Top Law Schools

I need some communal input on decided between the University of Houston Law Center and Tulane. I have a 15k/year at Tulane, and UofH admitted me at sticker, so tuition will be about the same price either way. While Tulane is T1 and UofH is not, job prospects seem slightly better at UofH due to it being grounded in a local market. Tulane has a slightly better brand name recognition nation-wide, but I couldn't see it beating out a lot of less prestigious local market schools (including LSU for Louisiana) in an unfriendly job-seeking environment.

I think the idea of moving to New Orleans and attending Tulane would be great. However, my family is in Houston, and after fighting for jobs for years, I am not excited about the idea of graduating from Tulane only to be at a significant employment disadvantage when competing with local graduates wherever I decide to practice law.

I'm not sure who on TLS would be interested in providing input, but any would be awesome! Will provide candy on request.

Its basically a trade off between being in Houston, where you may wish to stay and work, and lower debt. Up to you. People here would tilt toward Tulane, I think, since if you can reduce you loans by 50K, then thats definitely worth something.

I actually had almost the exact same dilemma: out-of-state sticker at U of H vs. Tulane w/10k per year. I chose Tulane for a couple of reasons. If I were to miraculously make the necessary grades, Tulane does have a national rep to place me in the big markets, except for Chicago. However If I were not to make those sexy grades, I have family ties to LA and I wouldn't have a problem staying in NO indefinitely. NO is also one of the better cities IMHO to be poor in if that is the way things happen to go. As far as LSU or Loyola beating out Tulane grads for jobs, from my research, I see Tulane represented far more at the bigger NO firms, while Loyola and LSU seem to do better on average in mid-small firms. However, there are definitely non-biglaw NO firms that have demonstrated loyalty to Tulane grads for years.

Bottom line: If you want to end up in Houston after graduation, I'd go there. If you are unsure of where you want to practice and think that a Tulane degree has relevant national durability, I'd still go with Houston because the national rep applies primarily to the folks on law review and there is no guarantee you or I will be among those lucky few.

also another thing to consider is U of H doesn't due scholarships until mid march.

Thanks for the replies, all! I appreciate it.

Tulane has a fairly big alumni base in Houston FWIW