UVA vs Duke vs Northwestern Forum

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jtang11

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UVA vs Duke vs Northwestern

Post by jtang11 » Tue Feb 02, 2010 12:34 pm

Seeing as how these are the 3 schools currently tied for 10th according to the rankings, I was wondering if folks had thoughts on which of these 3 schools would be the best choice to attend. Any alums or current students or informed individuals have thoughts regarding educational experience, job placement, quality of life, likelihood of scholarship, etc?

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Tangerine Gleam

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Re: UVA vs Duke vs Northwestern

Post by Tangerine Gleam » Tue Feb 02, 2010 12:36 pm

Between the three I'd choose UVA for "best all-around" as far as job opportunities and quality of education and national reputation goes. Duke and Northwestern are great, too, though. Any idea what you want to do or where you want to practice?

On second thought, I can't imagine many reasons one would pick Duke over UVA if given the option; on the other hand, I could imagine Northwestern being a better pick for some folks.

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chadwick218

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Re: UVA vs Duke vs Northwestern

Post by chadwick218 » Tue Feb 02, 2010 12:39 pm

Before the UVA trolls attack this thread, I think that the decesion b/w these schools along with possibly Michigan comes down to personal preferences as well as where you want to immediately practice upon completion of law school. Education experience and placement are all relatively similar. If you are still having a hard time deciding b/w the 3, take the one that offers you the largest scholarship!

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beesknees

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Re: UVA vs Duke vs Northwestern

Post by beesknees » Tue Feb 02, 2010 12:44 pm

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Last edited by beesknees on Sat Dec 04, 2010 6:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.

jtang11

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Re: UVA vs Duke vs Northwestern

Post by jtang11 » Tue Feb 02, 2010 12:47 pm

Haha, no doubt UVA students and alums are quite active on these boards. I'm actually a Virginia resident, so the idea of in state tuition certainly does appeal to me. That being said, I am not set on any specific school and I think campus visits will play a big part in my decision. I'm originally from California and I think I'd like to end up there eventually, though not necessarily right away. Thankfully, it seems all 3 programs have rather broad reach.

As far as career prospects, I've got some ideas (climate change, public service), but I'm not so arrogant as to say "this is exactly what I plan to do with my JD." I'm hoping law school helps me figure out my interests and passions... before I get shoehorned into whatever job in whatever industry is available at the end of 3 years.

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Tangerine Gleam

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Re: UVA vs Duke vs Northwestern

Post by Tangerine Gleam » Tue Feb 02, 2010 12:50 pm

Someone may correct me on this, but I believe UVA might have the best California placement of those schools. I also know a partner at a SF BigLaw firm who's a Northwestern graduate, as are many of the associates at said firm. I would imagine Duke has the least reach in California of the three.

jnorsky

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Re: UVA vs Duke vs Northwestern

Post by jnorsky » Tue Feb 02, 2010 12:59 pm

I applied to all three and considered ED at Duke and UVA. All three are great schools, I chose UVA because it seems to have the best reputation of the three. They have clerkship numbers historically that are extremely high, along with Michigan. For biglaw, id say that all three give you similar and good options. For government, I would say UVA has the definitive edge. I know that USNWR rankings are not the best thing to use, but I liked that UVA had pretty much always been up there with Michigan and Penn, and I liked that their reputation in the legal world (again, according to usnwr) was the highest of all of these except michigan. You cant go wrong with either, pretty much depends where you like the most. But, UVA > Duke and Northwestern haha

Applicant2010

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Re: UVA vs Duke vs Northwestern

Post by Applicant2010 » Tue Feb 02, 2010 1:01 pm

According to http://www.calvin.edu/admin/csr/student ... w/data.htm

UVa - LA 11% SF 4% - CA 15%
Duke - LA 12% SF 5% - CA 17%
Northwestern - LA 9% SF 5% - CA 14%

Michigan places the best in CA out of these firms - 19%

Differences seem negligible.

fortissimo

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Re: UVA vs Duke vs Northwestern

Post by fortissimo » Tue Feb 02, 2010 1:07 pm

Applicant2010 wrote:According to http://www.calvin.edu/admin/csr/student ... w/data.htm

UVa - LA 11% SF 4% - CA 15%
Duke - LA 12% SF 5% - CA 17%
Northwestern - LA 9% SF 5% - CA 14%

Michigan places the best in CA out of these firms - 19%

Differences seem negligible.
That's pretty outdated and doesn't really speak to how current students place since it takes a big picture look at all lawyers working in certain offices, even those that graduated 30 years ago. It's probably to figure out how many CA offices go to each OCI. (For that I think Michigan definitely trumps the others.)

insidethetwenty

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Re: UVA vs Duke vs Northwestern

Post by insidethetwenty » Tue Feb 02, 2010 1:29 pm

I think this one is largely a matter of preference. If you had to split that logjam at #10, it would probably be UVA then Duke then NW, but I think the differences are so negligible that you should probably take the one that offers you the best scholarship or the place where you feel most "at home".

As for getting to CA, there are probably fewer CA firms that OCI at Duke/NW vs. UVA, but I still think that if CA is where you want to be, a Duke or NW degree will get you there.

There's a LOT of UVA hype on here, and while (most of) it is certainly deserved, you shouldn't believe you are drastically damaging your career prospects if you pick Duke or NW over UVA if you like Duke or NW better or if you get a better scholarship offer.

Yes, there's always Michigan, too, and it can be argued that it would trump all of them, but you won't go wrong at any of these three (or four).

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