Washington and Lee v. Iowa Forum

[jaskat]

Trying to practice in the midwest, but wouldn't be adverse to practicing in the DC/NY region. Is Iowa better in job placement just because it's ranked higher, or is W&L as good or better?

[thepcv]

According to the ABA, their after 9 months data looks like this:

Iowa:
Employment status known: 99.5%
Employed: 93.5%
Pursuing graduate degrees: 6.1%
Unemployed: .5%

W&L:
Employment status known: 97.6%
Employed: 93.4%
Pursuing graduate degrees: 1.7%
Unemployed: 5.0%

The difference in their unemployed numbers seems pretty significant to me (but, if Iowa didn't have as many people pursuing grad degrees, I wonder if their numbers would be closer).

In the end, both are good schools, but I'd probably be more apt to pick Iowa (but keep in mind that I'm actually planning on going to Iowa, so there could be bias)--especially since you seem more interested in working in the midwest. Is either school offering a scholarship?

[jaskat]

I don't think either is at this point. I'm definitely leaning towards Iowa, but I've heard so many things about W&L that I thought it needed to be asked before I made a final decision. Hopefully I'll see you in ASW. Thank you for the stats.

[Jerome]

I don't think either is at this point. I'm definitely leaning towards Iowa, but I've heard so many things about W&L that I thought it needed to be asked before I made a final decision. Hopefully I'll see you in ASW. Thank you for the stats.

If you want a clerkship, W&L would be better. That written, most students wont get clerkships anyway, so don't let that effect your decision too much. I'd visit both and go to whichever one you prefer. Then again, if you want mid-west placement, Iowa seems like the odds-on choice, given that debt loads will be similar for each school.