UGA / UH / SMU - my last thread on this forum Forum

[bartleby]

When I mean on this forum, I mean the "Choosing a Law School forum" - too addicted to TLS.

Things to consider:

-I don't care where I work as long as it is somewhere hot. Dallas, Houston, Atlanta are fine. Austin would be awesome. El Paso and Macon make me scared.

-I don't care for big law, but I wouldn't be thrilled with doing the same thing someone else does but for half the money. I want to be employed after law school. I want to be able to pay my debt off and provide for a family... (please don't tell me to go into engineering or medicine). If I did impossibly well and could get a good PI job or academia - I would take it in a second over the big money / long hours.

-I need to live alone. 1 bedroom. I think this'll add a little more to the COL in Dallas and Athens. Maybe a little more in Dallas. I don't mind living in a studio as long as it isn't a shithole.

-I will probably have 2 grand max saved. Haha...

-I will shamelessly bump this once on Monday morning, Wednesday morning, and Friday morning.

Money stuff:

UH Tuition - 26K a year; Scholarship: 20K over three years - negotiated to a 2.8 standing - can live at home for 2L and 3L (I'm guessing this saves about 10k a year) - Estimating 80K loans

SMU Tuition - 42K a year: Scholarship: 76K over three years - no stipulation - Estimating about 100K loans

Georgia Tuition - 17K a year; Scholarship: in-state over three years (most likely) - Estimating about 95K loans

I thought there'd be more but that's just about it.

[bartleby]

premature bump

[fatduck]

i'd go with georgia but i'm from atlanta so probably biased. i think athens will be cheaper than you think.

[kalvano]

If you don't care where you work, go to the cheapest school.

[CanadianWolf]

It's difficult to offer recommendations when much of your post starts with "I don't care...".

I flipped my three sided coin & it showed SMU.

[patrickd139]

Voted UofH. Cheapest COA, largest legal market, can live at home to save money, reasonable scholarship stipulations, (presumably) from the area, which will pay dividends during your job search.

OTOH, Houston sucks, IMO.

[kalvano]

If you choose UofH, make them drop the stipulations.

[Mickey Quicknumbers]

Voted UofH. Cheapest COA, largest legal market, can live at home to save money, reasonable scholarship stipulations, (presumably) from the area, which will pay dividends during your job search.

OTOH, Houston sucks, IMO.

Atlanta biglaw market is actually slightly larger

[de5igual]

Where do you already have ties? While going to a local school where you want to practice will establish a tie, it won't completely negate the bias against outsiders.

Say you're from TX and go to UGA, you will have a harder time convincing an employer of your desire to stay in Georgia compared to your classmates.

[Aberzombie1892]

Where do you already have ties? While going to a local school where you want to practice will establish a tie, it won't completely negate the bias against outsiders.

Say you're from TX and go to UGA, you will have a harder time convincing an employer of your desire to stay in Georgia compared to your classmates.

I personally did not find that to be the case with the employers that I interviewed with. Attending law school in a particular state seemed more than enough to make me competitive with other law school students that had spent their entire lives in that state. It came more down to (1) grades and (2) prior work experience (both law school and otherwise).

[patrickd139]

Where do you already have ties? While going to a local school where you want to practice will establish a tie, it won't completely negate the bias against outsiders.

Say you're from TX and go to UGA, you will have a harder time convincing an employer of your desire to stay in Georgia compared to your classmates.

I personally did not find that to be the case with the employers that I interviewed with. Attending law school in a particular state seemed more than enough to make me competitive with other law school students that had spent their entire lives in that state. It came more down to (1) grades and (2) prior work experience (both law school and otherwise).

I had the opposite experience. Potential employers very much cared that I was not from the area natively. Did not seem to matter that I grew up fewer than 4 hours south of my law school.

[keg411]

I voted for UH because it's the cheapest option and it's where you are from. I think SMU would also be okay since you are from TX. I would get rid of UGA since you are out of state.

[bartleby]

Morning all. I guess I will just bump this once because everyone seems kinda divided. I had no idea that going to another state could look a bit like a flight risk and that's def something that'll factor into my decision. I sent out some scholarship negotiation emails and if anyone bites, I'll probably go there.

[patrickd139]

Morning all. I guess I will just bump this once because everyone seems kinda divided. I had no idea that going to another state could look a bit like a flight risk and that's def something that'll factor into my decision. I sent out some scholarship negotiation emails and if anyone bites, I'll probably go there.

I think you definitely should factor the bolded into your decision. Firms in most secondary markets that are not intrinsically valuable (i.e. not NYC, DC, Chicago or LA) are going to favor those with demonstrable ties to the area. Firms in your home market are going to wonder why you went to a regional law school that's not intrinsically valuable (i.e. not T14) instead of going to their regional law school. There are going to be anecdotal stories of success all over the place, but take them for what they are: anecdotes.

[keg411]

Morning all. I guess I will just bump this once because everyone seems kinda divided. I had no idea that going to another state could look a bit like a flight risk and that's def something that'll factor into my decision. I sent out some scholarship negotiation emails and if anyone bites, I'll probably go there.

I think you definitely should factor the bolded into your decision. Firms in most secondary markets that are not intrinsically valuable (i.e. not NYC, DC, Chicago or LA) are going to favor those with demonstrable ties to the area. Firms in your home market are going to wonder why you went to a regional law school that's not intrinsically valuable (i.e. not T14) instead of going to their regional law school. There are going to be anecdotal stories of success all over the place, but take them for what they are: anecdotes.

patrickd139 is right. That's why I'm a big proponent of go national or go home (literally ).