Top Law Schools

Does anyone have any opinion on Penn vs duke cornell or georgetown? Like how much more money would make it worth going to duke over Penn? Is Penn a much better school than the above mentioned. Also any opinions on Penn itself would be nice. I don't really know a lot about the school. Anything would be great. Thaks guys

I would like to know this too.

Where do you want to work?

No idea where I want to work, but I know I want to clerk at the highest level possible after law school and then a big firm until I can make a dent in my student loans. California, NYC, Chicago, D.C. I want a degree thats portable, I don't like to be stuck in one place for too long

cylusr wrote:No idea where I want to work, but I know I want to clerk at the highest level possible after law school and then a big firm until I can make a dent in my student loans. California, NYC, Chicago, D.C. I want a degree thats portable, I don't like to be stuck in one place for too long

If you want to clerk, Penn and Duke are about equal. Duke placed 13.5% of the class in clerkships, Penn placed 15%. However, Duke placed 11.7% with Article III federal judges and Penn placed 10.9%.

http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandr ... iii_clerks

Go with the school that offers more money/is in a better location for you.

What about people saying Penn is way better than Duke. Is that true?

cylusr wrote:Does anyone have any opinion on Penn vs duke cornell or georgetown? Like how much more money would make it worth going to duke over Penn? Is Penn a much better school than the above mentioned. Also any opinions on Penn itself would be nice. I don't really know a lot about the school. Anything would be great. Thaks guys

EdmundBurke23 wrote:I would like to know this too.

Where are you from?

If you go to Penn, you will likely work in the northeast/East coast.

If you go to Duke, you will likely work on the northeast/East coast.

If you are from state X, you will have the ability to be favored there as well.

I'm not saying that the schools aren't "portable," I'm just saying historically those are the locations at which more than 60% (or more) of their graduates work (Penn - 82.8% in the northeast + east cost and Duke - 68.5% in the northeast + east coast).

However times are not great now - from any of the schools you would need to be top 1/3 for a lock on what is considered "big law" (baring connections, of course).

It depends on what you want to do when you get out - In 2008, 61.8% of Duke grads went to NLJ 250 firms and 67.6% of Penn grads did the same.

To me, it seems that if all you want is "big law," there is no discernible difference.

There may be a difference as far as clerking is concerned, however, if you can make the cut at one you can likely make the cut at the other.

cylusr wrote:No idea where I want to work, but I know I want to clerk at the highest level possible after law school and then a big firm until I can make a dent in my student loans. California, NYC, Chicago, D.C. I want a degree thats portable, I don't like to be stuck in one place for too long

"Stuck in one place for too long?"

flame?

PEnn is SWeet.

cylusr wrote:What about people saying Penn is way better than Duke. Is that true?

Penn is not 'way better' than Duke. Both are good. Penn seems to place slightly better in NY and Duke seems to place slightly better in DC. They have about the same clerkship stats. It really doesn't matter. If you're top 20% at either, you're good and have similar options. If you're bottom third at either, you've got about the same diminished options.

"Stuck in one place for too long?"

flame?[/quote]

No (kinda a f@#a*s statement I must agree, I'm tired and bored). So why all the hate for duke on this site then, if a degree from duke appears to open similar doors as a degree from Penn. Is there really such a big prestige difference?

There's Duke hate? I mean there's definitely (misguided) Cornell and Georgetown hate, but I'm not sure there is actually Duke hate. Maybe Northeast bias? I guess a lot of people on TLS are interested in the NYC or Chicago market. Penn might place better there. But Duke definitely has the edge in Atlanta and probably DC.

Yes I see hate. A post I looked at recently someone was talking about Duke and a reply was just:

DOUCHE! (and a big picture of some preppy ass douche)

cylusr wrote:Yes I see hate. A post I looked at recently someone was talking about Duke and a reply was just:

DOUCHE! (and a big picture of some preppy ass douche)

Ah. Well, to be fair, Duke supposedly is somewhat Douchey (see Tucker Max). Doesn't mean it's not a great school.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tucker_Max

Duke is better. Penn is just a lame Big Ten school.

cylusr wrote:No (kinda a f@#a*s statement I must agree, I'm tired and bored). So why all the hate for duke on this site then, if a degree from duke appears to open similar doors as a degree from Penn. Is there really such a big prestige difference?

There is no real difference in the eyes of anyone in the position to hire graduates from either.

People on this site like to pretend that there are "tiers" within the T14 - and that simply isn't true.

Now Georgetown had like 49% in "big law" at the height of "big law"-lower than any other T14 except for Yale of course - but that is mainly due to Georgetown's large size (it has the largest class size in the T14).

Every single school within the T14 is somewhat unique (like every other law school, to an extent) - whatever you do, don't allow someone to tell you that any given T14 school is outright better than another one overall (not including HYS).

Heck Cornell, at the height of "big law," had more NLJ 250 placement than UVA, Duke, Michigan or Georgetown but people at UVA, Duke, and Michigan will pretend that their schools are better than Cornell.

Regardless, each one is unique and someone would be doing themselves a disservice to ignore one T14 school over another simply because one is "ranked higher."

Desert Fox wrote:Duke is better. Penn is just a lame Big Ten school.

Well done. I lol'd.

To OP, I would visit each and get a feel for the actual school atmosphere, as I'm sure they're relatively different. See which place suits you better, which QOL/COL you can deal with better, and then make a decision.

MVPBDNC roughly place the same percentage of their class in big law. The main difference is regional hiring preferences. UVa is better for DC, Boalt for Cali, Penn and Cornell for NYC, NU and Mich for Chicago.

If you don't care where to work go to wherever will cost you less.

thanks for all the good advice

Aberzombie1892 wrote:People on this site like to pretend that there are "tiers" within the T14 - and that simply isn't true.

T13 - hth

Desert Fox wrote:Duke is better. Penn is just a lame Big Ten school.

This joke never gets old to me. Seriously, I laugh out loud every time.

Desert Fox wrote:Duke is better. Penn is just a lame Big Ten school.

Desert Fox, of course, would never even consider attending a Big Ten school.

JusticeHarlan wrote:

Desert Fox wrote:Duke is better. Penn is just a lame Big Ten school.

Desert Fox, of course, would never even consider attending a Big Ten school.

Your TTTen is missing TTTwo TTTs.