Importance of Prestige to Public Interest and Government Forum

[Rigo]

Do there exist tools or websites for comparing and contrasting different schools' LRAPs? They're difficult to get a true sense of, and I've heard more than a few people who relied on them after paying sticker at T14s to do PI work who have said they often are not all they're cracked up to be. Seems like in many cases the flexibility of a debt-free T1 degree can be better for one's career prospects, even if gunning for prestigious PI or gov't, than a T14 or even a T6 degree complete with $200,000 worth of debt.

I found this spreadsheet helpful for the T14:
http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 5&t=262492

[globetrotter659]

The biggest difference between Big Law and Big Fed is that Big Fed will actually consider people from TTTs while a V10 is very unlikely to even look at a resume from a TTT. For example, I know some firms in SF that will not hire someone straight out of law school from schools outside the top 20 unless it was Hastings or Santa Clara--which are definitely not TTT(and even then at most they will hire one for their first year associate class).

Big Fed loves clerks especially for litigating components. A clerkship can make up for a less prestigious school. So in a sense prestige does still matter in that a median student at a T14 (with good work experience) has a good shot at landing an Honors gig whereas someone from a TTT will probably have to be near the top of their class. But unlike Big Law, going to a TTT does not foreclose a government job.

[jlc058]

I am also wondering about the OPs question and even though some opinions have been thrown out they seem to all be conflicting and this is what I am currently grappling with.

I am 100% staying in DC for law school and am not set on a big shot fed PI job, I want to work in law reform/policy work for a nonprofit- the ACLU would be great, but would never expect to just land a job there right away just using it as an example.

I am trying to decide between going to American on a full public interest scholarship that comes with specific mentoring and connections to other people that have done this program, extensive public interest projects throughout your 3 years the whole shebang etc etc OR GW with half tuition scholarship OR Georgetown with a TBD amount of money but presumably less than GW.

If I go to American with zero debt am I limiting the opportunities that I would have available to me if I went to Georgetown? Or would it be better to graduate and be able to work without the debt load?

[Ska_lool]

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