Vanderbilt vs. UVA Forum

[ucbkenn]

A current UVA or Vandy student would know far better than I would, so Grizz or whoever feel free to correct me.

My assumption is that UVA would give you more access to bigger, less ties-centric biglaw markets (read: NYC) than Vandy would. UVA historically sends a higher percentage of students to NLJ250 than Vandy (though the south might have more <250 attorney firms?). UVA also probably has a slight edge for clerkships. All of that means a greater chance of getting something through OCI. Hence, less risk at UVA.

That said, the difference is possibly less pronounced if your goal is to practice in a secondary market in the south where you have preexisting ties. Especially if the target market is Nashville.

Okay but does anyone think it would be easier to be near the top of my class at vandy v. virginia? I think it would be and I thought it might be better to be in the top 10% at vandy v. top 50% at virginia?

You make a lot of questionable assumptions for someone with 100+ posts.

No offense Nelson, but for all you know I could've posted "Congrats!" 100+ times to various people who got accepted somewhere. I don't think there is a correlation between number of posts and TLS smarts. And they are not assumptions. I just would have guessed that if I had to guess.

[drylo]

There is no advantage in any area whatsoever by choosing Vanderbilt. Even in Nashville, if you can show you were truly interested in returning there, a top 1/2 UVa student would have the advantage over a top 1/4 Vanderbilt student.

These are the facts, go to UVa.

O RLY?

[That's complete BS.]

[ucbkenn]

There is no advantage in any area whatsoever by choosing Vanderbilt. Even in Nashville, if you can show you were truly interested in returning there, a top 1/2 UVa student would have the advantage over a top 1/4 Vanderbilt student.

These are the facts, go to UVa.

O RLY?

[That's complete BS.]

Tell me more! You're the only one who's said that so far

[Hannibal]

There is no advantage in any area whatsoever by choosing Vanderbilt. Even in Nashville, if you can show you were truly interested in returning there, a top 1/2 UVa student would have the advantage over a top 1/4 Vanderbilt student.

These are the facts, go to UVa.

O RLY?

[That's complete BS.]

Tell me more! You're the only one who's said that so far

Anyone who tries to make a generalization of how top X% vs. top Y% in different schools at Z market is full of shit. The job market is not as predictable as that.

But yeah, go to UVA if sticker. Vandy at half price I'd probably call a toss-up, but it depends on your goals.

BTW Splitters do get money at Vandy.

[Grizz]

Just wait for $

[hoos89]

/

[drylo]

There is no advantage in any area whatsoever by choosing Vanderbilt. Even in Nashville, if you can show you were truly interested in returning there, a top 1/2 UVa student would have the advantage over a top 1/4 Vanderbilt student.

These are the facts, go to UVa.

O RLY?

[That's complete BS.]

Tell me more! You're the only one who's said that so far

All I'm saying is, good luck to the median UVA student looking for a firm job in Nashville (and expecting to be favored over top-25% Vandy people)...

If you want to be in Tennessee (especially Nashville), I would definitely encourage you to rethink the TLS conventional wisdom. If you don't want to be in Tennessee, UVA admittedly has some advantages over Vandy, but by no means is it a bad choice to choose Vandy instead. I'm happy to discuss more by PM after you hear about money. I chose Vandy over UVA and don't regret it.

[ucbkenn]

There is no advantage in any area whatsoever by choosing Vanderbilt. Even in Nashville, if you can show you were truly interested in returning there, a top 1/2 UVa student would have the advantage over a top 1/4 Vanderbilt student.

These are the facts, go to UVa.

O RLY?

[That's complete BS.]

Tell me more! You're the only one who's said that so far

All I'm going to say is, good luck to the median UVA student looking for a firm job in Nashville (and expecting to be favored over top-25% Vandy people)...

Hold on hold on. You chose Vandy over Harvard? I understand that you have full tuition covered, but passing up Harvard? Wow. Did you just love Nashville or something?

[hoos89]

/

[Hannibal]

Hold on hold on. You chose Vandy over Harvard? I understand that you have full tuition covered, but passing up Harvard? Wow. Did you just love Nashville or something?

If you don't want biglaw or a clerkship, school rank isn't nearly as important (and neither is GPA). But you know what's always important? Money you could buy a nice house with.

[jawsthegreat]

There is no advantage in any area whatsoever by choosing Vanderbilt. Even in Nashville, if you can show you were truly interested in returning there, a top 1/2 UVa student would have the advantage over a top 1/4 Vanderbilt student.

These are the facts, go to UVa.

O RLY?

[That's complete BS.]

Tell me more! You're the only one who's said that so far

Anyone who tries to make a generalization of how top X% vs. top Y% in different schools at Z market is full of shit. The job market is not as predictable as that.

But yeah, go to UVA if sticker. Vandy at half price I'd probably call a toss-up, but it depends on your goals.

BTW Splitters do get money at Vandy.

It's not complete BS, but if you want to continue believing that I'll refer you to my friends at UVa who were well below median w/ multiple Nashville callbacks and my friends barely top 40% with their pick of jobs in Nashville. (they obv had ties) I'd be willing to bet that the below median kids at Vandy had a much harder time of it.

[drylo]

I would probably take that guy's advice with a grain of salt. he may be doing well for himself but making your choice based on that is the same as the guy who goes to cooley because a few of those grads have been successful. i honestly can't believe you went to Vandy over a full ride at UVa, partial scholly at Chicago, or HARVARD.

LOL wut? Vandy = Cooley now?

FWIW, I have never told anyone where to go to school (as far as I can recall, at least)--I generally stick to providing information and telling people to make their own decisions.

Hold on hold on. You chose Vandy over Harvard? I understand that you have full tuition covered, but passing up Harvard? Wow. Did you just love Nashville or something?

If you don't want biglaw or a clerkship, school rank isn't nearly as important (and neither is GPA). But you know what's always important? Money you could buy a nice house with.

[3ThrowAway99]

If the cost is about equal, UVA without a doubt. UVA's degree will be able to travel all over the South without a problem. The only area where Vandy might help would be Tennessee, but if you'd prefer other areas then UVA.

To me the underlined portion seems to indicate that these schools' placement profiles are much more limited in geographical distribution than they are actually are.

[hoos89]

/

[drylo]

It's not complete BS, but if you want to continue believing that I'll refer you to my friends at UVa who were well below median w/ multiple Nashville callbacks and my friends barely top 40% with their pick of jobs in Nashville. (they obv had ties) I'd be willing to bet that the below median kids at Vandy had a much harder time of it.

I'm not saying that a Nashvillian who is barely top 40% at UVA couldn't get a Nashville job... just that your first statement was way over the top--which it was.

[drylo]

I would probably take that guy's advice with a grain of salt. he may be doing well for himself but making your choice based on that is the same as the guy who goes to cooley because a few of those grads have been successful. i honestly can't believe you went to Vandy over a full ride at UVa, partial scholly at Chicago, or HARVARD.

LOL wut? Vandy = Cooley now?

FWIW, I have never told anyone where to go to school (as far as I can recall, at least)--I generally stick to providing information and telling people to make their own decisions.

Hold on hold on. You chose Vandy over Harvard? I understand that you have full tuition covered, but passing up Harvard? Wow. Did you just love Nashville or something?

If you don't want biglaw or a clerkship, school rank isn't nearly as important (and neither is GPA). But you know what's always important? Money you could buy a nice house with.

I wasn't comparing it to Cooley; I was comparing the logic.

Yeah, but "the logic" is different. Vandy has more than "a few" grads who have been successful.

[hoos89]

/

[ucbkenn]

All of these thoughts are interesting. Here's a few more questions...

What about Vandy's smaller class size? That's very appealing to me, but maybe it's not that big of deal since we're split into sections anyway?

So where do people think the scholarship amount is worth it to go to Vandy?

I've heard UVA is a bit pretentious. I've talked to admissions people at both and they're both nice, but Vandy people seemed really nice and caring. Like they really want you there instead of having the mentality that you should be happy to be there... which I've heard about UVA. Obviously it would be nicer to have people that actually want me to succeed and care about me as an individual rather than a number. Thoughts?

[drylo]

it's still an argument based on a personal anecdote. i would be willing to bet that a random student's chances of getting a good job out of UVa are better than at Vanderbilt by a non-trivial amount.

Obviously, if all else is equal (which it never is in real life, of course), a random UVA student has a better chance at a "good job" than a random Vandy student. That is the virtue of being a higher-ranked school. We all know that. The question is how much of a better chance? And how much weight should that carry in your decision-making process?

The first question is kind of difficult to answer accurately (partly because all else is never equal), although we can get some idea based on various stats. The second question is totally subjective.

[beachbum]

it's still an argument based on a personal anecdote. i would be willing to bet that a random student's chances of getting a good job out of UVa are better than at Vanderbilt by a non-trivial amount.

In fairness, everything in this thread has thus far been anecdotal and speculative. We basically have a UVA guy pointing to a handful of his buddies with callbacks/offers as definitive proof of Virginia's placement power relative to Vandy, and then we have a Vandy guy essentially saying "nu uh."

I don't know a thing about the Nashville/Tennessee market, but based on historical placement numbers (NLJ 250 + clerkships), UVA has been the stronger school. If you're trying to target Nashville specifically, then I can't help you. But if your first goal is to get a prestigious/high-paying job, UVA is probably the better option, all else equal.

Edit: FWIW, I'd probably take Vandy over UVA with half (or maybe a little less) of my tuition covered. But I also happen to like Vandy's culture and location more than UVA's.

[romothesavior]

Both are very good schools. If Vanderbilt makes it worth your while with a big scholly, consider it strongly. It has solid placement and Nashville rocks. But if they don't come through with big money, your decision is essentially made for you.