Top Law Schools

Okay it's time to play choose a law school with your favorite duck! I realize there are a lot of similar threads but I don't want to hijack someone else's with my super long post.

I'm on the "preferred waitlist" at Georgetown (I know, they probably tell that to all the girls) but I figure if I get in I'll have to make a decision in a hurry so I'm gonna do my "choose a law school" thread in advance. Sorry.

Costs:

Note: I've calculated COA over three years, including UG debt and all interest paid on debts, so this will be my actual consolidated debt total at graduation. I also didn't consider any early payments I will make after getting my $3k/week 1L SA job cause I'm T19 secure.

WUSTL: $80,000
GULC: $190,000
and just for fun...
GWU: $170,000

Goals:

Preferred practice area: patent litigation
Preferred region: DC/NYC first, but would be okay with Chicago, and could live with Midwest. Have ties to Atlanta.
Preferred firm size: Biglaw/equivalent IP boutique would be optimal, but I'm not gonna jump off a bridge if I don't crack the V100.

Obviously a clerkship would be great but I'm not really gunning for it. No real interest in academia.

Distinguishing Factors:

+ BSEE from a top school
+ Average work experience, some in industry (robotics), some in military (enlisted)
- Shitty UGPA (will graduate with barely over 3.0)
+ Have some decent fallback options (my mom is a partner at a small law firm, not in a practice area I'm remotely interested in but worst case scenario I could start at ~60k/yr there, in a low COL region).

I am not extremely debt-averse, but I want to get good value for my money.

WHAT SHOULD I DO

p.s. here's a gif in case you got bored

guess everyone just came for the gif

GULC - 100k is a ton of $, but GULC >>>> WUSTL for NY/DC. If you're not that debt adverse, as you said, then this seems like the clear path.

fatduck wrote:I also didn't consider any early payments I will make after getting my $3k/week 1L SA job cause I'm T19 secure.

I'm sorry I just couldn't concentrate after that. Seriously? You think being in a "T19" will get you a guaranteed 1L SA that pays that much per week? You do have a better chance than most people, but you sound totally arrogant right there.

MrPapagiorgio wrote:

fatduck wrote:I also didn't consider any early payments I will make after getting my $3k/week 1L SA job cause I'm T19 secure.

I'm sorry I just couldn't concentrate after that. Seriously? You think being in a "T19" will get you a guaranteed 1L SA that pays that much per week? You do have a better chance than most people, but you sound totally arrogant right there.

I think that would be sarcasm. She didn't count it because she knows its not secure. Kind of a tongue in cheek thing.

MrPapagiorgio wrote:

fatduck wrote:I also didn't consider any early payments I will make after getting my $3k/week 1L SA job cause I'm T19 secure.

I'm sorry I just couldn't concentrate after that. Seriously? You think being in a "T19" will get you a guaranteed 1L SA that pays that much per week? You do have a better chance than most people, but you sound totally arrogant right there.

I'm pretty sure that was a joke, but I could be wrong. T19 secure is pretty funny.

If it was a joke/sarcasm, then it was a nice satire of many of the people on here and I take back what I said.

I wish I was T22 secure.

fatduck wrote: WHAT SHOULD I DO

1. negotiate with GW for $, send Gtown ur scholly offer from WUSTL and tell them ud still rather go to gtown.
2. go to gw if they offer u above $90K total, then gtown.
3. if neither of the above work out, consider retaking before committing urself to WUSTTTl

$ at GW would be ideal for ur goals and level of debt, in ur own words "good value for [your] money"

i think wustl is cheaper but doesnt provide good value even considering the discount

good luck bro

MrPapagiorgio wrote:

fatduck wrote:I also didn't consider any early payments I will make after getting my $3k/week 1L SA job cause I'm T19 secure.

I'm sorry I just couldn't concentrate after that. Seriously? You think being in a "T19" will get you a guaranteed 1L SA that pays that much per week? You do have a better chance than most people, but you sound totally arrogant right there.

sorry i thought that was a pretty obvious joke

fatduck wrote:

MrPapagiorgio wrote:

fatduck wrote:I also didn't consider any early payments I will make after getting my $3k/week 1L SA job cause I'm T19 secure.

I'm sorry I just couldn't concentrate after that. Seriously? You think being in a "T19" will get you a guaranteed 1L SA that pays that much per week? You do have a better chance than most people, but you sound totally arrogant right there.

sorry i thought that was a pretty obvious joke

MrPapagiorgio wrote:If it was a joke/sarcasm, then it was a nice satire of many of the people on here and I take back what I said.

dood wrote:

fatduck wrote: WHAT SHOULD I DO

1. negotiate with GW for $, send Gtown ur scholly offer from WUSTL and tell them ud still rather go to gtown.
2. go to gw if they offer u above $90K total, then gtown.
3. if neither of the above work out, consider retaking before committing urself to WUSTTTl

$ at GW would be ideal for ur goals and level of debt, in ur own words "good value for [your] money"

i think wustl is cheaper but doesnt provide good value even considering the discount

good luck bro

GW basically said tough luck we're not negotiating this year

i'm a little worried cause i've pretty much never seen anyone on this forum talk about getting biglaw patent work (or any patent work really) from wustl...afraid i'm closing a lot of doors by not being in d.c.

fatduck wrote:

dood wrote:

fatduck wrote: WHAT SHOULD I DO

1. negotiate with GW for $, send Gtown ur scholly offer from WUSTL and tell them ud still rather go to gtown.
2. go to gw if they offer u above $90K total, then gtown.
3. if neither of the above work out, consider retaking before committing urself to WUSTTTl

$ at GW would be ideal for ur goals and level of debt, in ur own words "good value for [your] money"

i think wustl is cheaper but doesnt provide good value even considering the discount

good luck bro

GW basically said tough luck we're not negotiating this year

i'm a little worried cause i've pretty much never seen anyone on this forum talk about getting biglaw patent work (or any patent work really) from wustl...afraid i'm closing a lot of doors by not being in d.c.

Plenty of people at WUSTL are aiming for patent law, we have a fairly extensive list of IP courses, and there's a clinic dedicated to IP. ~10% have tech backgrounds, pretty much in line with the numbers at other schools.

OP, that was indeed sassy and informative. Hope you join us at WUSTL.

I'm a 1L at WUSTL, and my background/interests are similar to yours, so I thought I'd chime in.
I got my BS in CSE (computer engineering; half CS half EE) from a well-regarded engineering school. Shitty UGPA. 2 years of industry experience, looking to do patent lit.

WUSTL gave me the "splitter scholly" and I was likely faced with that, vs. GWU at sticker. After taking into account the MASSIVE cost-of-living difference, it was WUSTL in a heartbeat. WUSTL also has a solid # of courses and clinics in IP. Not as extensive as GULC or GW, but definitely one of the better IP curriculums out there.

With GULC, it'd have been a tougher decision. First of all, it depends on how strong your preference for DC is. For me, I didn't have huge location preferences. Secondly, it depends on how debt-averse you are.

You have to decide whether the added utility of a GULC degree merits the extra $110,000 in debt.

Since we're going into Patent, our situations are different than most. Esp. with an EE background, most firms are willing to relax hiring standards a little - both as far as grades and school prestige. The point I'm making is that the difference in prestige is not as significant for this niche field. Obviously you don't want to be piss-poor grades-wise, but $80K in debt from WUSTL won't be crippling if you do decently. There is a large amount of IP work in Chicago, which is WUSTL's primary market. Biglaw isn't easy, but top 1/3 at WUSTL with your background would do it.

I appreciate the replies. Location isn't a huge concern for me, either. D.C. would be nice but I'm much more concerned with the type of work I'll get to do. I'll definitely talk to career services when I visit and try to get an idea of what OCI looks like for someone interested in patent litigation. A NALP search for "intellectual property litigation" firms doing OCI at WUSTL is pretty frightening: 3 firms, compared to ~20 at GWU and GULC. Do you happen to know of any 2Ls going the patent litigation route, and how they might have fared last fall?

Obviously Loyola provides additional opportunities but I would hate to put all my eggs in that basket...

fatduck wrote:I appreciate the replies. Location isn't a huge concern for me, either. D.C. would be nice but I'm much more concerned with the type of work I'll get to do. I'll definitely talk to career services when I visit and try to get an idea of what OCI looks like for someone interested in patent litigation. A NALP search for "intellectual property litigation" firms doing OCI at WUSTL is pretty frightening: 3 firms, compared to ~20 at GWU and GULC. Do you happen to know of any 2Ls going the patent litigation route, and how they might have fared last fall?

Obviously Loyola provides additional opportunities but I would hate to put all my eggs in that basket...

I don't know of any 2Ls doing patent lit, but I do know of a 3L who had 1L and 2L biglaw SAs, and has accepted a full-time offer from the same firm. She took the patent bar and worked in industry for several years. She said she had very mediocre grades at WUSTL. No idea if that was from OCI or her own legwork, however.

To be honest, I am not banking on OCI at all. It's a crapshoot unless you're ranked a lot higher than I am. I'm anticipating a pretty high travel bill this summer; I've already registered for Loyola, and am planning on flying out to the SFIPLA and AIPLA job fairs (In addition to the various diversity job fairs all over the place). There are a bunch.