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I'm also from Tennessee. I'm in at Wake. I didn't apply to UT. Their bar passage rate is alarmingly low, and I think if your goal is practice in NC, UT won't help you with that goal.

zackw618 wrote:I'm also from Tennessee. I'm in at Wake. I didn't apply to UT. Their bar passage rate is alarmingly low, and I think if your goal is practice in NC, UT won't help you with that goal.

That is what I am thinking too. I mean it is possible if I graduated really high at UTK but it is risky. Do you think you are going to attend Wake? Also, are you going to admitted students day on Friday?

Not completely sure. I want to visit the schools I've been accepted to before I make a decision. I'll be at ASD at Wake this weekend.

Have you seen the Law School Transparency website? They have employment and salary stats that you may find helpful.

38% of Wake's Class of 2011 grads are employed in NC.
http://www.lstscorereports.com/?school=wake

0.7% of UT's Class of 2011 grads are employed in NC
http://www.lstscorereports.com/?school=tennessee

And here's a link for the page that deals with grads who work in NC from a variety of schools:
http://www.lstscorereports.com/?r=NC

fwiw, I'm from Winston-Salem, and it's a nice place to live, especially if you are thinking about living there long-term. Winston also has the School of the Arts and some good local music venues (Ziggy's in particular), so there are things to do there that there might not be in other similarly sized towns.

Good luck making your decision! Feel free to PM me if you have questions about living in W-S!

Do you have significant preexisting ties to NC?

Thanks for your input everyone! And my family lives in nc. I would prefer to live in nc but that is not my main concern. I am mostly woried about taking out such a big loan.

I wouldn't take that much out in loans to go to Wake, but I don't think UTK does well in TN, so you're in a pickle breh

I'm just going to piggyback off of this topic. Ramsdancer, I'd love to hear where you actually decided. I am in the same dilemma (as far as schools, not scholarship money though).

Thoughts TLSers?

1. The schools you are considering:

Wake Forest
• Sticker-(~220k+)
Tennessee
• In-State tuition-(~120k)

2. How you will be financing your COA, i.e. loans, family, or savings:
• I will pay for some of my legal education; fortunately, I am in a situation where my parents should be able to help out a significant amount.

3. Where you are from and where you want to work, and other places where you have significant ties (if any):
• I have significant ties to both TN and NC, and I plan on living anywhere in the Southeast, but would be most comfortable in TN/NC.

4. Your general career goals:
• Ideally, I’d like to work in a decent sized city at a mid-sized firm. Being a PD does have some appeal as well.

5. Your LSAT/GPA numbers:
• 158/3.0

6. How many times you have taken the LSAT:
• Only took LSAT once, but unfortunately for various reasons I must attend law school this cycle. (I really wish that I had really paid attention to this forum more when I still had the ability/opportunity to retake).


*Also, just realized that this was in the wrong forum. If a mod could move this to Choosing a Law School, that'd be great*

Whoa, dude, UT is not worth anywhere close to 6 figures...and neither is wake, especially 220k. You should retake the LSAT. if you can go to UT for ~50K and want to work in TN, that is probably your best bet.

there are not too many big firms (or even mid-size) in TN. the few that are out there are very competitive. you'll have to be top 5% to have a shot from UT.

deadpanic wrote:Whoa, dude, UT is not worth anywhere close to 6 figures...and neither is wake, especially 220k. You should retake the LSAT. if you can go to UT for ~50K and want to work in TN, that is probably your best bet.

there are not too many big firms (or even mid-size) in TN. the few that are out there are very competitive. you'll have to be top 5% to have a shot from UT.

This

Here comes a load of common TLS responses of "retake".

rad lulz wrote:

deadpanic wrote:Whoa, dude, UT is not worth anywhere close to 6 figures...and neither is wake, especially 220k. You should retake the LSAT. if you can go to UT for ~50K and want to work in TN, that is probably your best bet.

there are not too many big firms (or even mid-size) in TN. the few that are out there are very competitive. you'll have to be top 5% to have a shot from UT.

This

This. If you have a half-decent personality from UTK, you will have options in Nashville (top 20%), Chattanooga (top 1/3), Knoxville (top 1/3 + ties), and Memphis (top 1/3 + ties). Not worth gambling 6 figures on, but a decent option with scholarship money.

As someone who has experience in the NC market, Wake is a risky option for that amount of money. Firms paying over $70K in NC aren't rare, but you're also competing with Duke/UNC/Vandy/etc., and your chances are probably even lower since NC is such a competitive market.

Thread moved to the appropriate forum.

None of these are worth the debt being talked about. Retake or don't go.