LAST MINUTE DECISION - Michigan $$ vs Georgetown $$ Forum

[CanadianWolf]

OP: Interesting that you are keeping your decision secret after discovering Law School Transparency.com.

[molomloch]

Eh - I'm presumably going to choose Michigan. My goal in life is to be employed and financially secure - and Michigan has a slight, but present edge in that department.

Plus I like the whole honors/pass/fail thing at Michigan, the lack of a part-time program, the fact the LRAP doesn't discriminate against the private sector, etc.

Then again, when I write out my deposit check tomorrow, it might end up going to GULC...who knows!

[adt231]

My reason for posting is that I've been completely unable to find any honest, reliable data proving that job prospects are actually better at Michigan...I'd hate to spend three years in Ann Arbor, under the illusion of doing the right thing for my career, when in reality I would have been just as well off at GULC...

I mean, by what measurement is Michigan not better? My apologies if that sounds kinda harsh, but I think Michigan probably exceeds Georgetown in nearly every metric (save one, which doesn't seem to be relevant to your interests). Please correct me if I'm wrong, but if I recall:

Firm placement: Michigan http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 1&t=150681 http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticleNL ... hbxlogin=1
Geographic mobility: Michigan (There was a compilation somebody here did that showed how much Michigan grads dispersed across the country, but I can't find it now).
West coast placement of class: Michigan (Michigan has averaged 8-10% into California over the past three years, and Georgetown put 8% into the whole west coast)
Clerkships: Michigan http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... p#p4122116
Academia: Michigan http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... a#p4188514
Government: Georgetown

That said, if you really disliked Ann Arbor that much (and it's not just because you like being able to tell people you go to Georgetown Law and watch people's mouths drop open - which, I admit, is cool - Georgetown just sounds badass), then go to Georgetown. It's still a great school.

Edit: Included links since you asked for information.

I keep hearing that GULC is better than many of the T14 for Government positions. What is the evidence that people have for making this inference? It's gotta be more than just GULC's location because that's a pretty bad inference. I would presume that Michigan and other T14 schools would have just as much, if not more, clout when trying to get federal government jobs. Why is my supposition wrong?

[FlightoftheEarls]

My reason for posting is that I've been completely unable to find any honest, reliable data proving that job prospects are actually better at Michigan...I'd hate to spend three years in Ann Arbor, under the illusion of doing the right thing for my career, when in reality I would have been just as well off at GULC...

I mean, by what measurement is Michigan not better? My apologies if that sounds kinda harsh, but I think Michigan probably exceeds Georgetown in nearly every metric (save one, which doesn't seem to be relevant to your interests). Please correct me if I'm wrong, but if I recall:

Firm placement: Michigan http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 1&t=150681 http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticleNL ... hbxlogin=1
Geographic mobility: Michigan (There was a compilation somebody here did that showed how much Michigan grads dispersed across the country, but I can't find it now).
West coast placement of class: Michigan (Michigan has averaged 8-10% into California over the past three years, and Georgetown put 8% into the whole west coast)
Clerkships: Michigan http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... p#p4122116
Academia: Michigan http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... a#p4188514
Government: Georgetown

That said, if you really disliked Ann Arbor that much (and it's not just because you like being able to tell people you go to Georgetown Law and watch people's mouths drop open - which, I admit, is cool - Georgetown just sounds badass), then go to Georgetown. It's still a great school.

Edit: Included links since you asked for information.

I keep hearing that GULC is better than many of the T14 for Government positions. What is the evidence that people have for making this inference? It's gotta be more than just GULC's location because that's a pretty bad inference. I would presume that Michigan and other T14 schools would have just as much, if not more, clout when trying to get federal government jobs. Why is my supposition wrong?

To be honest, I don't think your supposition is wrong. I originally had that in my post since I think tons of people self-select into GULC for government and that boosts their placement percentage. That said, I didn't really discuss that much because (1) it'd be pure conjecture on my part without anything back it up, and I have no doubt that actually being in D.C. may be somewhat helpful for government work (although probably significantly less so for firms), and (2) it didn't really matter to OP, so I left it aside. I think Georgetown is probably a fantastic school for those interested in government work, I just don't know how it stacks up one way or the other compared to other T14s.

Edit: To clarify why I put government, GULC has like 10% more in "PI/Government" than Michigan. How much of the is explained by self-selection, and how much of it is fall-back PI vs. prestigious DOJ jobs, I have absolutely no idea.

[03121202698008]

Eh - I'm presumably going to choose Michigan. My goal in life is to be employed and financially secure - and Michigan has a slight, but present edge in that department.

Plus I like the whole honors/pass/fail thing at Michigan, the lack of a part-time program, the fact the LRAP doesn't discriminate against the private sector, etc.

Then again, when I write out my deposit check tomorrow, it might end up going to GULC...who knows!

We don't have honors/pass/fail at Michigan. Maybe you should do some more research...

[Bildungsroman]

Eh - I'm presumably going to choose Michigan. My goal in life is to be employed and financially secure - and Michigan has a slight, but present edge in that department.

Plus I like the whole honors/pass/fail thing at Michigan, the lack of a part-time program, the fact the LRAP doesn't discriminate against the private sector, etc.

Then again, when I write out my deposit check tomorrow, it might end up going to GULC...who knows!

I, too, share your irrational disdain for being in the same law school as part-timers. DEATH TO THE WORKING STUDENT!

[adt231]

To be honest, I don't think your supposition is wrong. I originally had that in my post since I think tons of people self-select into GULC for government and that boosts their placement percentage. That said, I didn't really discuss that much because (1) it'd be pure conjecture on my part without anything back it up, and I have no doubt that actually being in D.C. may be somewhat helpful for government work (although probably significantly less so for firms), and (2) it didn't really matter to OP, so I left it aside. I think Georgetown is probably a fantastic school for those interested in government work, I just don't know how it stacks up one way or the other compared to other T14s.

Edit: To clarify why I put government, GULC has like 10% more in "PI/Government" than Michigan. How much of the is explained by self-selection, and how much of it is fall-back PI vs. prestigious DOJ jobs, I have absolutely no idea.

Gotcha. Yeah, it is next to impossible to know whether it's due to self-selection or not. And in regards to prestigious DOJ job placement, we'd probably need to some information from the inside. if anyone knows how the DOJ selection process works, this would probably give us a good idea of how Georgetown grads stack up to other top schools (i.e. is there a hierarchy corresponding to the T15, T10, T6, HYS categories; and, if so, how large are the gaps between the respective groups).