UF vs. Miami ($$$$) Forum

[rcrdriv]

I know the collective position is UF over anything else in FL but would a full ride from Miami be worth dipping down into the TT? It's a full ride with a 3.2 stip, which works out to be top 1/3 of the class.

I am having a tough time with this decision mainly because of the location of the schools and where I ultimately want to practice in the state. Gainesville is a terrible town and Miami has so much more to offer. I eventually want to practice in SOFL, this combined with full ride has me somewhat justifying Miami's weak job prospects.

I'n a FL resident and I don't plan on leaving the state anytime soon

[bk1]

2/3 chance of losing your scholarship means the most likely scenario is that you will be paying sticker your 2L/3L years at Miami.

[romothesavior]

I know the collective position is UF over anything else in FL but would a full ride from Miami be worth dipping down into the TT? It's a full ride with a 3.2 stip, which works out to be top 1/3 of the class.

I am having a tough time with this decision mainly because of the location of the schools and where I ultimately want to practice in the state. Gainesville is a terrible town and Miami has so much more to offer. I eventually want to practice in SOFL, this combined with full ride has me somewhat justifying Miami's weak job prospects.

I'n a FL resident and I don't plan on leaving the state anytime soon

If you can get rid of the stips, then Miami is fine. Otherwise retake for a Florida scholarship. Top 1/3 stip is brutal.

Or you could go to Miami and drop out after a year if it doesn't work out, but that's a year of your life wasted.

[Grizz]

UF bro. Top third stip is horrible.

[dolfan0516]

Gainesville is a terrible town and Miami has so much more to offer. I eventually want to practice in SOFL, this combined with full ride has me somewhat justifying Miami's weak job prospects.

Gainesville is a horrible town? Ever visit? Before you bring in your preconceived notions, visit. UF law is completely full of dade and broward students. Plus, the alumni base of UF in south florida is incredible and is might even better than UM's

[rcrdriv]

Gainesville is a terrible town and Miami has so much more to offer. I eventually want to practice in SOFL, this combined with full ride has me somewhat justifying Miami's weak job prospects.

Gainesville is a horrible town? Ever visit? Before you bring in your preconceived notions, visit. UF law is completely full of dade and broward students. Plus, the alumni base of UF in south florida is incredible and is might even better than UM's

I've been to both. Gville isn't terrible, I'm just more into the SOFL seen. But location really shouldn't play into my decision on account of: It's for school, not the women and weather lol.

[taxguy]

This is a tough choice despite all the folks recommending Florida. If you want to work in the South Florida market, Miami is VERY well known. It also has a very good JD program.

However, I do agree that given the top 1/3 stipulation, I would take Florida. I have seen countless people get academic scholarships and not meet the scholarship criteria for maintaining the scholarship. Trust me on this, Many students who had a superlative LSAT that was higher than most people at their law school found that this did NOT necessarily translate into having a much higher GPA.

My son had the lowest LSAT in his law school. In fact, he wasn't admitted initially. He had to go through an alternative admission process by taking actual law school classes in the summer in which he did well enough to get admitted. He just finished in the top 13% of his law school class after first semester.

I asked him about kids that lost their scholarship. He personally knew four kids that had partial or total scholarships of which two didn't do well enough in the first semester to equal what was required to keep the scholarship. I know this isn't necessarily statistically valid,but it does paint of picture of what you would be up against if you go to Miami.

[Aberzombie1892]

OP, how much total debt would you have if you went to UF, and how much debt would you have you went to Miami but lost your scholarship after year 1?

Post those numbers, and then posters can make more informed replies to your question.

If Miami is only marginally more expensive overall than UF, and you know you want to practice is the greater Miami area, Miami would be the better option. If Miami is dramatically more expensive than UF, then UF would be the better option.

[dolfan0516]

OP, how much total debt would you have if you went to UF, and how much debt would you have you went to Miami but lost your scholarship after year 1?

Post those numbers, and then posters can make more informed replies to your question.

If Miami is only marginally more expensive overall than UF, and you know you want to practice is the greater Miami area, Miami would be the better option. If Miami is dramatically more expensive than UF, then UF would be the better option.

UF instate is ~19k a year. UM is 40k a year and they have almost only been offering 25k/year scholarships with the 3.2 stipulation.

So even with UM's scholarship, UF is only 5k more a year. Lose that scholarship and its 21k/year cheaper.

[rcrdriv]

OP, how much total debt would you have if you went to UF, and how much debt would you have you went to Miami but lost your scholarship after year 1?

Post those numbers, and then posters can make more informed replies to your question.

If Miami is only marginally more expensive overall than UF, and you know you want to practice is the greater Miami area, Miami would be the better option. If Miami is dramatically more expensive than UF, then UF would be the better option.

Miami w/ scholly loss = 80k plus COL
UF = 60k plus COL

I don't know why I have such an aversion to Gville. I lived in Tallahassee for a year and that was rural enough for me and having visited UF, I know it is similar. I just need to bite the bullet and go to the undeniably better school (UF).

So if it is possible to convince Miami to give me a scholly with no stip, Miami has a chance against UF since I'll have minimal debt. Long shot, so I guess it's UF.

[checkster]

I think convincing UM to remove the stip is beyond a long-shot. Personally, I'd say take the in-state at UF and don't spend every night with nightmares of writing checks for 40k.

[tuckerp]

Go to UF and if you really like SOFL then you can always spend your 3L year as a visiting student at Miami, FIU, Nova, Ave Marie, etc... as a visiting student you will just take ever class pass fail and it will transfer back to UF so you will still graduate from UF... the benefit is that you get to spend your 3L year in the city that you want to practice... hopefully you will be able to clerk at a firm that will hire you once you pass the bar... you'll be the only UF law clerk in Miami during the Fall and Spring... that should allow you to stand out and land something that you like... good luck.

Note: I'd take Miami full ride over UF if it were w/o stips... but I wouldn't risk it w/ stips... not even if it were top 50% stip... law schools grades are just too unpredictable

[Aberzombie1892]

While $20K is a lot of money, would you rather be unemployed in Gainesville or unemployed in Miami?

$80k Miami vs. $60k Florida for south Florida is a little harder decision that some people may realize. One of the biggest issues is that if you went to Miami, you: could intern/clerk during the academic year, wouldn't have to move to clerk during the summer, and possibly wouldn't have to move after graduation (assuming you wanted to stay in Miami). Florida, while being the more affordable option, doesn't really have these luxuries - especially since the lack of options in Gainesville means that even any poor academic year/summer options there would be hyper competitive. Is Miami's benefit here worth the (possibly and likely) additional $20K? Only you can tell.

If you want Miami, I vote Miami for likely $20K more.

Also, while Florida law may be "better" than Miami law, it's really not -that- much better (re: if Miami is weak, then Florida is "weak" as well). Both schools place students at about the same rate into firms (See law school transparency's data clearinghouse), and so you must weigh Florida's cheaper price vs. the location-based advantages of Miami.

[Its Always Sunny]

While $20K is a lot of money, would you rather be unemployed in Gainesville or unemployed in Miami?

$80k Miami vs. $60k Florida for south Florida is a little harder decision that some people may realize. One of the biggest issues is that if you went to Miami, you: could intern/clerk during the academic year, wouldn't have to move to clerk during the summer, and possibly wouldn't have to move after graduation (assuming you wanted to stay in Miami). Florida, while being the more affordable option, doesn't really have these luxuries - especially since the lack of options in Gainesville means that even any poor academic year/summer options there would be hyper competitive. Is Miami's benefit here worth the (possibly and likely) additional $20K? Only you can tell.

If you want Miami, I vote Miami for likely $20K more.

Also, while Florida law may be "better" than Miami law, it's really not -that- much better (re: if Miami is weak, then Florida is "weak" as well). Both schools place students at about the same rate into firms (See law school transparency's data clearinghouse), and so you must weigh Florida's cheaper price vs. the location-based advantages of Miami.

--LinkRemoved--
Sorry on my phone but does Miami post detailed stats like these? I've only seen the 99% employed with only 30% reporting.

[rcrdriv]

While $20K is a lot of money, would you rather be unemployed in Gainesville or unemployed in Miami?

$80k Miami vs. $60k Florida for south Florida is a little harder decision that some people may realize. One of the biggest issues is that if you went to Miami, you: could intern/clerk during the academic year, wouldn't have to move to clerk during the summer, and possibly wouldn't have to move after graduation (assuming you wanted to stay in Miami). Florida, while being the more affordable option, doesn't really have these luxuries - especially since the lack of options in Gainesville means that even any poor academic year/summer options there would be hyper competitive. Is Miami's benefit here worth the (possibly and likely) additional $20K? Only you can tell.

If you want Miami, I vote Miami for likely $20K more.

Also, while Florida law may be "better" than Miami law, it's really not -that- much better (re: if Miami is weak, then Florida is "weak" as well). Both schools place students at about the same rate into firms (See law school transparency's data clearinghouse), and so you must weigh Florida's cheaper price vs. the location-based advantages of Miami.

--LinkRemoved--
Sorry on my phone but does Miami post detailed stats like these? I've only seen the 99% employed with only 30% reporting.

UF's are more detailed. Miami has this up for class of '10.

--LinkRemoved--

[Bill Cosby]

This is a tough choice despite all the folks recommending Florida. If you want to work in the South Florida market, Miami is VERY well known. It also has a very good JD program.

However, I do agree that given the top 1/3 stipulation, I would take Florida. I have seen countless people get academic scholarships and not meet the scholarship criteria for maintaining the scholarship. Trust me on this, Many students who had a superlative LSAT that was higher than most people at their law school found that this did NOT necessarily translate into having a much higher GPA.

My son had the lowest LSAT in his law school. In fact, he wasn't admitted initially. He had to go through an alternative admission process by taking actual law school classes in the summer in which he did well enough to get admitted. He just finished in the top 13% of his law school class after first semester.

I asked him about kids that lost their scholarship. He personally knew four kids that had partial or total scholarships of which two didn't do well enough in the first semester to equal what was required to keep the scholarship. I know this isn't necessarily statistically valid,but it does paint of picture of what you would be up against if you go to Miami.

Glad to know taxguy is still trolling hard.

[CanadianWolf]

In-state tuition at the University of Florida is reasonable. One year of tuition at Miami is about 2.5 years' tuition at UF.

[Aberzombie1892]

http://www.law.ufl.edu/career/pdf/UF-NA ... Report.pdf
Sorry on my phone but does Miami post detailed stats like these? I've only seen the 99% employed with only 30% reporting.

Don't fixate on comparing law school reported employment prospect graphs as each law school seems to report that data a little differently, and, as a result, you would be comparing apples to oranges. Because of that, you should really look at lawschooltransparency.com's data clearinghouse so that you can compare employment data between the two schools in the same format and same class year.

[rcrdriv]

Thanks for all the input guys. After this poll and talking to a few friends who are current students at UF and Miami, I'm really leaning towards UF. Miami just doesn't make sense for multiple reasons.

Miami does have some intangibles, but overall UF can't be beat.

[Its Always Sunny]

http://www.law.ufl.edu/career/pdf/UF-NA ... Report.pdf
Sorry on my phone but does Miami post detailed stats like these? I've only seen the 99% employed with only 30% reporting.

Don't fixate on comparing law school reported employment prospect graphs as each law school seems to report that data a little differently, and, as a result, you would be comparing apples to oranges. Because of that, you should really look at lawschooltransparency.com's data clearinghouse so that you can compare employment data between the two schools in the same format and same class year.

I believe lawschool transparency is just a summary of the more detailed data from schools. Law school transparency does not differentiate between full time or part time, whether the job requires a jurus doctorate, or JD preffered . Also it does not take that 40 people "employed" at Miami were short term by the school or etc. The UF link is a NALP report and I believe this is the document that LST requested last year from all law schools. Yes, Miami and UF have different data information released, because UF released the report and I couldn't find Miami. Comparing data that only shows the percent of class reporting and no further details is practically useless.

[Aberzombie1892]

http://www.law.ufl.edu/career/pdf/UF-NA ... Report.pdf
Sorry on my phone but does Miami post detailed stats like these? I've only seen the 99% employed with only 30% reporting.

Don't fixate on comparing law school reported employment prospect graphs as each law school seems to report that data a little differently, and, as a result, you would be comparing apples to oranges. Because of that, you should really look at lawschooltransparency.com's data clearinghouse so that you can compare employment data between the two schools in the same format and same class year.

I believe lawschool transparency is just a summary of the more detailed data from schools. Law school transparency does not differentiate between full time or part time, whether the job requires a jurus doctorate, or JD preffered . Also it does not take that 40 people "employed" at Miami were short term by the school or etc. The UF link is a NALP report and I believe this is the document that LST requested last year from all law schools. Yes, Miami and UF have different data information released, because UF released the report and I couldn't find Miami. Comparing data that only shows the percent of class reporting and no further details is practically useless.

The only usefulness of LST is comparing schools in terms of what percentage of each class is covered by the salary information provided by the school. In this case, there is about 10% more of Florida's class has reported their salary, and the private sector salaries between the schools are almost the same.

Don't fixate too much on the '40' number at Miami, as it has a much larger class size than Florida (500 vs. 300). This larger class size means that while a large number of students will be screwed there than at Florida, the probability of failure between the two schools is likely about the same.