UGA (sticker) vs Emory ($$$) -- Need help deciding ASAP Forum

[mrwarre85]

An extra 30k is a lot to me for a school that doesn't place better in Georgia. In terms of flexibility UGA will give you options throughout the South-East region. If you wanted to end up in North Carolina or something like that it would be possible. However, it is true that Emory will give you a higher chance to leave the South-East region since it places relatively well in New York. Honestly though, if you do well at UGA you will probably land a job at a large law firm in Atlanta which down the road could offer promotions to work in other offices across the country.

If you are happy living in the South-East region than go to UGA for 30k less. If you want to get out and go to New York than go to Emory. But honestly if you are trying to go to New York a school like Fordham (similar in selectivity) would probably be better.

Also, Emory may not place better in Savannah (although I researched the legal market there and saw lots of Emory grads), but it definitely places better in Atlanta. Just scroll through the larger firms. You not only see more Emory, you don't see Law Review or Order of the Coif or whatever by their names like you ALWAYS do with UGA grads.

If you want to work in a small town and are certain of that, definitely UGA for the local alumni network (both grad and undergrad) and for the cheaper price. If you want ANYWHERE ELSE or you are not sure, definitely Emory.

[CanadianWolf]

By what standard is Emory considered a better law school than Georgia ? Thanks !

[scammedhard]

If you want to work in a small town and are certain of that, definitely UGA for the local alumni network (both grad and undergrad) and for the cheaper price. If you want ANYWHERE ELSE or you are not sure, definitely Emory.

I think a lot of this is historically true. But Emory Law has been shooting itself in the foot time after time for last few years, and, even though it is hard to know how that is going to impact the FUTURE of Emory, I believe that there will be negative consequences in terms of student quality and rankings. Because of this risk, and the lower COA at UGA, I believe UGA is a more solid choice (at the moment).

[splittinghairs]

An extra 30k is a lot to me for a school that doesn't place better in Georgia. In terms of flexibility UGA will give you options throughout the South-East region. If you wanted to end up in North Carolina or something like that it would be possible. However, it is true that Emory will give you a higher chance to leave the South-East region since it places relatively well in New York. Honestly though, if you do well at UGA you will probably land a job at a large law firm in Atlanta which down the road could offer promotions to work in other offices across the country.

If you are happy living in the South-East region than go to UGA for 30k less. If you want to get out and go to New York than go to Emory. But honestly if you are trying to go to New York a school like Fordham (similar in selectivity) would probably be better.

Also, Emory may not place better in Savannah (although I researched the legal market there and saw lots of Emory grads), but it definitely places better in Atlanta. Just scroll through the larger firms. You not only see more Emory, you don't see Law Review or Order of the Coif or whatever by their names like you ALWAYS do with UGA grads.

If you want to work in a small town and are certain of that, definitely UGA for the local alumni network (both grad and undergrad) and for the cheaper price. If you want ANYWHERE ELSE or you are not sure, definitely Emory.

What a load of dung.

Looking at King and Spalding 52 UGA graduates work there compared to 39 Emory Grads. 46 UGA and only 31 Emory grads working at the Atlanta Office specifically. Furthermore, 20 of out 52 are partners from UGA, while 13 out of 39 are partners from Emory. Looks like that extra 1 or 2 points Emory grads got on the LSAT doesnt really make a difference.

Most grads from UGA and Emory tend to have latin honors or LR. It is simply flawed to extrapolate your odds at biglaw based on looking at people's honors from their school.

UGA grads place just as well as Emory grads in Atlanta. In fact, based on sheer numbers UGA actually outnumber Emory grads. I realize that this is probably due to 75% of UGA grads staying in Georgia and 40% of Emory staying in GA, so an advantage in numbers is not indicative of your odds of making it. Yet even sheer numbers help in terms of having alumni working at the firms.

[mrwarre85]

What a load of dung.

Looking at King and Spalding 52 UGA graduates work there compared to 39 Emory Grads. 46 UGA and only 31 Emory grads working at the Atlanta Office specifically. Furthermore, 20 of out 52 are partners from UGA, while 13 out of 39 are partners from Emory. Looks like that extra 1 or 2 points Emory grads got on the LSAT doesnt really make a difference.

Most grads from UGA and Emory tend to have latin honors or LR. It is simply flawed to extrapolate your odds at biglaw based on looking at people's honors from their school.

UGA grads place just as well as Emory grads in Atlanta. In fact, based on sheer numbers UGA actually outnumber Emory grads. I realize that this is probably due to 75% of UGA grads staying in Georgia and 40% of Emory staying in GA, so an advantage in numbers is not indicative of your odds of making it. Yet even sheer numbers help in terms of having alumni working at the firms.

Emory is located in Atlanta and has always, and still today, been ranked ahead of UGA. Emory >>> UGA for Atlanta.

It is similar in some ways to the UNC/Duke or UTK/Vandy thing for their large cities respectively. Yes, you can find more UTK grads working in law firms in Nashville, but that doesn't mean they place better or even as well as Vandy grads.

I realize we must have searched different firms. You can certainly find lots of firms in FL that have all gators or all seminoles, but that doesn't mean anything other than that firm potential has a favorite. Overall, Emory is a better bet than UGA for Atlanta, although they both place very well.

Most grads from UGA and Emory tend to have latin honors or LR. It is simply flawed to extrapolate your odds at biglaw based on looking at people's honors from their school.

Your second sentence calls into question why you wrote the first.

Yet even sheer numbers help in terms of having alumni working at the firms.

Agree with you here. I think there are real advantages to being a UTK grad in Nashville, a UNC grad in Raleigh, and a UGA grad in Atlanta.

[splittinghairs]

Emory is located in Atlanta and has always, and still today, been ranked ahead of UGA. Emory >>> UGA for Atlanta.

It is similar in some ways to the UNC/Duke or UTK/Vandy thing for their large cities respectively. Yes, you can find more UTK grads working in law firms in Nashville, but that doesn't mean they place better or even as well as Vandy grads.

I realize we must have searched different firms. You can certainly find lots of firms in FL that have all gators or all seminoles, but that doesn't mean anything other than that firm potential has a favorite. Overall, Emory is a better bet than UGA for Atlanta, although they both place very well.

King and Spalding is not just some random firm that I found, it along with Alston and Bird are the two biggest and most well-known lawfirms in Atlanta.

Most grads from UGA and Emory tend to have latin honors or LR. It is simply flawed to extrapolate your odds at biglaw based on looking at people's honors from their school.

Your second sentence calls into question why you wrote the first.

I was simply commenting on this part

Just scroll through the larger firms. You not only see more Emory, you don't see Law Review or Order of the Coif or whatever by their names like you ALWAYS do with UGA grads.

You were trying to suggest that UGA grads working at biglaw ALWAYS have LR or Order, but im suggesting that Emory grads at biglaw also have those credentials. So just because UGA grads at biglaw have those honors, doesnt mean chances at biglaw from UGA is gonna be lower because u need those honors no matter where u graduate from.

Yet even sheer numbers help in terms of having alumni working at the firms.

Agree with you here. I think there are real advantages to being a UTK grad in Nashville, a UNC grad in Raleigh, and a UGA grad in Atlanta.

[splittinghairs]

If you want ANYWHERE ELSE or you are not sure, definitely Emory.

I totally agree that Emory would be better for anywhere outside GA, but I simply don't get why you say Emory is better for Atlanta. I think people automatically assume that because Emory is ranked higher and is located in Atlanta, then it must place better than UGA in Atlanta.

But looking at the firms with Atlanata offices, UGA grads actually outnumber Emory grads slightly. That is definitely not because UGA has bigger grauduating classes because UGA has around 220 grads each class compared to 250 at Emory.

Yes its also true that Emory out performs UGA in terms of biglaw placement, but i think that is due to Emory's better placement outside the state of Georgia not because Emory outplaces UGA in Atlanta.

[CanadianWolf]

Georgia is better for Atlanta. Emory is better for NYC.

[BruceWayne]

....

[splittinghairs]

Lol. You will need very good grades from either UGA or Emory to get a big firm job in Atlanta. Quite frankly the ranking that the big Atlanta firms will require from either school is so high that going to one over the other will not give you disadvantage, or an advantage. You will need something like top 20 percent for the big Atlanta firms to even look at you from either school, and top 10 percent + law review to really guarantee anything. The only schools that will really do you particularly well for Atlanta right now are Harvard or Yale with southern ties.

No one is trying to say the odds are good for biglaw in Atlanta from either of these schools. We were simply discussing these schools' relative placement in Atlanta.

In fact ITE, it might be even more advantageous to go to UGA than Emory because odds are when u dont get biglaw, you want to find something else. Honestly, UGA does a better job building relationships with non biglaw jobs in Atlanta and anywhere else in GA. Theres a reason why Emory's employment after 9 months is so bad, they just never built the relationships with non-biglaw jobs.

[Rooney]

In fact ITE, it might be even more advantageous to go to UGA than Emory because odds are when u dont get biglaw, you want to find something else. Honestly, UGA does a better job building relationships with non biglaw jobs in Atlanta and anywhere else in GA. Theres a reason why Emory's employment after 9 months is so bad, they just never built the relationships with non-biglaw jobs.

[flexityflex86]

Wow. Never thought I'd see the day where Emory was offering someone a scholly and UGA wasn't.

UGA didn't offer me any $ either, and schools ranked much higher did.

In this situation, I would pick Emory.

Emory is not as good as it was, but it's still better than UGA, and nobody really argues that UGA has a better reputation. Emory has some of the most respected law professors in the country, and people every where on the east coast have heard of it. That said, it does not place well in NY. It places better than UGA in NY, but if you want NY, Cardozo would likely do much better, probably even Brooklyn.

However, in this scenario I'd pick Emory. You're in your target city which will make interviewing much easier as well as networking, and considering that the ATL market is rough, you also have a school more respected through the southeast. Nonetheless, you'd be approaching it wrong if you thought any of these schools were locks for employment, and that you won't need strong grades and good people skills out of them where as a guy who dresses up as a vampire on weekdays would get 160 out of yale.

[splittinghairs]

UGA didn't offer me any $ either, and schools ranked much higher did.

UGA doesnt offer $ because they tend to target students with 165-166 LSAT in order to raise their median LSAT. In-state tuition is only 15k/year, which is like getting 25-30k of scholly at other schools that students with 165 Lsat are mulling over. They know that Out of state students can get in-state easily after the first year.

Because they dont offer much scholly if at all, they are essentially giving up on students with 167+ Lsats because they figure those students wouldnt pass up the other schools for georgia anyways (unless of course they are forced to pay sticker), so they usually target students they feel they can keep.

Emory is not as good as it was, but it's still better than UGA,

See I simply dont get why people say this, yeah Emory has been higher ranked but seriously when do people care about rankings outside of top 17 or so. We certainly dont think BC is inferior to UC Davis because of rankings.

Emory is basically the same as UGA in Georgia but its got better national prestige/placement. Yet like you said, that better "national" placement is essentially still just marginally better in NY, and if you wanted NY then going to Emory is a roundabout way to do that. So at the end of the day why pay at least 30k not including any COL differences for that marginal benefit.

[Aberzombie1892]

I'm not familiar with the relationship between Emory and UGA, but if it's like Tulane and LSU, and you want Atlanta, Emory every day of the week and twice on Sunday's.

[splittinghairs]

I'm not familiar with the relationship between Emory and UGA, but if it's like Tulane and LSU, and you want Atlanta, Emory every day of the week and twice on Sunday's.

except both King & Spalding and Alston & Bird's Atlanta offices have more UGA grads working in them than Emory grads, despite Emory having larger graduating classes.

[MrAnon]

Go to Emory. Someday down the road you can say you were there when it fell out of the top 40.

[Aberzombie1892]

I'm not familiar with the relationship between Emory and UGA, but if it's like Tulane and LSU, and you want Atlanta, Emory every day of the week and twice on Sunday's.

except both King & Spalding and Alston & Bird's Atlanta offices have more UGA grads working in them than Emory grads, despite Emory having larger graduating classes.

Yeah, but historically around 40% of Emory graduates stay. I'm certain that many New Orleans firms have more Loyola grads than Tulane grads. That doesn't mean that Loyola places on par with, or better than, Tulane.

[Sandro]

Go to whatever school you like the best.

[Grizz]

Go to whatever school you like the best.

This, with I think an edge to Emory. It's worth the extra $30k if you are not 100% sure you want to stay in GA.

[CanadianWolf]

Agree that Emory's portability to the Northeast US is much better.

[Grizz]

Agree that Emory's portability to the Northeast US is much better.

I'd choose it over UGA even if I wanted to be somewhere else in the South, though those markets are so parochial it's not gonna be easy either way.

[waitingisfun]

These schools really don't have much difference in the south east. Not to offend anyone but public law schools are very appealing to people right now with the state of the economy. At many private schools like Emory they offer you money. However, there is a stipulation on that money that many students can not match since classes are graded on some type of curve. On the other hand at uga that instate tuition rate will not change regardless of performance. Thus, if you have a bad first year or come up short you are running a risk of paying emory's whopping 50k tuition. On the other hand at uga you are gaurrantted that 15k a year tuition regardless. Just wanted to point this out and it has nothing to do with which school is better. Just pointing out to think how risk averse you want to be with the state of the economy. Thus, since they both place the same in the south east region if you are fine living there gonwith uga. UGA tuition rate is gaurrantteed and Emory's isn't.

[forty-two]

These schools really don't have much difference in the south east. Not to offend anyone but public law schools are very appealing to people right now with the state of the economy. At many private schools like Emory they offer you money. However, there is a stipulation on that money that many students can not match since classes are graded on some type of curve. On the other hand at uga that instate tuition rate will not change regardless of performance. Thus, if you have a bad first year or come up short you are running a risk of paying emory's whopping 50k tuition. On the other hand at uga you are gaurrantted that 15k a year tuition regardless. Just wanted to point this out and it has nothing to do with which school is better. Just pointing out to think how risk averse you want to be with the state of the economy. Thus, since they both place the same in the south east region if you are fine living there gonwith uga. UGA tuition rate is gaurrantteed and Emory's isn't.

This might be a valid criticism of many schools, but at Emory scholarship recipients only need to maintain good academic standing to keep their scholarships. This thread has brought up some good reasons to consider going to UGA instead of Emory, but this isn't one of them.

[WSJ_Law]

Respectfully, the UGA v. Emory scenario is a lot different than Tulane v. LSU. While it is true that they are superficially similar (Big State School vs. Best-In-State Private School), LSU is bordering upon T2 while UGA and Emory are separated by 5 ranking spots in the '30s. UGA Law students have clerked for the SCOTUS in recent years, place well in Atlanta, and are not as proportionally inferior statistically to Emory than LSU students are to Tulane. The Louisiana law school analogy is quite limited in this sense.

I had $60k from Emory and $5k at UGA (in-state applicant) and chose not to go to Emory. Why would UGA match scholarship offers at face-value when even UGA at sticker is still less expensive than some Emory scholarships (especially for GA residents)? I almost called UGA to try to leverage my Emory offer but after considering CoA, I realized my request didn't have a leg to stand on.

ITE, TCR = UGA if your goals are Atlanta. And I argue they should be. Going to either UGA or Emory with hopes set on NYC/DC/XYZ Biglaw is foolish. Go to Fordham/Dozo/GW/BU/BC/other regional for anything else. And the uncertainty about Emory's CSO, USNWR drop (trivial, but insofar as it is a product of employment it is not trivial), student (dis)satisfaction, and higher COL in Atlanta were enough to rule out Emory for me personally.

In short, Emory has a higher ceiling for USNWR rank/prestige/reputation over time but it may also have a lower floor in the short term. I think UGA is less volatile and more functionally appropriate if your goals are to become an attorney in Georgia. Emory needs to realize that to get the best GA residents, they will have to make it overtly less expensive to attend Emory than UGA; a $60,000 scholarship to Emory is still not as favorable when you can go to UGA for ~$45k total tuition costs/3yrs. and receive roughly equivalent, yet equally small, prospects in ATL biglaw.

[CanadianWolf]

As a side question: Does LSU still limit each class to ten (10%) percent non-residents ?