs. I imagine that this will be much stiffer at UCLA, possibly making OCI more difficult. At Vandy it seems likely that the class will be pretty split on where they want to go following graduation, so it may be easier to get those OCIs with firms from a specific area that you may be interested in. But is this outweighed by physically being in the area you want to work in? I don't really know, but I'd imagine so.

Also dealing with a SO situation: she's said she would move to LA but is not so keen on Nashville. Probably wouldn't be coming until L2 anyway, so I might have time to convince her, but LA is undeniably closer to Japan...

Have you made your decision?

fingersxd wrote:Seems like although last yr was pretty crappy, Vandy has traditionally done reasonably well placing in NY. You think top 20% at Vandy is still not enough? I'm an 0L so I have a bad sense of this, but just how good would one need to be at Vandy, or UCLA for that matter to have a good shot at NYC Biglaw?

I thought that of all the major legal markets NYC was by far the easiest to break into, no? I'm also from the Northeast, went to undergrad here and do have a pretty strong legal network in NY. Also, I think 'the plan' is to be a bit more than just some random, ha-ha. And maybe I'm wrong but it seems like you are underselling Vandy. "Decently ranked" brings to my mind regional schools that don't crack the T20 and I'd say Vandy is a good deal more than that.

drylo wrote:

fingersxd wrote:Seems like although last yr was pretty crappy, Vandy has traditionally done reasonably well placing in NY. You think top 20% at Vandy is still not enough? I'm an 0L so I have a bad sense of this, but just how good would one need to be at Vandy, or UCLA for that matter to have a good shot at NYC Biglaw?

I thought that of all the major legal markets NYC was by far the easiest to break into, no? I'm also from the Northeast, went to undergrad here and do have a pretty strong legal network in NY. Also, I think 'the plan' is to be a bit more than just some random, ha-ha. And maybe I'm wrong but it seems like you are underselling Vandy. "Decently ranked" brings to my mind regional schools that don't crack the T20 and I'd say Vandy is a good deal more than that.

You are correct on all counts in this post. Top 20% definitely gives you at least a decent shot at NYC from Vandy. I don't honestly know the GPA that you would want to have, but I feel pretty confident that people outside the top 20% get good NYC jobs every year. We send a decent number of people to NYC, but there are a lot of people toward the top of the class that have no interest in NYC. It's not like NYC is the holy grail at Vandy.