Where Does Vanderbilt Rank as a Law School? Forum

[Rigo]

who the fuck are you? A firm with 101-250 is going to pay damn well.

I was simply defining what is considered "big law."
Stop looking for tits on an ant.

[lacrossebrother]

who the fuck are you? A firm with 101-250 is going to pay damn well.

Elite boutiques pay well too. I was simply defining what is considered "big law."
Stop looking for tits on an ant.

Are you kidding me? I'm being hypercritical? You're the one trying to suggest vandy outcomes aren't as good as they appear because they define biglaw as 101+. That's fucking stupid

[Rigo]

who the fuck are you? A firm with 101-250 is going to pay damn well.

Elite boutiques pay well too. I was simply defining what is considered "big law."
Stop looking for tits on an ant.

Are you kidding me? I'm being hypercritical? You're the one trying to suggest vandy outcomes aren't as good as they appear because they define biglaw as 101+. That's fucking stupid

I simply stated that I don't consider anything with less than 50% chance of happening as likely or probable. Both 45.1% and 36.9% are less than 50%. I said if someone is deadset on biglaw, there are better schools to attend. Graduates are more likely to have non-biglaw jobs upon graduation than they are to have biglaw jobs. I'm working off of the conventional definition of probability.
Everyone can make their own choices, but data is data.

[lacrossebrother]

You give awful advice. 45% to two outcomes knowing full well that there's a bunch of people uninterested in practicing in big firms is indeed likely. It's not a sure shot, but nobody thought it was. I would ask that you retire from the on-topics. Thanks.

[lacrossebrother]

Also I can't tell if you're in law school or not. If you're not, I'm going to report you for giving advice over your pay grade. You couldn't possibly know what it takes to secure a desirable outcome.

[MistakenGenius]

Post removed.

[Rigo]

There's a misconception to exactly what I said. Feel free to re-read the thread.
I was stating facts for an utterly clueless OP. Y'all can interpret the facts as your wish. Forgive me for being lazy in rewriting a cliche, but reasoned debate is the spice of TLS.

OP has left the building. Happy holidays to you both.

[deadpanic]

Everyone calm the hell down. I think Dirigo's point was simply telling OP that he shouldn't go to Vandy expecting big law or Los Angeles, which is true. He was also simply stating that firms with 101-250 attorneys are not traditional big law, which is also true. He didn't say that was a bad outcome. It is not. But there are not many of those firms and they don't hire many associates.

Dirigo is not saying Vandy is a bad school. He was saying it probably wasn't the best choice for OP's goals.

[starry eyed]

0L question. I have ties to MS and LA and am considering Vandy. If I attend and biglaw is the goal (no location preference), would it be easier to crack the NY market or southern markets (like richmond, charlotte, atlanta)? I have always heard that if biglaw or bust is the goal, then you focus on NYC, bc southern markets are notoriously hard to get. Does going to Vandy and having ties to the south change that?

[BigZuck]

0L question. I have ties to MS and LA and am considering Vandy. If I attend and biglaw is the goal (no location preference), would it be easier to crack the NY market or southern markets (like richmond, charlotte, atlanta)? I have always heard that if biglaw or bust is the goal, then you focus on NYC, bc southern markets or notoriously hard to get. Does going to Vandy and having ties to the south change that?

The south (and to some extent Texas) is a wasteland because big law jobs don't exist in large numbers and there is a substantial danger in getting no offered even if you do get a SA. If you're truly geographically ambivalent then just go to, like, NYU or something and snag an NYC big law job. It'll be way easier to get and much less stress I would think.

I get that people want to stay in the south or have preferences or whatever so YOLO but if you truly don't care where you end up then make life as easy on yourself as possible.

Vandy might be some magical gate keeper to the south that other schools (Duke? UVA? Harvard?) aren't though, I dunno

[arklaw13]

0L question. I have ties to MS and LA and am considering Vandy. If I attend and biglaw is the goal (no location preference), would it be easier to crack the NY market or southern markets (like richmond, charlotte, atlanta)? I have always heard that if biglaw or bust is the goal, then you focus on NYC, bc southern markets are notoriously hard to get. Does going to Vandy and having ties to the south change that?

The problem with the smaller markets is that many more people want them than there are SA spots for. Plus ATL firms are big grade snobs.

The focus should always be on NYC wherever you're at, even at Vandy with southern ties. My class seemed to do pretty well in Texas, so if you're interested in living in Houston you could spin your MS/LA ties to make the case why you want to be in Houston.

[peger]

who the fuck are you? A firm with 101-250 is going to pay damn well.

I was simply defining what is considered "big law."
Stop looking for tits on an ant.

Quoting Kyle Richards, are we?

[Winston1984]

who the fuck are you? A firm with 101-250 is going to pay damn well.

Elite boutiques pay well too. I was simply defining what is considered "big law."
Stop looking for tits on an ant.

Are you kidding me? I'm being hypercritical? You're the one trying to suggest vandy outcomes aren't as good as they appear because they define biglaw as 101+. That's fucking stupid

I completely agree (excluding the last little insult). Dirigo, I'm usually on your side but not this time. Vanderbilt has damn good outcomes and there's no way limiting Biglaw to 101+ inflates those in any way. The T14 is a silly little distinction anyway. There's only a handful of truly national schools. Any other school is going to have a regional sphere of influence where they place well. The South is one of the hardest markets to crack, but if that's where you want to be and you have ties, then Vandy is one of the two best options. Duke is going to be the highest regarded but Vandy will be significantly cheaper (UVA places into the Chesapeake Bay + NYC, it does not have much power in the South at all).

I also agree that the OP should not be considering Vandy considering his lack of ties, but that's not the answer to his question. OP, if you have $$, you have ties, and want to work in the South, Vandy is probably the #2 school (excluding Harvard whom the South loves) and is an incredible option. If not, then it's far below all the semi-national schools as well as the regional schools where you will end up working.

Curious why you say UVA doesn't have power in the South. Seems like it is seen as one of the best in country among attorneys in southern markets, and firm bios are filled with UVA grads.

[arklaw13]

Curious why you say UVA doesn't have power in the South. Seems like it is seen as one of the best in country among attorneys in southern markets, and firm bios are filled with UVA grads.

I would disagree with the anti-UVA sentiment. All the bigger southern firms have OCI at UVA. I know many B'ham firms regularly hire from there. I think it's more self-selection. UVA students tend to be really focused on NYC and DC.

For firms in B'ham, for instance, I don't think there's going to be a whole lot of difference between Vandy, Duke, and UVA in terms of grade-selectivity and whatnot. Personality and ties are much more important. All else being equal, will a firm pick the UVA/Duke guy with a 3.4 over a Vandy guy with a 3.4? Probably yeah, most of the time. But it will rarely be equal, and most of the time the spot is going to go to the person with the better ties and fit if grades are similar enough.