POLL...W&L v. WAKE v. UGA v. GSU v. Mercer Forum

johnroberts11 · Post by **johnroberts11** » Thu Mar 10, 2011 11:53 am

I am struggling to make my final selection pending any other offers. I am from Georgia and want to work somewhere in south-mid atlantic.

I also applied to UNC, William and Mary, but havent heard back yet from them.

I am waitlisted at Vanderbilt.

I have visited and cant make up my mind, any suggestions??

rebexness · Post by **rebexness** » Thu Mar 10, 2011 4:06 pm

johnroberts11 · Post by **johnroberts11** » Thu Mar 10, 2011 4:59 pm

I know they are a step below the others but GSU has outperformed UGA and WL in big law jobs over the last year.

Wake Forest is the one I'm leaning towards based on their stellar performance according to NLJ compared to UGA and WL

johnroberts11 · Post by **johnroberts11** » Fri Mar 11, 2011 11:01 am

Thanks for the polling, any comments or suggestions on how to make my choice cause its pretty deadlock and thats the same feeling I have had so far on my own

Rule11 · Post by **Rule11** » Fri Mar 11, 2011 11:22 am

I'm not sure what you should do, but I would counsel you not to consider biglaw placement an important factor, because none of these schools is likely to give you more than a 15% shot at biglaw (and most of them less than that).

spets · Post by **spets** » Fri Mar 11, 2011 1:15 pm

Just curious, why didn't you apply to Emory?

atlantisdan · Post by **atlantisdan** » Sat Mar 12, 2011 1:30 am

I liked Mercer a lot when I visited. I didn't think I would but was very surprised. Good chance I end up there.

johnroberts11 · Post by **johnroberts11** » Sat Mar 12, 2011 11:19 am

I did not apply to emory becuase I did not hear positive things from them and the tuition difference btw them and UGA is very big, so I felt like I would never actually choose Emory over Uga.

Why wake? It seems to be the choice.

johnroberts11 · Post by **johnroberts11** » Wed Mar 16, 2011 9:37 am

Any updates based on the new rankings??

I see that UGA fell 7 spots

Washington and lee slid up to 30 from 34th

Wake held pretty constant, actually dropping only 1 spot

The rest of the schools are meaningless at this point

BTW waitlisted @ william and mary

Eagles_Legendz · Post by **Eagles_Legendz** » Wed Mar 16, 2011 9:45 am

Any preference on where you'd like to work?

I'd lean towards Wake personally, but W&L and UGA are not bad options.

johnroberts11 · Post by **johnroberts11** » Wed Mar 16, 2011 9:54 am

I am from GA but my girlfreind loves North Carolina and I love DC

Borhas · Post by **Borhas** » Wed Mar 16, 2011 10:08 am

don't pay attention to rankings, they don't mean dick... don't get me wrong, there IS a prestige whoring hierarchy, but USNWR merely tries to offer a gimmicky version of it. The truth lies in employment #'s... and NOT the ones reported by schools to USNWR (those numbers are probably BS, and even if they aren't, they include non-legal positions like Starbucks Barista)

rebexness wrote:I would remove GSU and Mercer from consideration, personally.

GSU placed a bigger proportion of their class (14%) into NLJ 250 firms than UGA and W&L (both 11%) this past year... just one year, but still a notable data point

If you want to work at a firm (or the Federal Gov't), here's a nice decision tree:
1. Admissions include one of the traditional "T14" or UCLA, UT, or Vandy? If yes, are one of those schools Yale, Stanford or Harvard? If yes go to the one you like better. If no then go to the school that costs the least.

2. Didn't get into T14+UCLA+UT+Vandy? Select region you would like to work in. Find school that places greatest % of class into NLJ 250 firms on a regular basis.

3. Of those schools go to the cheapest one.

If you want to work for public interest or the gov't there are different factors to consider

I'd say go to UGA or GSU w/ their relatively low instate tuitions... probably UGA since they have good sports teams

Moral_Midgetry · Post by **Moral_Midgetry** » Wed Mar 16, 2011 10:25 am

UGA and Wake look like your best options so far. However, UNC is due to release another wave of admits any day now. If I were you I'd wait and see about UNC before making any decisions. GSU and Mercer shouldn't even be on the table anymore.

dubyahnell · Post by **dubyahnell** » Sun Mar 20, 2011 6:48 pm

W&L is definitely going to place better in DC (but still no guarantees), has a rabid/tight knit alumni base, and are offering you more money. Wake should have you at full ride to compensate for lower rank, and placing ability. If you negotiate them to that, then I'd say you have a hard decision to make - but otherwise, W&L hardcore. They place well in NC as well. I have family on faculty at Wake, and the only real advantage they offer is a larger campus, in a city that has stuff (a big deal after a while, I promise.) But, you're there to get set for a career, and W&L will do that best.

http://www.usnews.com/education/best-gr ... aw-schools

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