Top Law Schools

Or, to put it another way, roughly $95k of debt at BU or roughly $200k worth of debt at GULC.

Still waiting for other schools, but this may be my decision. Love both Boston and DC, so location is not a concern.

General thoughts?

FutureInLaw wrote:Or, to put it another way, roughly $95k of debt at BU or roughly $200k worth of debt at GULC.

Still waiting for other schools, but this may be my decision. Love both Boston and DC, so location is not a concern.

General thoughts?

Whatchoo wanna do?

Not fully committed to any field, necessarily.

I'd love a job with an international aspect to it, whether that's a firm with international offices or international law.

Other possible route is education advocacy / policy.

FutureInLaw wrote:Not fully committed to any field, necessarily.

I'd love a job with an international aspect to it, whether that's a firm with international offices or international law.

Other possible route is education advocacy / policy.

Someone else may bet better able to provide feedback than I can, but if looking for a firm with international offices, which I think would pretty much be limited to biglaw, I think your odds out of GULC are much better. I would say the same about finding a PI job dealing with education. If you really want to go into policy, a JD may not be the best way to get there. I don't know how much of a possibility it actually is to get a policy job with a JD, and without a MPP or some similar degree.

If you're not terribly debt averse, and you're PI/biglaw or bust, GULC may be the better choice. It's certainly a lot more debt though, so you have to figure out of the increased opportunites are worth it for you. Where do you want to practice?

BU because it is feasible to pay back the debt in 10 years if you end up with a $40-50k job.

Your ability to be placed internationally is probably going to have a lot more to do with you than with the difference between BU and GULC (though GULC would have an edge here).

Education advocacy/policy... I don't think a JD is the right call for this stuff.

FutureInLaw wrote:education advocacy / policy.

Something along those lines could fall within the realm of LRAP-eligible, so you should look into that.

bk187 wrote:BU because it is feasible to pay back the debt in 10 years if you end up with a $40-50k job.

Your ability to be placed internationally is probably going to have a lot more to do with you than with the difference between BU and GULC (though GULC would have an edge here).

Education advocacy/policy... I don't think a JD is the right call for this stuff.

These are good points, too. Honestly, for the kind of things you're talking about, you will probably have be at the very top of either of those schools for them to be possible. It might be worth looking at what school you would be better off graduating at median from.

disclaimer:I'm really talkin out of my ass ITT. I just feel like posting.

FutureInLaw wrote:Or, to put it another way, roughly $95k of debt at BU or roughly $200k worth of debt at GULC.

Still waiting for other schools, but this may be my decision. Love both Boston and DC, so location is not a concern.

General thoughts?

Also keep in mind that going to TL Forums for career/debt advice is like going to Haiti for medical advice--caveat emptor.

BU

Less debt, GT's job prospects aren't so significantly better, and your class size is smaller.

BU.

Go with less debt. BU has actually been weathering the legal recession well, according to their latest NLJ 250 numbers. You should just assume right off the bat you're not going to get Biglaw from either of those schools, though. So go to the one that lets you pay off your debt with a $60K starting salary.

JCougar wrote:Go with less debt. BU has actually been weathering the legal recession well, according to their latest NLJ 250 numbers. You should just assume right off the bat you're not going to get Biglaw from either of those schools, though. So go to the one that lets you pay off your debt with a $60K starting salary.

You're probably right, but from what I've seen, GULC's OCI blows BU's out of the water in terms of # of firms, but if you go by the most recent NLJ stats (if you find them to be a reliable metric that is), it's a significant difference in placement (~8%), but is it worth the extra money? BU has pretty swell placement for its rank, pretty comparable with the $$$.

How risk-averse are you? Do you want to bet the extra 5 (possibly 6) figures on yourself? Or rather play it safe? If you're medianpwned at BU no reason to think you'd be better off at GULC, and at least BU has no stipulations. If you're top 25% or higher at BU then you should be golden. At the extreme ends, BU is the clearcut winner-you'd be fucked bottom quartile at either school, but at least at BU you'd owe less money. Tippy top at either school, no meaningful difference, really. Median-that might be another story, I don't know. I'd rather be median with 25k/yr from BU than median at sticker at GULC is what I'll say. Pretty much any way you slice it, the money makes BU the logical winner.

The NLJ stats are the most reliable stats out there. They're reported by the law firms, not the law schools.

Georgetown has more firms at OCI, but they have a class size of like 600 people.

JCougar wrote:The NLJ stats are the most reliable stats out there. They're reported by the law firms, not the law schools.

I was mostly covering my bases. Are they reported by the firms? I don't know, there's the whole self-reported thing, but maybe they're ok.

All I know is, I don't think Georgetown is that much better than BU to justify the extra money. I might be in the same boat, and would personally only pass up the money for Cornell or higher, but maybe I'm an idiot.

Make a poll!!!


But I would vote BU. If it were $30K, or less, I would probably say G'Town.

Yeah...the NLJ 250 numbers are compiled by asking the NLJ 250 firms who they hired, not by asking the law schools where they sent their class. The law schools would obviously lie if this task were delegated to them.

The stats you can't trust are the salary statistics reported by the law schools themselves.

JCougar wrote:The NLJ stats are the most reliable stats out there. They're reported by the law firms, not the law schools.

Georgetown has more firms at OCI, but they have a class size of like 600 people.

IMO the amount of people you're competing against is irrelevant. If you're trying to nab a specific job in biglaw, you should be more concerned with percentages.

Not to be trite but top 50% is still top 50%, regardless of how big the class size is. Same goes for the estimated percentage of graduates that are offered biglaw positions.

This is an easy BU vote. GULC at sticker? Is you crazy, fool?

bender18 wrote:

JCougar wrote:The NLJ stats are the most reliable stats out there. They're reported by the law firms, not the law schools.

Georgetown has more firms at OCI, but they have a class size of like 600 people.

IMO the amount of people you're competing against is irrelevant. If you're trying to nab a specific job in biglaw, you should be more concerned with percentages.

Not to be trite but top 50% is still top 50%, regardless of how big the class size is. Same goes for the estimated percentage of graduates that are offered biglaw positions.

That was my point. The poster I was responding to seemed to be noting that GULC had a ton of firms at OCI...I was pointing out that that matters little given their class size.

You Gotta Have Faith wrote:Make a poll!!!


But I would vote BU. If it were $30K, or less, I would probably say G'Town.

BU.

JCougar wrote:

bender18 wrote:

JCougar wrote:The NLJ stats are the most reliable stats out there. They're reported by the law firms, not the law schools.

Georgetown has more firms at OCI, but they have a class size of like 600 people.

IMO the amount of people you're competing against is irrelevant. If you're trying to nab a specific job in biglaw, you should be more concerned with percentages.

Not to be trite but top 50% is still top 50%, regardless of how big the class size is. Same goes for the estimated percentage of graduates that are offered biglaw positions.

That was my point. The poster I was responding to seemed to be noting that GULC had a ton of firms at OCI...I was pointing out that that matters little given their class size.

Oh okay gotcha

woops, double post

Not to hijack but what if it was BU 75k vs Cornell sticker.

If you want biglaw or Art III clerkship, take the T14.
Otherwise, BU/BC/GW etc. are all good options with a decent scholarship.

nearly 40% of the class from BC/BU get biglaw/Article III....