Top Law Schools

Am currently deciding between these schools. The Emory scholarship would cover 5/6 terms of tuition, while Georgetown is at the sticker price. I'm not wedded to any particular city post-law school. I know I don't want to work in NY and probably not Boston. I would be happy working in either Atlanta or DC after graduation; really like both cities. I am currently thinking that I would like to work as a prosecutor or in a district attorney's office, but I know that many people change their minds over the course of law school. It is a dream of mine to become a judge, but I am also interested in private sector (love that Coca Cola and other big companies are headquartered in Atlanta). Any thoughts would be appreciated!

Emory.

This is a tough decision, but I'd go with Emory. Graduating with barely any debt compared to the $200k Georgetown in gonna run you is a beautiful thing.

Hey, hotwater. I would definitely accept the Emory offer. Job prospects at Emory vs. Georgetown are going to be somewhat similar, and you have the option of graduating almost debt free. Seems an easy decision to me.

Congrats on a great cycle!

cool sunglasses on your emoticon, jsander. i hope they're ray-ban.

jsander1 wrote:Job prospects at Emory vs. Georgetown are going to be somewhat similar

No. Latest NLJ250 stats (admittedly pre-ITE) have Georgetown edging out Emory 43% to 24%. Also, Georgetown has the edge in clerkships. Is it enough to take on $100,000 more in debt? I think not, but Georgetown has better job prospects.

rad law wrote:This is a tough decision, but I'd go with Emory. Graduating with barely any debt compared to the $200k Georgetown in gonna run you is a beautiful thing.

I'll never understand why people say "graduating with barely any debt" or "graduating debt free" when talking about big scholarships like this. COA for 3 years adds up to nearly $200k, so even after the scholarship, you're still about $100k in debt for that Emory degree.

doomed123 wrote:

rad law wrote:This is a tough decision, but I'd go with Emory. Graduating with barely any debt compared to the $200k Georgetown in gonna run you is a beautiful thing.

I'll never understand why people say "graduating with barely any debt" or "graduating debt free" when talking about big scholarships like this. COA for 3 years adds up to nearly $200k, so even after the scholarship, you're still about $100k in debt for that Emory degree.

This.

rad law wrote:

jsander1 wrote:Job prospects at Emory vs. Georgetown are going to be somewhat similar

No. Latest NLJ250 stats (admittedly pre-ITE) have Georgetown edging out Emory 43% to 24%. Also, Georgetown has the edge in clerkships. Is it enough to take on $100,000 more in debt? I think not, but Georgetown has better job prospects.

I don't know if that counts as "edging out" Emory. If you take into account the clerkship difference, plus the difference that Georgetown has regarding people choosing to go into government rather than NLJ 250, basically Georgetown gives you double the chance of a good job compared to Emory. It costs more, but when we're talking about biglaw money, $100,000 is not a huge difference over the course of a career, or even 10 years.

I should add, I'm definitely not going into biglaw

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JCougar wrote:

rad law wrote:

jsander1 wrote:Job prospects at Emory vs. Georgetown are going to be somewhat similar

No. Latest NLJ250 stats (admittedly pre-ITE) have Georgetown edging out Emory 43% to 24%. Also, Georgetown has the edge in clerkships. Is it enough to take on $100,000 more in debt? I think not, but Georgetown has better job prospects.

I don't know if that counts as "edging out" Emory. If you take into account the clerkship difference, plus the difference that Georgetown has regarding people choosing to go into government rather than NLJ 250, basically Georgetown gives you double the chance of a good job compared to Emory. It costs more, but when we're talking about biglaw money, $100,000 is not a huge difference over the course of a career, or even 10 years.

It should also be noted that Georgetown's LRAP is FAR stronger than Emory's, so if you go into public interest, your debt would actually be more manageable coming from Georgetown.

hotwater wrote:I should add, I'm definitely not going into biglaw

It really depends on what you want to do after, then. This is a huge financial decision you are making.

I think Emory is fine for a lot of jobs, but you have to be at least in the top third of your class there. It's not just biglaw jobs that require high grades. Working as a prosecutor does as well. You'll have significantly more margin for error at Georgetown. In a career sense, it's a safer bet.

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Is the scholarship stipulation-free?

Yes, no stipulations or strings attached.

hotwater wrote:Yes, no stipulations or strings attached.

Emory...that's enough money to look for a job for 3 years if you aren't happy with any offers coming your way (not that you'd do this)

Yikes. Take that money and run!

A big vote for Emory. That is a very big scholarship, and if you want to work in the South, you couldn't be in a better position.

Thanks for the great opinions! Anyone else have any thoughts?

Regionality wrote:

hotwater wrote:Yes, no stipulations or strings attached.

Emory...that's enough money to look for a job for 3 years if you aren't happy with any offers coming your way (not that you'd do this)

If it takes you three years to find a job graduating from Emory (which it might if you are significantly below median), I'd say you have larger problems on your hands.

If you consider cost of living it's gonna be roughly $90K of debt at Emory vs. $200K of debt at Georgetown. Georgetown's LRAP is pretty awesome, and way better than Emory's. So if you end up being a prosecutor for 10 years after law school, you'll almost certainly end up paying less on your loans if you went to Georgetown even though the total debt at graduation is higher. Georgetown should also give you a better chance of getting that prosecutor job. If you wanted biglaw, it'd be a different decision, but since you don't, it looks to me like in just about every scenario you're better off at Georgetown.

Important to remember that Emory is really not portable. So decide right now if you want to spend you life in the South. If not moving will really just not be an option.

If you are not interested in biglaw, I would definitely say Emory because it is going to be difficult t deal with all the debt from Georgetown. If you are interested in staying in Atlanta (which it seems like you might bc you are interested in coca cola), then Emory would be great. Atlanta has the headquarters for a lot of big companies.

I would call the dean of admissions at emory if you have concerns about the school. i have spoken with him before and he is very helpful and informative.

of Benito Cereno wrote:Important to remember that Emory is really not portable. So decide right now if you want to spend you life in the South. If not moving will really just not be an option.

rest of his/her life?
i'd think it would make it hard to leave the south in the beginning of the career but after a while the kind of experience you have would probably determine how able you'd be able to move from one region to another.