Emory vs. W&L Forum

RollTideAL90 · Post by **RollTideAL90** » Sat Mar 10, 2012 1:43 am

Hey everyone. So I am trying to decide what to do. I am still waiting to hear back from a few schools but right now my top two schools are Emory and W&L. Emory gave me about a 40% scholarship and I did not receive anything from W&L. However, I plan to use the remainder of my yellow ribbon scholarship (2 years) at W&L which if I secure one of the four spots will cover all tuition for two years; leveling the tuition out between the schools roughly. Basically I didn't know what school has a better name/reputation/student feel/quality of life. I am a military brat so I don't have ties anywhere. I am interested in prosecuting for a few years then trying to enter corporate law later down the line. I am visiting W&L at the end of the month and hopefully I can squeeze in a day visit to Emory before seat deposits are due. I would appreciate any feedback or advice.

Thanks!!

Bronck · Post by **Bronck** » Sat Mar 10, 2012 1:52 am

What's the estimated COA for each school?

Do you have any preference for where you want to work? W&L will restrict you to VA, while Emory will cast a slightly larger net.

What do you mean by prosecution --> corporate law? Corporate law as in securities, m&a, etc with a big firm? If so, then neither school will give you a very good shot at that. Furthermore, that's not really a viable path to it.

CanadianWolf · Post by **CanadianWolf** » Sat Mar 10, 2012 11:44 am

Your results are interesting in light of your 155 LSAT score. My best guess is that you'll like the culture at Wash & Lee better than that of Emory.

P.S. Were you a University Fellow at Alabama ?

thexfactor · Post by **thexfactor** » Sat Mar 10, 2012 11:46 am

RollTideAL90 wrote:Hey everyone. So I am trying to decide what to do. I am still waiting to hear back from a few schools but right now my top two schools are Emory and W&L. Emory gave me about a 40% scholarship and I did not receive anything from W&L. However, I plan to use the remainder of my yellow ribbon scholarship (2 years) at W&L which if I secure one of the four spots will cover all tuition for two years; leveling the tuition out between the schools roughly. Basically I didn't know what school has a better name/reputation/student feel/quality of life. I am a military brat so I don't have ties anywhere. I am interested in prosecuting for a few years then trying to enter corporate law later down the line. I am visiting W&L at the end of the month and hopefully I can squeeze in a day visit to Emory before seat deposits are due. I would appreciate any feedback or advice.

Thanks!!

retake the lsats get 161 do UVA ED. Enjoy biglaw

UVA is prob 3x better in terms of placement as compared to W+L and emory.

CanadianWolf · Post by **CanadianWolf** » Sat Mar 10, 2012 12:21 pm

Your profile shows an interesting selection of law schools. BU & Emory & Miami versus Wash. & Lee, Baylor, Alabama, WFU, SMU, FSU, Mercer, Arkansas & Kentucky.

P.S. How did you prepare for the LSAT ?

Bronck · Post by **Bronck** » Sat Mar 10, 2012 2:30 pm

I didn't even notice the 155 LSAT + GPA combo.

Retake is TCR.

rad lulz · Post by **rad lulz** » Sat Mar 10, 2012 2:41 pm

RollTideAL90 · Post by **RollTideAL90** » Sat Mar 10, 2012 2:57 pm

Thanks for the replies everyone! Both the schools are going to leave me about $50,000 in debt after graduation. As for location after graduation I would love to stay in the southeast preferable south of DC. I know DC has wonderful opportunities but I lived there for a short period of time and did not enjoy it. I would love to gain some trial experience as a prosecutor either at a local or state level before possibly doing some corporate litigation.

I've been to Atlanta a few times and actually really enjoyed myself despite the traffic. It seems to be a much more spread out larger city in comparison to DC or NYC.

As for my LSAT score and my school selections, like I said I have no ties. My family is spread out from California to New England but I have spent a majority of my life in the south. I applied to schools that I thought would give me a shot with my gpa despite a lower LSAT score and a few safety schools (Ole Miss, Ark). I finished undergrad in 3.5 years and had a strong resume so I sent out for a few reach schools, i.e. W&L and Emory. I am still waiting to hear back from Vandy and UVA but I am expecting based on my numbers to get rejected.

@CanadianWolf I was not a Fellow but was very involved in the HC at UA. I was in Anderson Society and held an officers position. I took a Kaplan course for the LSAT, didn't score what I wanted then paid for a tutor and retook the class. The logical reasoning killed me every practice test and on the actual LSAT. Hence the not impressive score.

chiwachiwa · Post by **chiwachiwa** » Sat Mar 10, 2012 3:36 pm

1. Did you take an LSAT course or study diligently? If not, you should do both and retake. With a 3.9, if you can get your LSAT above a 160 you will have much better options.
2. If you want to be in the Southeast, Emory is going to do much better than W&L. Unless you have a strong preference for W&L, at similar cost Emory should be the choice. But you should consider cheaper state schools if there is a particular state you're interested in (UNC, Alabama, Georgia, UF, etc.)
3. You aren't listening to other posters who have told you "Prosecution -> Corporate Litigation" is not really a viable career path. Can you be more specific about what sort of law you want to practice?

bk1 · Post by **bk1** » Sat Mar 10, 2012 3:49 pm

You have to decide whether you want to do corporate litigation or work in a DA's office. If you start out doing the latter it is very unlikely that you will be able to upgrade to the former since they are two different fields.

Most corporate lit is handled by large firms and you basically have a single shot at working for a large firm (during 2L OCI). If you really want to do corporate lit then I would advise going to a school that places at least 1/2 their class into large firms (the T14 schools+Vandy) so that you have a realistic shot at achieving it.

rad lulz · Post by **rad lulz** » Sat Mar 10, 2012 4:21 pm

bk1 · Post by **bk1** » Sat Mar 10, 2012 4:28 pm

rad lulz wrote:Basically this. With trial experience I know people make the switch to plaintiff's side work (suing corporations for products liability, other consumer class actions, shareholder derivative suits, whatever), but when people refer to "corporate litigation" it's on behalf of corporations and is done mainly by large firms, which like BK said, generally don't hire from DA.

Would a plaintiff's firm really hire a DA, even with extensive trial exp, since it's all crim? (I honestly have no idea how easy or how often people jump from crim to civ or vice versa which is why I left that out.)

CanadianWolf · Post by **CanadianWolf** » Sat Mar 10, 2012 4:31 pm

Yes, especially if one was the Attorney General of the state. What you are missing is that DAs & Attorneys General are typically elected positions. Politicians with bar membership are often sought after by private law fiurms. Often bidding wars occur once a popular AG or DA announces that he or she will not seek re-election.

vissidarte27 · Post by **vissidarte27** » Sat Mar 10, 2012 4:44 pm

I just went though the same deliberation and chose Emory. My reasons were as follows:

1. Emory seems to have the superior LRAP, which will allow me to work in public service (I want to do prosecution, too, though I have no desire to do corporate work at any time) without drowning in loan debt.
2. I can stay in Atlanta after graduation, which means I can start planting roots while I'm in school. My partner and I are thinking about buying a house in ATL, and that wouldn't even be close to a viable option in Lexington (because who wants to stay there after law school?).
3. Atlanta is a much, much better place for my SO. I don't know if that's a factor for you, but it was probably the deciding factor in my case.
4. Emory is slightly more portable, having reach across the southeast. I think it also helps that it's actually IN the market that its graduates tend to work in. It seems like proximity cold be an advantage in terms of externships and summer stuff.
5. There's more to do, culturally, in Atlanta, and I think that will keep me sane during school. I was a music major in undergrad and I don't want to lose the creative part of me while I'm learning to love the law.
6. It just felt right.

I'm really looking forward to starting in the fall, and I'm glad to finally be out of decision limbo.

bk1 · Post by **bk1** » Sat Mar 10, 2012 4:51 pm

CanadianWolf wrote:Yes, especially if one was the Attorney General of the state. What you are missing is that DAs & Attorneys General are typically elected positions. Politicians with bar membership are often sought after by private law fiurms. Often bidding wars occur once a popular AG or DA announces that he or she will not seek re-election.

Makes sense. I was referring more to lower positions within those offices like ADA (not necessarily the head elected official).

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