Top Law Schools

Decision time is near. My final 2 choices are Vanderbilt and Notre Dame. Slightly more money with Vandy, but cheaper cost of living in South Bend, Indiana. I want to practice in Chicago. ND is closer and may have a stronger network, but I hear the extra prestige of Vandy would carry me further in the long term. Not life or death just looking for advice. Thank You

Extra prestige of Vandy? Compared to ND? Not in the Chicago area, at least. If you want Chicago, my vote (you should make a poll) would be ND.

luckylefty wrote:Decision time is near. My final 2 choices are Vanderbilt and Notre Dame. Slightly more money with Vandy, but cheaper cost of living in South Bend, Indiana. I want to practice in Chicago. ND is closer and may have a stronger network, but I hear the extra prestige of Vandy would carry me further in the long term. Not life or death just looking for advice. Thank You

I dunno how Vandy places in Chicago, but ND for Chicago is still pretty rough from what I hear. Do you have connections in Chicago? Otherwise these propositions maybe difficult.

Great options ! Although Chicago has had a rough year, Notre Dame seems to be the better choice if that is your target market since COA is equal for you at both schools.

P.S. Vanderbilt probably has greater prestige in the South, but Notre Dame is well respected in the Midwest & Northeast.

bernaldiaz wrote:Extra prestige of Vandy? Compared to ND? Not in the Chicago area, at least. If you want Chicago, my vote (you should make a poll) would be ND.

Thank you! I think I will make a poll then

stillwater wrote:

luckylefty wrote:Decision time is near. My final 2 choices are Vanderbilt and Notre Dame. Slightly more money with Vandy, but cheaper cost of living in South Bend, Indiana. I want to practice in Chicago. ND is closer and may have a stronger network, but I hear the extra prestige of Vandy would carry me further in the long term. Not life or death just looking for advice. Thank You

I dunno how Vandy places in Chicago, but ND for Chicago is still pretty rough from what I hear. Do you have connections in Chicago? Otherwise these propositions maybe difficult.

I have begun to network some. I interned at a midsize firm this semester. Chicago has job fairs that I will definitely attend in the summer after my 1L year.

CanadianWolf wrote:Great options ! Although Chicago has had a rough year, Notre Dame seems to be the better choice if that is your target market since COA is equal for you at both schools.

P.S. Vanderbilt probably has greater prestige in the South, but Notre Dame is well respected in the Midwest & Northeast.

Thank you!

I wouldn't go to either of these schools aiming for Chicago biglaw. How much is your total cost of attendance?

Nelson wrote:I wouldn't go to either of these schools aiming for Chicago biglaw. How much is your total cost of attendance?

Why not? and about $68,000

luckylefty wrote:

Nelson wrote:I wouldn't go to either of these schools aiming for Chicago biglaw. How much is your total cost of attendance?

Why not? and about $68,000

Because schools not named Northwestern and UChicago have done a miserable job of placing their students into Chicago in the last couple of years. That COA isn't bad so you're in good shape, as long as you're OK with a secondary market or NYC as a backup if you can't crack Chicago.

OP, you're from Chicago, right? With the fact that you are from there and have already had experience in a firm there, I really think you'll be fine at either school. With your networking skills and competitive grades, you can get a job in Chicago. I'm not you, but the factors that I see weighing most heavily are how close you want to be to home during these next 3 years, what kind of climate you'd like, and where all the cool people are. You a man of faith? South Bend got the kind of churches you looking for? Women? What about Nashville? I'm jus sayin bro.

Nelson wrote:

luckylefty wrote:

Nelson wrote:I wouldn't go to either of these schools aiming for Chicago biglaw. How much is your total cost of attendance?

Why not? and about $68,000

Because schools not named Northwestern and UChicago have done a miserable job of placing their students into Chicago in the last couple of years. That COA isn't bad so you're in good shape, as long as you're OK with a secondary market or NYC as a backup if you can't crack Chicago.

Nelson wrote:

luckylefty wrote:

Nelson wrote:I wouldn't go to either of these schools aiming for Chicago biglaw. How much is your total cost of attendance?

Why not? and about $68,000

Because schools not named Northwestern and UChicago have done a miserable job of placing their students into Chicago in the last couple of years. That COA isn't bad so you're in good shape, as long as you're OK with a secondary market or NYC as a backup if you can't crack Chicago.

Thanks. I'm from Chicago so I only wanted to practice back home but I guess it would be good to have a backup

bernaldiaz wrote:Extra prestige of Vandy? Compared to ND? Not in the Chicago area, at least. If you want Chicago, my vote (you should make a poll) would be ND.

Nah, Vandy still has more prestige than ND in Chicago. It's just less substantial than other parts of the country. This is actually a legitimately close call, OP. I'd do Vandy since it has stronger placement and is cheaper. But ND is easily justifiable if that's where you're leaning. These are decent options for Chicago, though both are fairly risky.

If it's same COA, go to Vandy. When you bid, select places where you can actually get a job (NYC, etc) and then also bid heavily into Chicago. That way you hedge your bets as a good job > bad job > no job. And Vandy increase the good job part, even if it is not your ideal location. You have 40 years of working life to move back to Chicago after you get a good job.

If you're willing to put in the work networking with the zealous ND alums in Chicago, then I would go ND. Even without that I still might choose ND, but its a closer call.