Berkeley vs UVa vs Michigan vs Penn Forum

[cebuboy]

which program is the most respected in Florida and / or Texas?

where would you attend (scholarship from all schools)?

[emkay625]

Is Texas with a full ride possible?

if not, I would go to the school where my cost of attendance is the lowest. I don't think one gives you a particular advantage over another.

[Real Madrid]

which program is the most respected in Florida and / or Texas?

where would you attend (scholarship from all schools)?

The answer to (A) would actually be the last of the 4 that I'd attend, unless I wanted to have nearly a 20% chance of working in a school-funded position.

[keg411]

which program is the most respected in Florida and / or Texas?

where would you attend (scholarship from all schools)?

Whichever one is the cheapest. Peer schools are peer.

[Aberzombie1892]

Are you from, or have ties to, Florida or Texas? If not, you probably aren't getting those states from any of those schools. If you do have said ties, you still shouldn't write off NYC from any of the schools or CA from Berkeley.

Now you need to dive into the differences of each school, as no 2 T14s are completely interchangeable (outside maybe HS).

If you are okay with NYC if you don't get Florida or Texas, I would lean towards Penn as it is the biggest NYC feeder out of the group (and would give you the highest probability of NLJ firm out of the bunch).

If you are okay with CA if you don't get Florida or Texas, I would lean towards Berkeley as it is the biggest CA feeder out of the group. That's not to say Berkeley isn't good for NYC; the school just isn't a feeder the same way Penn is.

I would probably shy away from Michigan and UVA due to their lack of a home market. If you are targeting somewhere outside of NYC, MI, VA, CA that you have ties to (such as maybe Florida and Texas for you), why not have the back up market that Berkeley and Penn provide? It's almost as if you are functionally giving up something (home market) if you choose UVA and Michigan (that's not to say that they aren't first class schools; it just makes a difference).

Also, UVA and Michigan seem to hire a lot of their graduates.

[PennBull]

As usual, this question is completely unanswerable without more details about OP.

[Doorkeeper]

What are the scholarship amounts?

What do you want to do in Texas or Florida?

Do you already have ties to these locations?

[CanadianWolf]

Wait until you have actual law school acceptances since it is highly unlikely that one would be accepted to all 4 of these law schools without also being accepted to Harvard or to Texas with a scholarship.

[BruceWayne]

The thing about Michigan and UVA not having home markets is garbage. It's just that you need to be FROM their home markets (or have really high grades) to enjoy their placement advantage in them. But that applies to Berkeley as well so I'm not sure why that wasn't mentioned. Attending UVA for a person from the South is the best choice they can make ITE barring HYS. If you want to work in Florida or Texas but aren't from there then none of these schools are good options. However, if you attend one of them and get good grades UVA would be the best one for Florida--they're probably all even for Texas.

[NJPitcher]

Wait until you have actual law school acceptances since it is highly unlikely that one would be accepted to all 4 of these law schools without also being accepted to Harvard or to Texas with a scholarship.

Uh, what.

[rickgrimes69]

Wait until you have actual law school acceptances since it is highly unlikely that one would be accepted to all 4 of these law schools without also being accepted to Harvard or to Texas with a scholarship.

Uh, what.

Law school is really more about quantity than quality. I'd call up HLS and tell them you got into four different law schools and surely that must be equal to their one law school.

[cebuboy]

I'm from Chicago, but my fiance is from Florida. We've decided to settle down either in Florida, if not in (Houston) Texas. I want to move out of Chicago. This isn't the city for me. And, I can't stand the cold!!!


I'm sorry; but I misspelled it. I mean, I didn't get any scholarship from all the four given law schools, which means, I have to pay for my own, which is fine with me (parents will pay, anyway).

I'm really, really leaning towards Berkeley because of the name, but Penn is an Ivy, but I don't think I'm going to like Penn as much as I would Berkeley. I also got an offer from Duke and Chicago. But I'm not considering any of them. I didn't make it to Stanford and wait-listed at Yale (would have gone for the name, if I've gotten an offer).

[rayiner]

The thing about Michigan and UVA not having home markets is garbage. It's just that you need to be FROM their home markets (or have really high grades) to enjoy their placement advantage in them. But that applies to Berkeley as well so I'm not sure why that wasn't mentioned. Attending UVA for a person from the South is the best choice they can make ITE barring HYS. If you want to work in Florida or Texas but aren't from there then none of these schools are good options. However, if you attend one of them and get good grades UVA would be the best one for Florida--they're probably all even for Texas.

This is more true for UVA than for Michigan. Legal work in the midwest is much more consolidated in Chicago (where Michigan is third in line behind U Chi/NU) than legal work in the south is consolidated in Atlanta.

[Doorkeeper]

If you're interested in getting Florida or Houston, I would think UVA or Penn are your only options here. UVA because of its prefstige in the South and Penn for the best overall job prospects.

I think Michigan and Berkeley are non-starters considering equal cost.

[CanadianWolf]

OP: I thought that this thread was based entirely on a hypothetical situation. Clearly the portion re: scholarships at all four was hypothetical. If not a hypothetical question, then, considering your desire to return to the Houston area, did you apply to Texas ? If yes, any scholarship offer ? Did you apply to Harvard or only to Yale, Stanford, Chicago, Penn, Berkeley, Virginia & Michigan ?

P.S. My impression, however, is that that thread is based on a hypothetical situation. If not, what happened to your NYU & Northwestern acceptances & to your target markets of Las Vegas, Los Angeles & San Francisoo ?

[b33eazy]

Since you can't stand the cold, why not just go to Berkeley and live there? Cali is warm. Also, if you have no connections to either place you may be stuck. I would recommend Berkeley.