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I am in MN with $$ and waiting on WI. My wife and I are interested in possibly settling in Madison (she is from WI), but I have heard that the Madison legal market is a bear to break into. Also, considering Chicago after. Do either of these schools place well there?

Thoughts?

If you're intent on staying in WI, then you should go to school there, although few WI grads are able to find work in Madison. If you want Chicago, either school should place similarly there. In your position I would choose the most affordable school since they're comparable in the region.

For Madison, UW>>>>>>>>>>>>>Minnesota.
For the rest of Wisconsin, UW>>>Minnesota.
For Chicago, I would imagine, Minnesota is slightly > UW.

Madison is not tough to break into per se, it is just small. A UW law degree and the connections you will build in LS if you work at it are the best things you can have when trying to get a legal job in Madison.

PS Madison is a wonderful, wonderful city. I am trying to get into the Chicago legal market, but I would be just as happy in Madison.

Also if you have $$ at Minnesota, I can't imagine why you wouldn't get $$ at UW. Do you have residency in either state?

No, but the wife is a WI resident, so with her working and paying taxes, I have chance for in-state 2nd year either place.

I'd talk to financial aid at both schools if you haven't done so already, but I still say your best bet is UW, whether or not you get in-state.

Of course as an extreme splitter there is no gaurantee of UW accepting me at all.

I was going to apply to Wisconsin, but they give out very little in the way of scholarship money. Its a shame, because I love their program. Depending on your numbers, you probably have a better shot at $$ from Minnesota, Illinois or Iowa.

I think in general MN>>>WI, I just think you will have more options to fall back on while if you go to WI and strike out in Madison and Milwaukee it could be bad... i think MN just has better portability throughout the Midwest including Chicago than WI

jcunni5 wrote:I think in general MN>>>WI, I just think you will have more options to fall back on while if you go to WI and strike out in Madison and Milwaukee it could be bad... i think MN just has better portability throughout the Midwest including Chicago than WI

I agree, but for WI, UW is king.

Wisconsin grads don't have to take the bar. That's always a plus.

jcunni5 wrote:I think in general MN>>>WI, I just think you will have more options to fall back on while if you go to WI and strike out in Madison and Milwaukee it could be bad... i think MN just has better portability throughout the Midwest including Chicago than WI

It's come up before, but this isn't actually historically true. Any edge MN may or may not have based on perceived rank doesn't cover the couple hundred more miles between the Twin Cities and Chicago. The primary market for Minnesota is the Cities. This is a pretty sizable market, but it's hard to see any mathematical support for the idea that it's a better Chicago feeder than Wisconsin is. You might get away with a slightly lower class rank, but that's unpredictable anyway.

Being from the Midwest, I'll also add that there is a very good reason why there is relatively little or no correlation to Big 10 placement and street rep and the US News rankings. Most of the people who know about the rankings do not like them because they feel the metrics used discriminate against the public Big 10 schools in favor of "coastie" privates because it's an East Coast establishment magazine. It's a huge mistake to underestimate the state pride in the land grant universities.

Madison would be tough to break into because it's not that big (in the sense of firms running large summer classes) and it's considered an awesome city to live in.

Lastly, I'd be very careful of thinking that any Big 10 degree is portable to the point you'll be outcompeting the home state Big 10 school. They're all equally portable in the region because everyone knows the school and that it's good, but if you want a job in Wisconsin, go to Wisconsin.