UT vs UGA vs Bama Forum

[hobie2515]

I'm having a hard time deciding the best option so I thought I'd see how the TLS community would vote on the matter. If you have comments or thoughts, those are much appreciated as well. Here is my situation for some background...

Factoring in scholarships, these are the totals I would be paying for just tuition at each school respectively. I did not include COL because each area is fairly similar. The stips attached to each scholarship are manageable as well (2.7 at UGA and top 50% at Bama). I lived in Texas as a boy, but spent most of my life overseas. I attended college in North Carolina, but have spent the last two years working as a Landman (oil and gas industry) in Midland, TX. I have made some fairly good connections in that time and have family in the state (though my parents live in Jacksonville, FL).

I am open to living pretty much anywhere and I can't really say at this point whether I want to work in Big Law or not (though well compensated employment is obviously extremely important). I understand UT offers me the most opportunities, however the debt is rather intimidating. I certainly know which way I am leaning at this point but just wanted to see if anyone had any perspective I hadn't considered. Thank you for any help, I really do appreciate it!

[kiwi4president]

Go to UT.

[marcfj]

Before you get too overhelmed with the "go to UT" posts, I would start by suggesting you go where you will enjoy spending three years. While UT is more higly ranked, both Georgia and Alabama are good law schools and not that far behind. You have sufficient contacts in Texas so that if you do well in LS you should be able to land a job there. If you do well at UGA, you should be able to get a job in biglaw Atlanta or many of the other good GA law firms. Both King & Spalding and Alston & Bird have more than 20 parners in Atlanta from UGA. It's also likely, though not certain, that you will have better success relative to your peers at UGA or Al vs UT. ( better top 25% at UGA/AL vs bottom 25% at UT) Since the $$$ is a big factor to you (as it should be in the current economic environment), I am recommending UGA all things considered. Athens is supposed to be a great city to live in and its reasonably close to parents, if that's relevant.

[Ruxin1]

Before you get too overhelmed with the "go to UT" posts, I would start by suggesting you go where you will enjoy spending three years. While UT is more higly ranked, both Georgia and Alabama are good law schools and not that far behind. You have sufficient contacts in Texas so that if you do well in LS you should be able to land a job there. If you do well at UGA, you should be able to get a job in biglaw Atlanta or many of the other good GA law firms. Both King & Spalding and Alston & Bird have more than 20 parners in Atlanta from UGA. It's also likely, though not certain, that you will have better success relative to your peers at UGA or Al vs UT. ( better top 25% at UGA/AL vs bottom 25% at UT) Since the $$$ is a big factor to you (as it should be in the current economic environment), I am recommending UGA all things considered. Athens is supposed to be a great city to live in and its reasonably close to parents, if that's relevant.

[nickb285]

.

[jselson]

Considering that Alabama is the 5th best law school in the country, I think the answer's obvious.

[hobie2515]

Considering that Alabama is the 5th best law school in the country, I think the answer's obvious.

Oh yes, I should have mentioned I got into Texas Tech as well

Thanks for the responses everyone. Does anyone have a sense for how Texas places throughout the Southeast? I looked at LST and obviously most grads are working in Texas (62%) but it doesn't give a clear idea of whether others are working throughout the South.

[Pumpkin_Pie]

Oh yes, I should have mentioned I got into Texas Tech as well

Thanks for the responses everyone. Does anyone have a sense for how Texas places throughout the Southeast? I looked at LST and obviously most grads are working in Texas (62%) but it doesn't give a clear idea of whether others are working throughout the South.

Where do you want to work? I would go to Bama unless you're . According to LST, the employment prospects are 10% better than GA, plus it's cheaper.

[jselson]

Considering that Alabama is the 5th best law school in the country, I think the answer's obvious.

Oh yes, I should have mentioned I got into Texas Tech as well

Thanks for the responses everyone. Does anyone have a sense for how Texas places throughout the Southeast? I looked at LST and obviously most grads are working in Texas (62%) but it doesn't give a clear idea of whether others are working throughout the South.

http://www.lstscorereports.com/?school= ... b=location

Alabama seems to be the only school out of these three that's a southern regional school. But you couldn't pay me to live in Alabama (I grew up in the FL panhandle, and even WE are embarrassed by that state.)

[cm2008]

Considering that Alabama is the 5th best law school in the country, I think the answer's obvious.

Oh yes, I should have mentioned I got into Texas Tech as well

Thanks for the responses everyone. Does anyone have a sense for how Texas places throughout the Southeast? I looked at LST and obviously most grads are working in Texas (62%) but it doesn't give a clear idea of whether others are working throughout the South.

http://www.lstscorereports.com/?school= ... b=location

Alabama seems to be the only school out of these three that's a southern regional school. But you couldn't pay me to live in Alabama (I grew up in the FL panhandle, and even WE are embarrassed by that state.)

That might be a bit skewed, I think it more accurately shows that no uga grads really want to practice in Alabama.

I'm a bit biased, UGA student now, but I'd got to UT unless you're aiming for Atlanta- then UGA, or to a lesser extent 'Bama, would make sense

[somewhatwayward]

Wow in-state tuition at UT is 33K/year? I bet it's up like 100% compared to ten years ago....despicable.

Anyway, OP, UT is not worth 100K tuition + 50Kish living expenses before interest. Play UGA and Alabama off each other and go to whichever is cheapest with the understanding that you will be working in that state.

[shifty_eyed]

Try to see if you can get money from UT with your scholarship offers at Bama and UGA before committing anywhere. It might not work, but it's worth a shot.

[PickMe!]

Wow in-state tuition at UT is 33K/year? I bet it's up like 100% compared to ten years ago....despicable.

Anyway, OP, UT is not worth 100K tuition + 50Kish living expenses before interest. Play UGA and Alabama off each other and go to whichever is cheapest with the understanding that you will be working in that state.

[cm2008]

Wow in-state tuition at UT is 33K/year? I bet it's up like 100% compared to ten years ago....despicable.

Anyway, OP, UT is not worth 100K tuition + 50Kish living expenses before interest. Play UGA and Alabama off each other and go to whichever is cheapest with the understanding that you will be working in that state.

wow that is insane- $33k/yr IN STATE!! Somehow overlooked this and just assumed it'd be much lower, that's nearly the same as UGA's out of state sticker, which nearly no one actually pays via tuition equalizer scholly.

[hobie2515]

Try to see if you can get money from UT with your scholarship offers at Bama and UGA before committing anywhere. It might not work, but it's worth a shot.

For sure I'll be making an appeal for some kind of money from UT, though you're right I don't know if anything will come from it. I'll be visiting all these schools in the upcoming months and I'm sure that will help some in the decision process. I have no problem going to UGA or Bama but because I'm not from either state, I'm concerned my lack of ties will hurt me in the short run.

[cahwc12]

Bama is very insular I've heard... I agree with shifty_eyed that you should try to get UT to give you some merit aid via Bama/UGA offers. UT at 25k/yr or something is closer to a deal I would take.

Something else to consider is that, while Bama posts great numbers, 19.5% of their graduates end up in firms of 2-10 attorneys, with another 6.7% that open solo practices. If you subtract those numbers, the employment data looks like:

Alabama: 45.1%
Georga: 47.1%
Texas: 56.1%

Note that this doesn't discriminate against the number (0?) of <=10 size firm jobs that may end up being legitimate employment. The consensus though seems to be that these typically are not real jobs, and instead are more likely groups of otherwise unemployed graduates attempting to establish their own practices.

[iShotFirst]

Speaking to lack of ties hurting you at UGA, it could be true. (UGA student here, not from GA). I did feel it hurt me with the non-Atlanta firms, but noone from Metro Atlanta really cares. Ironically, I ended up getting a job in Florida and found that easier than getting a job in GA.

[hobie2515]

Something else to consider is that, while Bama posts great numbers, 19.5% of their graduates end up in firms of 2-10 attorneys, with another 6.7% that open solo practices. If you subtract those numbers, the employment data looks like:

Alabama: 45.1%
Georga: 47.1%
Texas: 56.1%

Valid point. In fact if you look at the Employment Statistics Spreadsheet that's out there on TLS, UT places 38% of their graduates in firms larger than at least 50 attorneys (or a Federal Clerkship). UGA on the other hand only places 23% and Bama 21%. I understand UT has a cutoff for initial offers of merit based aid but my hope is, given the current cycle, they will be more lenient when presumably typical UT-bound applicants are heading off to T-14 schools.

[cahwc12]

Something else to consider is that, while Bama posts great numbers, 19.5% of their graduates end up in firms of 2-10 attorneys, with another 6.7% that open solo practices. If you subtract those numbers, the employment data looks like:

Alabama: 45.1%
Georga: 47.1%
Texas: 56.1%

Valid point. In fact if you look at the Employment Statistics Spreadsheet that's out there on TLS, UT places 38% of their graduates in firms larger than at least 50 attorneys (or a Federal Clerkship). UGA on the other hand only places 23% and Bama 21%. I understand UT has a cutoff for initial offers of merit based aid but my hope is, given the current cycle, they will be more lenient when presumably typical UT-bound applicants are heading off to T-14 schools.

Do you have more specific information about this?

[StylinNProfilin]

Something else to consider is that, while Bama posts great numbers, 19.5% of their graduates end up in firms of 2-10 attorneys, with another 6.7% that open solo practices. If you subtract those numbers, the employment data looks like:

Alabama: 45.1%
Georga: 47.1%
Texas: 56.1%

Valid point. In fact if you look at the Employment Statistics Spreadsheet that's out there on TLS, UT places 38% of their graduates in firms larger than at least 50 attorneys (or a Federal Clerkship). UGA on the other hand only places 23% and Bama 21%. I understand UT has a cutoff for initial offers of merit based aid but my hope is, given the current cycle, they will be more lenient when presumably typical UT-bound applicants are heading off to T-14 schools.

Do you have more specific information about this?

UT starts giving out aid at 3.6/168 and has said if ur gpa is just below the cutoff they may still consider giving out merit aid.