UNC Law vs. U Iowa Law Forum

[gator_guy93]

If it had to be these two schools, I would pick UNC. I would just be weary about picking either of these schools with DC as your target. It will be hard! Not impossible, as noted by the employment statistics where grads to wind up in DC, but like everyone said they were probably law review or high in the class.

[jrass]

A poster here yesterday goes to GULC and was saying how getting DC biglaw from there is still quite difficult. I believe they specifically said you should be top ~10% to bid heavily DC with any degree of comfort. And that's from georgetown.

The supply and demand is impacting that somewhat - I'd bet people with the same class rank at Cornell from DC would fare better in DC, but either way NC and IA are both schools where the aptitude of the average student will be virtually indistinguishable from GT, but where you'll need significantly better grades. It's a little bit like a baseball team starting the season 0-20. Yes, teams turn it around every year, but your odds of success are much lower than they were on opening day.

[enf10582]

I go to Iowa. Unless you plan on placing in the top 10% getting work in D.C. is very difficult absent luck. Like other posters have said, Iowa is a good regional school and will place effectively within the midwest. Realistically going to Iowa is not a good use of your time, the opportunity cost of moving to Iowa City is quite high when you will be unhappy with the likely outcome.

[bookofblue]

Former UNC Law student here (transferred out) who is doing DC Biglaw. I can only offer some prospective about UNC, but I can say that many of my friends from UNC law (albeit were on law review) had no trouble getting a DC firm job if they wanted it. UNC every year puts one or two people at Covington no problem, and can list a few other firms that have hired UNC students in the past or absolutely would if UNC students were interested. That being said, and I think this is true of both schools, if you aren't in the top 1/3, it's going to be difficult to get biglaw in the first place, let alone in a really competitive market. The proximity to DC helps UNC students in terms of alumni base. I know for a fact that except Covington, established DC firms don't show up to UNC OCI, so it is no slam dunk. But all my friends who mass mailed got plenty of responses and callbacks. But that uncertainty in the DC market is true of any law school I think. I've heard the same thing about GULC and GW students having little to no competitive advantage in DC, so if you really want DC biglaw, then it's an uphill climb no matter where you go.

That being said, UNC is a wonderful place. Loved my first year there and still believe the caliber of teaching and commitment to students is unrivaled.

[Traynor Brah]

Iowa would make absolutely no sense in this situation. Rankings are meaningless. Unc is not an ideal school for getting to dc, but would seem to make more sense for you, from what I can gather.

Retaking and going to a school that places well in DC is obviously the rational choice, but you don't seem to be rational (see, e.g., seriously considering Iowa because a magazine says it's ok).

[cron1834]

There's a 75% chance you can't get biglaw from UNC. There's a 90% chance you can't get DC biglaw from UNC. That is the data.

This thread is aggressively stupid.

[Danny Mothers]

Don't go to either of these schools expecting to land a job in DC. The odds are overwhelmingly against you at both of them.

I don't think thats true at all. There are many UNC Law/Iowa Law at big firms in NY and DC. Given, they probably had to fight for their own connections and not landing jobs through OCI, Its entirely possible.

You could also just win the lottery instead of messing around with law school. That's entirely possible too.

[BigZuck]

Former UNC Law student here (transferred out)

many of my friends from UNC law (albeit were on law review) had no trouble getting a DC firm job if they wanted it.

OP- Neither school makes sense for any kind of big law, it's just too improbable. You're focusing way too much on stuff that doesn't matter- facilities, prune-y faculty, arbitrary rankings from a defunct "news magazine." You also seem to misunderstand how the vast majority of people get jobs at big firms.

Focus on getting the job you want, where you want it, and at an appropriate cost. Those things don't seem to point to either of these two schools.

[bookofblue]

Former UNC Law student here (transferred out)

many of my friends from UNC law (albeit were on law review) had no trouble getting a DC firm job if they wanted it.

OP- Neither school makes sense for any kind of big law, it's just too improbable. You're focusing way too much on stuff that doesn't matter- facilities, prune-y faculty, arbitrary rankings from a defunct "news magazine." You also seem to misunderstand how the vast majority of people get jobs at big firms.

Focus on getting the job you want, where you want it, and at an appropriate cost. Those things don't seem to point to either of these two schools.

I'm actually going to agree with this. There is no way to guarantee a biglaw job unless you are at HYS. For what it's worth, I got multiple DC biglaw interviews before finalizing my transfer decision. But I think the above criticism is well-founded - biglaw outside of NC from UNC requires stellar grades. Certainly no guarantees.

[kellyfrost]

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