Top Law Schools

I thought i had made my decision to attend W&L until UMN gave me 24k/year yesterday.

with my scholarships tuition at each school would be:
23K/year at UMN
13/year at W&L
Im assuming COL will be higher at UMN since it's in an actual city.

the stips on the scholarships are:

UMN- maintain 2.5
W&L- maintain 3.15 (approx top 70%)

i just want a legal job and the least amount of debt. I dont really care where i work in the beginning but would eventually like to work in DC ( i know how difficult it is so im not setting my heart on it).

Is UMN really that much better to take on more debt and move farther away from dc??

You should decide which of the following is most important:

L-a-w wrote: i just want a legal job

Minnesota will give you a better shot at this

L-a-w wrote: i would eventually like to work in DC

W&L would be a better shot at this

L-a-w wrote: least amount of debt.

W&L is cheaper in your estimation



In general, its a lot easier to lose the W&L scholarship than the UMN one (almost no one goes under 2.5). and Minneapolis is hardly a jump in CoL -- its still very inexpensive.

That being said, least amount of debt + work in DC per the above => W&L. Their numbers are just not good these days.. 31% underemployment scares me. But with no ties to Minneapolis and your goals it might just be best.

jbagelboy wrote:You should decide which of the following is most important:

L-a-w wrote: i just want a legal job

Minnesota will give you a better shot at this

L-a-w wrote: i would eventually like to work in DC

W&L would be a better shot at this

L-a-w wrote: least amount of debt.

W&L is cheaper in your estimation



In general, its a lot easier to lose the W&L scholarship than the UMN one (almost no one goes under 2.5). and Minneapolis is hardly a jump in CoL -- its still very inexpensive.

That being said, least amount of debt + work in DC per the above => W&L. Their numbers are just not good these days.. 31% underemployment scares me. But with no ties to Minneapolis and your goals it might just be best.

thanks!

Sounds like you haven't even considered how much this will cost you. Figure out your total cost of attendance (tuition+living expenses-scholarships+interest on the loans+tuition increases) and report back.

UMN is out due to cost and lack of ties. Interested to see how much W&L will cost when you do all that.

for those voting for UMN....reasons why?

TLS will say retake all day. Which you should do. But assuming its one of the two, I picked UMN, assuming you could be satisfied staying in the area. No bordering state has a better law school. Meanwhile W&L competes with GMU & Richmond for third best law school in Virgina. UVA and W&M place way better. You would be paying an additional 30k for...

W&L wrote:•49.2% of graduates were known to be employed in long-term, full-time legal jobs.
•60.8% graduates were employed in long-term jobs.
•61.5% graduates were employed in full-time jobs.

http://www.lstscorereports.com/?school=wl

UMN wrote:•67.4% of graduates were known to be employed in long-term, full-time legal jobs.
•81.3% graduates were employed in long-term jobs.
•89.1% graduates were employed in full-time jobs.

http://www.lstscorereports.com/?school= ... show=chars

An 18% better shot at getting a long-term, full-time legal jobs.
A 20% better shot at being employed in a long term job.
A 27% better shot at being employed in a full time job.

If you are coasts or bust, retake.

Retake. You're not getting to DC from either Minnesota or W&L.

W&L is objectively a bad choice, and UMN is a bad choice if you don't plan on living and working in Minnesota after law school.

Nova wrote:TLS will say retake all day. Which you should do. But assuming its one of the two, I picked UMN, assuming you could be satisfied staying in the area. No bordering state has a better law school. Meanwhile W&L competes with GMU & Richmond for third best law school in Virgina. UVA and W&M place way better. You would be paying an additional 30k for...

W&L wrote:•49.2% of graduates were known to be employed in long-term, full-time legal jobs.
•60.8% graduates were employed in long-term jobs.
•61.5% graduates were employed in full-time jobs.

http://www.lstscorereports.com/?school=wl

UMN wrote:•67.4% of graduates were known to be employed in long-term, full-time legal jobs.
•81.3% graduates were employed in long-term jobs.
•89.1% graduates were employed in full-time jobs.

http://www.lstscorereports.com/?school= ... show=chars

An 18% better shot at getting a long-term, full-time legal jobs.
A 20% better shot at being employed in a long term job.
A 27% better shot at being employed in a full time job.

If you are coasts or bust, retake.

Lets not over extrapolate from one years worth of data. Just click 2011 and 2010... UMN had a very solid 2012. Very impressive, but in earlier years the schools look pretty close.

LST rocks so hard. Looking at that specific page and scrolling through the various schools reveals just how similar schools from 20 to 100 place. It's all about location. OP pick the school in the area where you want to live. If that is DC, retake for GULC or go to a W&L type school and sell out for public interest work now.

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