Top Law Schools

1

dreamflower wrote: Is the fact that UNC is a better school worth taking out so much more in loans?

No.

dreamflower wrote: the fact that I want to leave NC

Then your decision is quite easy. Enjoy the full ride.

Why do you want to live in Connecticut?

The full tuition & fees scholarship needs further clarification beyond a stipulation of a 3.0 GPA requirement. What is the curve at UConn ? Does the 3.0 GPA stipulation equate to top half ? Top third ? Etc.

CanadianWolf wrote:The full tuition & fees scholarship needs further clarification beyond a stipulation of a 3.0 GPA requirement. What is the curve at UConn ? Does the 3.0 GPA stipulation equate to top half ? Top third ? Etc.

Top

rad lulz wrote:Why do you want to live in Connecticut?

I want to leave NC and go to either the northeast or pacific northwest. There is no real reason, just preference.

Go to UConn, I guess, just know you're starting behind the 8ball when compared to all the other people who are from the actual state in terms of networking. You lack inherent believe-ability in re why you want to be in the Northeast. Employers won't like that.

dreamflower wrote:

rad lulz wrote:Why do you want to live in Connecticut?

I want to leave NC and go to either the northeast or pacific northwest. There is no real reason, just preference.

Not very smart, IMO. Connecticut isn't a big market and you'll be competing with people from that area. I guess it is okay if it is dirt cheap, but retake/reapply is TCR.

FWIW, I turned down UConn's full ride offer because I was scared shitless about ties. My SO has lived there her whole life, and I could still picture them being rather skeptical about why a Jersey kid wanted to permanently live there. Can't imagine how'd they feel about a kid from NC who just moved there on a whim.

The stip is top 70%. I am from CT and considering the full ride and I'd have to agree with the concerns of others. CT isn't exactly a huge legal market and you are going to really out network people that have lived in CT their whole life and not only have ties but have a lot of connections in the area.

However I agree with those above that say that UNC at that price is not a better option.

wolverine10 wrote:The stip is top 70%. I am from CT and considering the full ride and I'd have to agree with the concerns of others. CT isn't exactly a huge legal market and you are going to really out network people that have lived in CT their whole life and not only have ties but have a lot of connections in the area.

However I agree with those above that say that UNC at that price is not a better option.

I echo this. I work at a larger firm in CT and trust me when I say that they tend to be verrrrrrry insular in who they hire. For instance, I have two friends that tried landing a summer position here. One I grew up with in CT went to UVA and the Firm wasn't even interested, the other friend was from PA and went to UConn Law but didn't get picked over better-situated (read: better-connected) candidates. The legal market in CT is small and there are virtually no biglaw firms in the state. There is a fair amount of in-house legal counsel jobs, but mostly at insurance companies and let me tell you from personal experience that those are far from the best jobs in the world. Then again, if you come here with a full-ride and kill it, you can do pretty well as long as you can network well, too. At a certain threshold, I believe your resume and grades will speak for themselves but that is definitely a big gamble (think top 20% of the class at least). Personally I think you'd easily have a better chance at UNC for a more lucrative career, have you tried to negotiate more money from them using the UConn full-ride as leverage? If not, definitely do so. If you can't get any more money, then think about retaking and reapplying next cycle.

Full disclosure: I am on the waitlist at UConn Law, but I promise that fact isn't affecting my response here.

iceicebaby wrote:

wolverine10 wrote:The stip is top 70%. I am from CT and considering the full ride and I'd have to agree with the concerns of others. CT isn't exactly a huge legal market and you are going to really out network people that have lived in CT their whole life and not only have ties but have a lot of connections in the area.

However I agree with those above that say that UNC at that price is not a better option.

I echo this. I work at a larger firm in CT and trust me when I say that they tend to be verrrrrrry insular in who they hire. For instance, I have two friends that tried landing a summer position here. One I grew up with in CT went to UVA and the Firm wasn't even interested, the other friend was from PA and went to UConn Law but didn't get picked over better-situated (read: better-connected) candidates. The legal market in CT is small and there are virtually no biglaw firms in the state. There is a fair amount of in-house legal counsel jobs, but mostly at insurance companies and let me tell you from personal experience that those are far from the best jobs in the world. Then again, if you come here with a full-ride and kill it, you can do pretty well as long as you can network well, too. At a certain threshold, I believe your resume and grades will speak for themselves but that is definitely a big gamble (think top 20% of the class at least). Personally I think you'd easily have a better chance at UNC for a more lucrative career, have you tried to negotiate more money from them using the UConn full-ride as leverage? If not, definitely do so. If you can't get any more money, then think about retaking and reapplying next cycle.

Full disclosure: I am on the waitlist at UConn Law, but I promise that fact isn't affecting my response here.

I would imagine that the CT kid going to UVA and not getting a job was probably more of the exception than the rule, but in general this is good advice.

bobbyh1919 wrote:

iceicebaby wrote:

wolverine10 wrote:The stip is top 70%. I am from CT and considering the full ride and I'd have to agree with the concerns of others. CT isn't exactly a huge legal market and you are going to really out network people that have lived in CT their whole life and not only have ties but have a lot of connections in the area.

However I agree with those above that say that UNC at that price is not a better option.

I echo this. I work at a larger firm in CT and trust me when I say that they tend to be verrrrrrry insular in who they hire. For instance, I have two friends that tried landing a summer position here. One I grew up with in CT went to UVA and the Firm wasn't even interested, the other friend was from PA and went to UConn Law but didn't get picked over better-situated (read: better-connected) candidates. The legal market in CT is small and there are virtually no biglaw firms in the state. There is a fair amount of in-house legal counsel jobs, but mostly at insurance companies and let me tell you from personal experience that those are far from the best jobs in the world. Then again, if you come here with a full-ride and kill it, you can do pretty well as long as you can network well, too. At a certain threshold, I believe your resume and grades will speak for themselves but that is definitely a big gamble (think top 20% of the class at least). Personally I think you'd easily have a better chance at UNC for a more lucrative career, have you tried to negotiate more money from them using the UConn full-ride as leverage? If not, definitely do so. If you can't get any more money, then think about retaking and reapplying next cycle.

Full disclosure: I am on the waitlist at UConn Law, but I promise that fact isn't affecting my response here.

I would imagine that the CT kid going to UVA and not getting a job was probably more of the exception than the rule, but in general this is good advice.

You're probably right, I think it's due to the fact that my firm looks for people that receive their legal education from schools in the Northeast (mostly UConn and BC from what I can gather). It's all good, though, he ended up with a better gig in NYC biglaw anyway.

bobbyh1919 wrote:FWIW, I turned down UConn's full ride offer because I was scared shitless about ties. My SO has lived there her whole life, and I could still picture them being rather skeptical about why a Jersey kid wanted to permanently live there. Can't imagine how'd they feel about a kid from NC who just moved there on a whim.

I find it hard to believe NJ to Connecticut would be that suspicious. NC to Connecticut could be hard.