Top Law Schools

Hi TLSers-

I need some serious advice. I am choosing among Emory, WM and UNC. Because of scholarships, they all cost the same (even when factoring in COL).

Here's the important info:

1. Did UNC undergrad and am from NC. I want to practice in the Southeast, but no state preference.

2. Stats are 165/3.7

3. I want PI Law- dream job would be working for the ACLU in a Southern state or DC (not likely, I know).

HELP!

happyinpink54 wrote:Hi TLSers-

I need some serious advice. I am choosing among Emory, WM and UNC. Because of scholarships, they all cost the same (even when factoring in COL).

Here's the important info:

1. Did UNC undergrad and am from NC. I want to practice in the Southeast, but no state preference.

2. Stats are 165/3.7

3. I want PI Law- dream job would be working for the ACLU in a Southern state or DC (not likely, I know).

HELP!

SE like Atlanta or SE like North Carolina? If you have a preference for one over the other then you know your answer I believe. Although WM is a good school, it doesn't perform well in the SE.

By SE I mean anywhere from Florida to DC. Because I don't really have a strong geog preference, I guess I should have asked which school will give me the most opportunities... which has the most recognition, etc?

happyinpink54 wrote:By SE I mean anywhere from Florida to DC. Because I don't really have a strong geog preference, I guess I should have asked which school will give me the most opportunities... which has the most recognition, etc?

I'd say the three are pretty much equal. However, if you're not set on NC, I wouldn't go to UNC.

Surprised that all three are equal COA. What's your total debt afterwards?


If I had to pick, I'd say UNC because you're from North Carolina, it gives you an excellent fall back, and UNC is very strong in NC PI. If you aren't top 10-20%, you won't be working prestigious super-jobs anyways, so you might as well be safe with a contingency.

Yeah, the equal COA surprised me too. Emory gave me a HUGE scholarship, and WM gave me a smaller one. UNC gave me nothing, but I'm in-state.

I'm also pretty lucky and looking at less that $10,000 total debt because of family help.

Gail, what you said makes sense... I guess I'm just worried about being stuck in NC versus going to one of the other schools and just being "stuck" in the south.

happyinpink54 wrote: I'm also pretty lucky and looking at less that $10,000 total debt because of family help.

Emory. I change my vote.

Gail wrote:

happyinpink54 wrote: I'm also pretty lucky and looking at less that $10,000 total debt because of family help.

Emory. I change my vote.

+1. Emory for 10k? What a great deal.

Yeah, you can't go wrong with only 10k in debt. I'm happy for you! Sounds like you have a wonderful family and I hope you do well at Emory!

Thanks to everyone who's replied so far! It looks like I may be headed to Emory in the fall.

happyinpink54 wrote:Yeah, the equal COA surprised me too. Emory gave me a HUGE scholarship, and WM gave me a smaller one. UNC gave me nothing, but I'm in-state.

Disclosure: W&M 2L.

I'm also pretty lucky and looking at less that $10,000 total debt because of family help.

Gail, what you said makes sense... I guess I'm just worried about being stuck in NC versus going to one of the other schools and just being "stuck" in the south.

I can read your post one of a few ways:

-You currently have $10k in debt
-No matter where you go to law school, you'll be looking at $10k of post-law school debt
-Depending on the school, you'll be looking at $10k of post-law school debt

If it is the middle one, then I think you should be deciding purely on where you want to work and environment factors. It seems like you're content with anywhere from DC to the South, so the school is basically going to just swing the likelihood you'll end up in a particular belt of that area (e.g. if you go to W&M, you'll be much more likely to end up in VA/DC, UNC in NC, and Emory in the deep-South). I should say that Emory may have a slight edge at BigLaw by virtue of the fact that it doesn't have as much competition in its key markets. W&M has UVA/Georgetown and UNC has Duke. It seems like, for 2010, Emory put about twice the percentage that W&M or UNC did into 500+ firms, while the net amount of graduates employed seems about the same.

That being said, I'd still make it about environmental factors - how do you like the city each is in, are you really sure you want to end up in DC or Atlanta or Raleigh, what does the student body seem like.

EDIT: Whoa, just saw that you're interested in PI, not BigLaw -- seriously consider looking at the clinics at each school and opportunities for internships with PI groups you're interested in. I would do some more research into the three schools to really figure out which can provide you the best opportunity to break into that.