I'm wondering how the lack of city in immediate proximity affects people who choose these elite law schools in terms of things such as:

a life outside of ls
job interviews
networking
socializing (bar scene, etc)

do you think that people who choose these schools are more...shall we say..."academic" than others? In other words, that they choose to immerse themselves in an academic environment with no real city going on around them because they want a more intense law experience or something like that?

As someone that went to michigan for undergrad and is going to UVA for law school next year I can tell you that Ann Arbor is an awesome place. A small city with tons of great restaurants and clubs and bars. There are 40,000 students there and everyone LOVES to drink...alot. UVA seemed more serene and a beautiful place to live. That being said, I decided after seeing a few schools that I want three more years of cheap drinks, places to play football, hiking, etc before I live in a city for the next ten years.

I actually find the people at both schools to be more well rounded than other top schools. My friends at michigan are getting PHD's, going to harvard law, engineers for lockheed martin, and they would get bombed at least 2X a week, while spitting game on girls, watching football, playing im sports all the time, etc. People take work seriously at these schools, but they also take play seriously.

This is also in the UVa v. Duke thread, but I really think that Durham has everything you could possibly need/want during law school. It's not quite a city like SF or NY, but it's got enough good bars, restaurants, music, minor league baseball, etc. to keep me more than occupied in my free time. And Chapel Hill is right next door, and awesome, if you're looking for more of a college town feel.

If you have enough free time to be worried about the bar scene 1L year, you're doing it wrong.

And Raleigh is only 30 minutes away as well.

HORAY DUKE!

Seriously though, misscollege ... these three schools are not schools with any lack of:


They are all in college towns - it's not like going to W&L or anything like that. The only people I can see as viewing what you've listed as serious drawbacks to these schools would be people who love to live and breathe the big city life, for them things might move a little slower in these places.

This thread without Ithaca is like Hamlet without Hamlet.

Charlottesville definitely has everything I could possibly need.

1) You won't have much of a life outside of ls if you actually want to get grades that are good enough to secure a job. You will have SOME time to do things, but it's not like you'd have the time you had in UG.
2) Mich/uva/duke all get plenty of interviews (more per student than Georgetown and a ton of other lower ranked law schools which are in "big" cities)
3) You won't have the time, experience, or contacts to "network" in law school with employers and your fellow students will all be successful enough to make it worthwhile to network just with them.
4) Socializing in ls isn't like socializing in UG. It's much more toned down. People hang out with their friends from the law school, significant others, etc. But I know ZERO people who go out "clubbing" or bar hopping (or even people that would WANT to go clubbing or bar hopping) with people from outside the law school.

You seem like a person who is trying to relive the glory days of UG or didn't have enough fun in UG because you were too busy gunning/you are ugly/etc. There's obviously something psychologically "different" about you if you're worried about being surrounded by too many "academic" people in LAW SCHOOL.

It's LAW SCHOOL, did you think it was like community college or something (disco with books according to Chris Rock)?

I think people still do plenty of socializing in law school. And yes, they do it with law school people. But it is not uncommon to go to the bars where there are not law school people. I just spent the weekend at Harvard and people drink, my friend is a 1L and he had to get carried back to his dorm he was so drunk. Most of the time you are studying though your first year. After that, i hear it calms down alot and people socialize and have more fun.

To be honest, this actually was one of my bigger fears, probably more than grades, jobs, etc. And the law school types, as much as I like who I go to school with, are (expectedly) quite a bit more "academic" (not in the studious sense but in the *OMG I MET JUDGE POSNER ONCE, AND HE IS AMAAAAAAAAAZING OMG OMG OMG* sense) than I am, which is a little bit unnerving. Not like I think this isn't the case elsewhere - I'm sure the vast majority of law students are like this - and it's not bad, or even as bad as I thought it would be. It does take a fair amount of getting used to though, especially for someone who really did not grow up caring about academia in general. Anyway, you touched a familiar nerve on that one, so I thought I'd chime in.

With that said, I think the need/desire for a big city in law school is way overplayed, and Durham is a cool spot to be.

One advantage of a major city is the practical opportunities. One of my clinics at Penn involves working with pro bono divisions of major Philadelphia firms, and there are also many opportunities where you can work with clients, Community Legal Services, etc. A larger city will have more options like those, if you want to get practical experience.

Other than that, I don't think being in a city is so important. I spend most of my time in the law school or at home anyway.

More academic? Just apply the Fort Wayne, IN test. If you're stuck in Fort Wayne, IN, with a colleague, which grad would you prefer to be stuck with?

Ann Arbor parking sucks, just a warning. Also cost of living is not as cheap as you think it'd be 700+ for a shitty apt. close to campus.

Thanks for the parking info. I'm bringing a mountain bike so any location within 5 miles of campus shouldn't be an issue.

I've been in Cville for almost four years now and am dying to get out. But undergrad vs law is different. If you are a URM remember that Cville is more homogenous and segregated than any area I've ever lived but coming from CA/DC area I have high standards for diversity.

It is definitely small here and there are a lot of things that I took for granted coming from a major metropolitan area (restaurants, a real mall, diversity, etc) but if you're ok with a cutesy town in central Virginia it is beautiful here and can offer a nice standard of living at a slowed down pace.