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anon sequitur wrote:Last minute decisions for a crazy cycle! So based on recent developments, tuition at GULC would be almost the same ($2500/year more for UVA). Not sure about cost of living, but according to both school's estimates, total cost of attendance would make GULC about $1500/year more. Not sure I believe that, I have never lived in DC but it seems way more expensive than Charlottesville. GULC *might* be willing to go a bit higher, based on my conversations with them. Who knows, UVA might as well.

If all things were equal (equal cost, equal chance at getting a job), I'd definitely go GULC. Of course, not everything is equal. Is UVA really that much better at biglaw placement ITE? What about PI/gov't? It seems like the GULC narrative is that they have an advantage on that, being in DC. How much truth to that?

lawschooltransparency.com

There does not seem to be any evidence that Georgetown has an advantage in gov't/PI. In general, it's what you'd expect: UVA is noticeably better than Georgetown across the board. The BigLaw scores are similar, but BigLaw+clerkship is a 10% gap. Also consider the Georgetown is much larger, so there is more competition for jobs. Full disclaimer: I attend to UVA and chose it over G'town among others. I clicked the $15k option, and that's about where I'd start to think about it.

http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticleNL ... slreturn=1 is a good start. I go to GULC and I chose to go here on a decent scholarship over ED'ing at UVA where my stats would have made me a virtual lock. The stats from NLJ show a not insignificant outcome difference between the two. I think what's I've heard noised about is UVA is about 45-50 NLJ 250 plus Art. III clerkships, whereas we hit about 35-40. We place more overall, but we also have more lose out overall. DC bonus is awesome during school because of so many opportunities, but very few of those opportunities lead to hiring; they just add an interesting line to the resume and some experience. Good luck choosing, you can have equally good, bad, or complicated outcomes from both, but UVA does have a 20-30% edge on prestigious outcomes, seemingly.

Edit, add to post above who said as of 15k: I'd agree, and as mine is somewhat above this, I fall within that mindset in deeds as well as words.

I voted for the $20,000+ category because Virginia places better. But $15,000 would be sufficient if you had an internship or externship in DC that was of interest to you.

There's a huge discrepancy between the two regarding the overall full-time legal employment rate, although they have similar biglaw and PI numbers, according to lawschooltransparency. I wouldn't consider Gtown over UVA unless it was a minimum $50-60k scholarship from Georgetown.

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Wahoos wrote:I don't understand the cost of living estimates.... friend in DC says you can not find a decent place under $1000/ month, whereas in Cville things can be found for $500. That's a savings of $6000 right there for 12 months, $4500 for 9 months.

Plus food, drink, etc would come out to hundreds if not thousands saved per year


How do they even come up with these figures claiming that DC/ NY schools are even CLOSE in cost of living as opposed to Michigan, UVA, Duke, etc??

This. Factor in the COL of UVA v. Gtown and you essentially receive a $20k COL scholarship going to UVA (rent, food, nightlife, metro, etc. x 3 years)

Wahoos wrote:I don't understand the cost of living estimates.... friend in DC says you can not find a decent place under $1000/ month, whereas in Cville things can be found for $500. That's a savings of $6000 right there for 12 months, $4500 for 9 months.

I live in DC and that's not true. You can find places on Capitol Hill for like $700-800 a month if you're willing to bike 10 minutes to get to Georgetown Law.

I would need a COA savings of at least $75K before I would even begin considering GULC over UVA.

Doorkeeper wrote:

Wahoos wrote:I don't understand the cost of living estimates.... friend in DC says you can not find a decent place under $1000/ month, whereas in Cville things can be found for $500. That's a savings of $6000 right there for 12 months, $4500 for 9 months.

I live in DC and that's not true. You can find places on Capitol Hill for like $700-800 a month if you're willing to bike 10 minutes to get to Georgetown Law.

This.

Ti Malice wrote:I would need a COA savings of at least $75K before I would even begin considering GULC over UVA.

That's about the number that I would be at too.

GULC is scary as shit ITE.

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I'm guessing the COL estimates for UVA, Mich, etc. are still somewhat close to those of GULC, NYU, CLS, etc. because they're figuring in the cost of having a car for the former schools and not for the latter. Charlottesville (at least around UVA) is a compact town/city but you still probably need a car. I went to GU undergrad and not having a car made the higher cost of everything else bearable. Having a car in NYC or DC would actually be a significant hindrance, I'd imagine.

I just voted.

I got accepted at Virginia and I'm going there, but I won't start until next year. Class of 2016 baby!

ub3rm3nsch wrote:

anon sequitur wrote:Last minute decisions for a crazy cycle! So based on recent developments, tuition at GULC would be almost the same ($2500/year more for UVA). Not sure about cost of living, but according to both school's estimates, total cost of attendance would make GULC about $1500/year more. Not sure I believe that, I have never lived in DC but it seems way more expensive than Charlottesville. GULC *might* be willing to go a bit higher, based on my conversations with them. Who knows, UVA might as well.

If all things were equal (equal cost, equal chance at getting a job), I'd definitely go GULC. Of course, not everything is equal. Is UVA really that much better at biglaw placement ITE? What about PI/gov't? It seems like the GULC narrative is that they have an advantage on that, being in DC. How much truth to that?

I don't know if you made your decision yet, but everyone always seems to overlook aid grants. GULC does well in this area. I received a grant of a little less than $20,000.

I was also surprised by how generous G-town was with need-based grants