Top Law Schools

I am currently in at both. Is it crazy to pick Vanderbilt over Georgetown?

Info: want to end up back in Texas, splitter so will most likely not get very much money from either.

Not only is it not stupid to pick Vanderbilt, but its probably the better choice if you want to go back to Texas. Don't let the rankings push all logic to the wayside.

depends on what you want to do and scholarship money etc. If you have any inkling that you might want to do Public Interest Gtown wins hands down (because of lrap). If all you're looking for is private practice then I'd say probably Vandy a lot of that would be because of the small class size. Are you still waiting on TX? because that would probably be the best choice for you

FlanAl wrote:depends on what you want to do and scholarship money etc. If you have any inkling that you might want to do Public Interest Gtown wins hands down (because of lrap). If all you're looking for is private practice then I'd say probably Vandy a lot of that would be because of the small class size. Are you still waiting on TX? because that would probably be the best choice for you

I am, but my gpa is below their floor so texas is 99.99% out.

Gtown's overrated. Vandy's a great school, should be cheaper and it'll give you options for your desired market. Considering you wanna be in TX Vandy makes so much more sense.

Any money at either?

.

Quality of Life and Cost of Living for Vanderbilt versus Georgetown alone probably already make up for any actual difference in terms of rankings (which is doubtful in the first place, esp for the South/Texas).

tis sure love the vandy. OP I made this decision last year so feel free to pm (ended up going somewhere else in the end but these were my only two viable options for a while).

As far as quality of life I think each school has a fair amount going for it, lots of people like DC (I prefer Nashville but I don't think its fair to say that vandy automatically has a better quality of life)

SilverE2 wrote:Any money at either?

Nope, and I am a splitter so it's unlikely that any will be coming.

I would choose Vandy, but then again I'm from Nashville and would be happy to end up back there for my career, so Vandy is very logical for me. If only they would accept me...

Anyways, definitely Vandy if you're sure about going back to Texas. If you want NYC or DC, Gtown. If you want Midwest or the South, Vandy. I think Vandy is a little better for clerkships as well.

Wait for money, srsly.

I will say that Texas has become one of our larger markets lately though.

One distinguishing factor, among many, is that Vanderbilt is a much smaller law school (about 600 law students) than Georgetown (about 2,000 law students including both full-time & part-time enrollment).

Another distinguishing factor is that Vanderbilt offers an university campus environment whereas Georgetown Law Center is a separate law only "campus".

Assuming full pay at each, your choice should be easy based on the different environments, in my opinion.

P.S. Have you applied to SMU ? SMU offers close to true "full rides" (tuition, fees & housing allowance stipend) to residents of certain states & is very well respected in the Dallas area. If you're certain that Texas is your target market, then SMU should be on your list, in my opinion, especially since UTexas is out.

CoL in DC will be atrocious, GULC is over-saturated and doesn't place in TX anything like Vanderbilt.

Dude, you guys are all giving terrible advice. I've been out of school for a while, but here's how I'd look at it. Vandy is more of a "regional" school than Georgetown. It may or may not make up for that to some degree in Texas placements, but you'll never go wrong with the "prestigious" school, assuming you're fine with the debt and/or thinking about firms afterward.

At Vandy, you'd probably have to place in top 10% to get a good firm job; at Georgetown, it's probably more like top third. Or at least that's my perspective from the employer side.

As an aside, I wouldn't completely choose your school based on your expected geographic location at this point in your life. Who knows what will happen later in life? Maybe you meet the person of your dreams and s/he refuses to go to Texas. Maybe you get a great opportunity. Or maybe you just change your cultural preferences and outlook over the course of law school and a clerkship. I had a similar decision when I was in law school, and I went with the better reputation school. I can honestly say it's opened tons of doors for me through my career.

I think it's pretty clear that Georgetown gives you more options, and that its perceived reputational superiority over Vandy is far greater than the small rankings difference. One way to check this for yourself though is to call up any friends or friends of friends you have in Texas firms.

Boourns76 wrote: At Vandy, you'd probably have to place in top 10% to get a good firm job; at Georgetown, it's probably more like top third. Or at least that's my perspective from the employer side.

What is a "good firm job?" Top 10% of our Vanderbilt's class this year is going to V10 firms plus some big names in DC (the people I can recall anyway that I can guess would be in the top 10%). Even for c/o 2010, 40% of grads got NLJ250 or AIII clerkships.

I think it's pretty clear that Georgetown gives you more options, and that its perceived reputational superiority over Vandy is far greater than the small rankings difference. One way to check this for yourself though is to call up any friends or friends of friends you have in Texas firms.

I'd call up TX people for sure. But I'd wager that Vanderbilt has more Texas firms at OCI. It's one of our more popular markets now.

Boourns76 wrote:Dude, you guys are all giving terrible advice...

Whenever someone starts a post this way I know for a fact that quality advice follows.

Boourns76 wrote:Dude, you guys are all giving terrible advice. I've been out of school for a while, but here's how I'd look at it. Vandy is more of a "regional" school than Georgetown. It may or may not make up for that to some degree in Texas placements, but you'll never go wrong with the "prestigious" school, assuming you're fine with the debt and/or thinking about firms afterward.

At Vandy, you'd probably have to place in top 10% to get a good firm job; at Georgetown, it's probably more like top third. Or at least that's my perspective from the employer side.

As an aside, I wouldn't completely choose your school based on your expected geographic location at this point in your life. Who knows what will happen later in life? Maybe you meet the person of your dreams and s/he refuses to go to Texas. Maybe you get a great opportunity. Or maybe you just change your cultural preferences and outlook over the course of law school and a clerkship. I had a similar decision when I was in law school, and I went with the better reputation school. I can honestly say it's opened tons of doors for me through my career.

I think it's pretty clear that Georgetown gives you more options, and that its perceived reputational superiority over Vandy is far greater than the small rankings difference. One way to check this for yourself though is to call up any friends or friends of friends you have in Texas firms.

Terrible poast.

Vandy is a great school, go there unless GULG offers you enough cash to offset it.

I would probably choose Vandy due to the COL difference alone if I had no geographical preference.

Boourns76 wrote:At Vandy, you'd probably have to place in top 10% to get a good firm job; at Georgetown, it's probably more like top third. Or at least that's my perspective from the employer side.

LOL

Boourns76 wrote:I had a similar decision when I was in law school, and I went with the better reputation school. I can honestly say it's opened tons of doors for me through my career.

Good for you. But there are also a lot of people out there who chose a lesser-ranked school (than some of their other options) and are just as happy with their choice--including me.

YourCaptain wrote:
Terrible poast.

Vandy is a great school, go there unless GULG offers you enough cash to offset it.

Whatever. It's "post" by the way.

I'm not trying to talk smack about Vanderbilt. It's a very fine school. But having worked at a few top firms on the East and West Coast, I am pretty comfortable saying that we did not view Vanderbilt as being in the same class of school as Georgetown (my general view, and I am not a Gtown grad and do not have a Gtown connection, although I did practice for a few years in DC, is that some schools (like Georgetown) play higher than their US News rank, and some play lower (I could mention others, but maybe I'll stop offending people for no particular reason)). Gtown is seen as a national school, whereas Vandy is a regional school. Pure and simple. So if you want to practice in the South, then I think Vanderbilt is a great choice, but as I said, I think you may be surprised at the turns your life takes. I know plenty of folks who thought they'd end up in a certain geographic area, who did not end up doing so. Your life plan at 25 is much different than your life plan at 30/35/etc.

And of course, to restate the obvious, if you do really well at either school, it won't matter, as your options will be wide open. We're not talk about TTT schools here. Congratulations on your options.

Boourns76 wrote:

YourCaptain wrote:
Terrible poast.

Vandy is a great school, go there unless GULG offers you enough cash to offset it.

Whatever. It's "post" by the way.

Boourns76 wrote:Whatever. It's "post" by the way.

lolol

Boourns76 wrote:Gtown is seen as a national school, whereas Vandy is a regional school. Pure and simple.

Scads of grads don't practice in the South any more. Outside Nashville, the biggest markets are NYC, California, Atlanta, Texas.

And in this economy, "national vs. regional" isn't really a good distinction. Both schools are national in the sense that they can get you that first job in wherever you have ties to. But from both schools you're gonna have a hell of a time getting jobs in places you don't have ties. Back in 2007, what you're saying made more sense, but this 2011 recruiting season bears little resemblance to pre-crash hiring.

Boourns76 wrote:And of course, to restate the obvious, if you do really well at either school, it won't matter, as your options will be wide open. We're not talk about TTT schools here. Congratulations on your options.

Right. Where you went off the reservation was your pronouncement that doing "really well" means top 10% at Vandy but top third at GULC.

And, of course, this is credited as well (at least outside of NYC):

Grizz wrote:And in this economy, "national vs. regional" isn't really a good distinction. Both schools are national in the sense that they can get you that first job in wherever you have ties to. But from both schools you're gonna have a hell of a time getting jobs in places you don't have ties.