Top Law Schools

Scholarships considered, Georgia and Wake Forest would both be around $15k/year in tuition.
Emory, even with a scholarship, would be closer to $30k/year.

Is it worth the extra debt to go to Emory? Almost all of my law school cost will be financed through student loans. The cost of living is a bit more at Emory as well since the school is basically in Atlanta.
Although I am partial to GA, the Carolinas, and TN, no state in particular is preferred over the others.

Side note:
I was accepted to BYU. The tuition is really cheap as an LDS student (like $10k/yr cheap). However, I don't want to live out west so I've basically crossed that off of my list.
I was also accepted to Notre Dame. I'm tempted to go because of the school's prestige, but I don't really want to pay full sticker price. That leaves me with the schools in the topic.

I don't think Emory is worth that much more than Georgia per year, but I don't have the most informed opinion. I would def plan on living and working in SE if you go to either of those schools, but it sounds like you are planning on that.

As an aside, your thread really threw me at first because the title is followed immediately by discussion of BYU...

Fair enough. Also, that's a good point. I've moved the other schools I'm not considering as much down to the bottom of the post. I guess I just included them in case somebody wants to make a case for either of them. Also, I am definitely planning on living in the SE.

I would do Georgia, I do not have strong confidence in Emory owing not to the slip in rankings this year but how their admissions office has behaved (really late notices response letter to drop in rankings). Additionally most of the rationale for going to Emory evaporates if you have no desire to move to the NE IMHO.

Agreed, Be aware, however, that no matter how attractive a state school may seem, it will severely limit you to that region. Thus, if your plans do change, and you wish to move to another state, your chances of finding employment will surely be slim no matter what economy were in. IMO and the opinion of a partner in a biglaw firm in Houston Texas.

I see Georgia and Wake Forest as peers. Go visit both schools and pick whichever one seems more welcoming, better vibe, etc. Emory is not worth that much extra money.

Emory is definitely worth the extra money. It's not that much more over the long run, and it's worth it to have a degree from a regional-bordering-on-national school versus a state school.

There may be dumber reasons to eliminate a school than because the admissions office didn't kiss your ass enough, but I'm not thinking of any right now.

drummerboy wrote:Agreed, Be aware, however, that no matter how attractive a state school may seem, it will severely limit you to that region. Thus, if your plans do change, and you wish to move to another state, your chances of finding employment will surely be slim no matter what economy were in. IMO and the opinion of a partner in a biglaw firm in Houston Texas.

I'm going to echo this. It is frequently shocking how differently equivalently ranked private schools/public schools are treated (outside of big law). Be aware of that.

Been going through the same dilemma myself this week. I just came back from visiting all three campuses, so pm me if you want to hear about them! It seems everyone there had the same advice: Emory, unless you're positive you want to stay in GA or NC.