What's Vandy Worth?

[jumbocolumbo]

I wasn't sure if I should post this here or in "Choosing a Law School" but I was wondering if I could get some input on how much debt TLSer's would be comfortable taking on to attend Vandy.

I'm a 0L taking the LSAT in June. I've been a TN resident for most of my life (attended UG here), and I would like to stay in TN. I would also like to work at a large firm after law school (mostly because this seems to be the best way to pay off student loans)..

What level of debt would you be willing to take on considering Vandy's employment numbers and why? What factors are the most relevant in play here? Obviously I don't need exact numbers but an approximate cut-off would be nice. Any input is helpful and let me know if there's anything I need to clarify.

ETA: Here are Vandy's employment numbers just to make it easy on those answering: http://law.vanderbilt.edu/2014-EmploymentSummary.pdf

[BigZuck]

Probably like 100K. It's a good school but it's not likely that you'll get a high paying job. Then again, chances aren't super remote either. So yeah, around 100K, which is kind of arbitrary but whatever.

I'm not sure "Large firm" and "Tennessee" are words that go great together in a sentence so I'd try to figure out what the backup plan is and make sure the school and cost align with that.

With TN ties it might be a better idea to go to a school like Duke or ideally some place like Harvard if you want TN big law just to distinguish yourself from the unwashed top 3rd Vandy bros who undoubtedly will descend upon what few large firms exist in TN come OCI time. I don't really know about TN big law though, maybe Vandy is on equal footing to T14s there.

[jumbocolumbo]

Probably like 100K. It's a good school but it's not likely that you'll get a high paying job. Then again, chances aren't super remote either. So yeah, around 100K, which is kind of arbitrary but whatever.

I'm not sure "Large firm" and "Tennessee" are words that go great together in a sentence so I'd try to figure out what the backup plan is and make sure the school and cost align with that.

With TN ties it might be a better idea to go to a school like Duke or ideally some place like Harvard if you want TN big law just to distinguish yourself from the unwashed top 3rd Vandy bros who undoubtedly will descend upon what few large firms exist in TN come OCI time. I don't really know about TN big law though, maybe Vandy is on equal footing to T14s there.

Thanks for the answer!

So you think ~100k is a manageable amount of debt/ risk even if a "high paying" job is unlikely?

Haha I have to agree with you TN Biglaw is kind of an oxymoron, although there are some large firms with locations in Nashville. Of course, being a smaller market its tougher to crack, no?

My GPA is definitely not strong enough for HYS (~3.46), and Duke would definitely be a reach, if not an impossibility (non-URM, avg softs). However, I will be applying to some of the lower T14.

I have to wonder how big a pull Vandy has here compared to lower T14 as well. They seem to be a generally well-respected school in the South, even having some placement power in larger markets like Atlanta.

[starry eyed]

Probably like 100K. It's a good school but it's not likely that you'll get a high paying job. Then again, chances aren't super remote either. So yeah, around 100K, which is kind of arbitrary but whatever.

I'm not sure "Large firm" and "Tennessee" are words that go great together in a sentence so I'd try to figure out what the backup plan is and make sure the school and cost align with that.

With TN ties it might be a better idea to go to a school like Duke or ideally some place like Harvard if you want TN big law just to distinguish yourself from the unwashed top 3rd Vandy bros who undoubtedly will descend upon what few large firms exist in TN come OCI time. I don't really know about TN big law though, maybe Vandy is on equal footing to T14s there.

Thanks for the answer!

So you think ~100k is a manageable amount of debt/ risk even if a "high paying" job is unlikely?

Haha I have to agree with you TN Biglaw is kind of an oxymoron, although there are some large firms with locations in Nashville. Of course, being a smaller market its tougher to crack, no?

My GPA is definitely not strong enough for HYS (~3.46), and Duke would definitely be a reach, if not an impossibility (non-URM, avg softs). However, I will be applying to some of the lower T14.

I have to wonder how big a pull Vandy has here compared to lower T14 as well. They seem to be a generally well-respected school in the South, even having some placement power in larger markets like Atlanta.

these odds talks are always interesting in that they expose someone's risk tolerance.

Is it better to pay 40k to go to a school with 25% biglaw odds or 300k for 75% biglaw odds, local T2 for free, etc.

100k sounds about right for Vandy.

[TasmanianToucan]

Yeah starry is right that this is more a question of your personal tolerance for risk than anything else. There is no formula.

However, if I were in your shoes I would be expending all of my effort on the LSAT. That GPA is not so low that it's not easily mitigated by a high LSAT score. Once you know your LSAT score the picture of what is available to you will be much clearer, and all of this will be much more relevant.

[arklaw13]

Vandy 3L here.

I'd also say 100k is probably about right. Nashville is really hard to crack, but it sounds like your ties to TN are decent enough.