Top Law Schools

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I think I would do UVA in this situation. I think that it sounds like a good fit for you professionally and personally. With the scholarship, the debt becomes much less scary.

I know TLS hates anecdotal evidence, but I'm going to share an interesting anecdote with you. I also received a full-ride from Minnesota and am considering it. An alumni called me today to talk to me about the school. When I asked him what he was doing he said that he had his own private practice and worked part-time at the admissions office. Needless to say, I am a bit concerned at that. Unless he really really loves the school and admissions work, something is not right...or I'm just reading way too far into it. That's possible too.

I think you'd be crazy to turn down UVA. I'm not just saying that because I'm a biased UVA student; I believe that, in general, it's unwise to turn down massive scholarships ($90k+) from T-14 schools to attend other T-14 schools at sticker (besides YHS), and that it's also unwise to leave the T-14 when the difference isn't sticker vs. a full ride. The edge that NYU has over UVA in employment prospects (really just for NYC big law) is more than outweighed by the money savings.

IMO the tough decision is between UVA and NYU when you factor in the girl; forget about the Minnesota seat deposit and take your time thinking about whether you want to be in Charlottesville or NYC.

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i wouldn't be so sure that a UVA or NYU degree wouldn't give you an advantage over a UMN degree if you have ties to the area, especially when the brunt of people gunning to work for firms there (in the cities) have a UMN degree.

WhirledWorld wrote:I talked to a midlaw partner today who graduated from Minnesota and is working in Minneapolis. He thought NYU was a state school and wasn't sure if UVA was in the top-20.

i'm sorry, but this person is stupid. law schools are such prestige whores; no one would be so woefully unaware of these two schools

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WhirledWorld wrote:I talked to a midlaw partner today who graduated from Minnesota and is working in Minneapolis. He thought NYU was a state school and wasn't sure if UVA was in the top-20. He said during hiring he'd probably give an edge to the Minnesota grad as an alum, and would look a little oddly at a guy with opportunities in NYC moving to Minnesota out of NYU.

At the same time, he said doing a lateral transfer into Minnesota after NYC biglaw would be pretty easy, and one way of confronting the debt issue. He also said it'd probably be a good springboard into a cozy Minnesota in-house job.

I would not want to work with this person, sounds like he knows nothing about good school. You would be crazy to go to a school like Minnesota with your current options.

paulinaporizkova wrote:

WhirledWorld wrote:I talked to a midlaw partner today who graduated from Minnesota and is working in Minneapolis. He thought NYU was a state school and wasn't sure if UVA was in the top-20.

i'm sorry, but this person is stupid. law schools are such prestige whores; no one would be so woefully unaware of these two schools

Outside of big law, fed gov, some mid-law, and desirable PI, you would be surprised at how few practitioners are aware of the law school rankings. They generally follow lay prestige reputations. Generally, this would mean that they would hire more deeply at school X than school Y even if both schools are ranked the same and located in the same region.

be with your girlfriend. go to NYU. eat a momofuku pork bun for me.

Your poll might be getting skewed results--

It reads like you only have $35K total offered from UVA. If that's true, go to NYU. But your OP sounds like it's 35K per year. If that's true, go to UVA.

WhirledWorld wrote:
At the same time, he said doing a lateral transfer into Minnesota after NYC biglaw would be pretty easy, and one way of confronting the debt issue. He also said it'd probably be a good springboard into a cozy Minnesota in-house job.

please go to UVA just for this then

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I originally voted nyu when it was just 30 total at uva but now i know thats per year, then obviously uva is the right choice... Send NYU your offer from UVA if you haven't and see what they can do (let them know about the deadlines). Also, don't go to Minn. if you have 100k from a t10...

I'd vote UVA even if it were 30k total. At 35k/year, it's a no-brainer.

Compared to Minnesota, you're getting vastly better opportunities in every city in the country (including Minneapolis) without much debt.

Compared to NYU, you're saving well over $100k for a degree that probably does just as well everywhere, except NYC where you don't even necessarily want to work.

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Aberzombie1892 wrote: Outside of big law, fed gov, some mid-law, and desirable PI, you would be surprised at how few practitioners are aware of the law school rankings. They generally follow lay prestige reputations. Generally, this would mean that they would hire more deeply at school X than school Y even if both schools are ranked the same and located in the same region.

This is pretty accurate.

EDIT: OP, go to UVA.

WhirledWorld wrote:Jobs-wise, it'd make little difference in Minnesota

I question this with re: to UVA. There are people around the middle of the class who got offers with top MN firms this year (think Dorsey, Faegre, etc.). No way is someone at UMN getting those kinds of offers unless they're in the top 10%.

RVP11 wrote:

WhirledWorld wrote:Jobs-wise, it'd make little difference in Minnesota

I question this with re: to UVA. There are people around the middle of the class who got offers with top MN firms this year (think Dorsey, Faegre, etc.). No way is someone at UMN getting those kinds of offers unless they're in the top 10%.

thank you for saying this

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UVA is without question the best choice here.

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WhirledWorld wrote:I'm amazed TLS is so in favor of UVA. I thought it might win, but not by such a huge margin.

Another question: I'm still waiting on Columbia and Stanford. Would either or both be worth sticker?

Columbia: I don't think it changes the calculation much from NYU. If NYU isn't worth sticker, neither is Columbia
Stanford: I think one can certainly justify turning down a massive scholarship at a T-14 for Stanford at sticker, but how the girl in NYC factors into this is something only you can determine

WhirledWorld wrote:

RVP11 wrote:

WhirledWorld wrote:Jobs-wise, it'd make little difference in Minnesota

I question this with re: to UVA. There are people around the middle of the class who got offers with top MN firms this year (think Dorsey, Faegre, etc.). No way is someone at UMN getting those kinds of offers unless they're in the top 10%.

Really? If you have evidence of this, it'd definitely swing my vote towards UVA.

Definitely true. I'm not sure what kind of evidence you want, but I back up what RVP said.

Plus, if you have connections to Minnesota, you move right to the top of every Minnesota firm who interviews at UVA. You'll definitely be competing against a smaller group of students here for those jobs.

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