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Hey guys, just wondering if anyone had any information or opinions on Belmont University in Nashville. I know it's a new school, but does it seem like a good one?

Thanks

Tot12Tator wrote:Hey guys, just wondering if anyone had any information or opinions on Belmont University in Nashville. I know it's a new school, but does it seem like a good one?

Thanks

No.

Slightly longer answer. No, because it is an unaccredited school that costs $57,000 per year, has a very small home legal market, and has an ideological bent.

Pretty impressive facility and well respected undergrad school. With that said, it is a new law school and you will get very little positive response on this site. IMO not a bad school if you want to live in Nashville and get a large scholarship.

wat

The school is a horrible, horrible, horrible investment if you want to work in a respectable legal position. Nashville doesn't need more law graduates.

Whatever legal jobs there are in Nashville are gonna be dominated by Vandy.

jalsup11 wrote:Pretty impressive facility and well respected undergrad school. With that said, it is a new law school and you will get very little positive response on this site. IMO not a bad school if you want to live in Nashville and get a large scholarship. I have been considering and attented ASD, pm me if you want anymore info.

Please do not listen to this advice. There's a reason there will be little positive response. It's ridiculous to take out any amount of loans to go to an unaccredited school. If you're crazy about working in Tennessee, go to Vandy. If you can't do Vandy, I'm sure UT Knoxville is a better decision than this school, though I'd be hesitant to suggest that too.

I'm surprised nobody here has brought up the other side of the argument. There is something to be said in favor of attending Belmont: perhaps OP really, really enjoys giving his money away and wasting his time at an unaccredited law school in a metro area. If that's the case, by all means Belmont!

If that's not the goal though, I'm pretty sure even our resident non-ABA law school dean would point away from Belmont.

jalsup11 wrote:Pretty impressive facility and well respected undergrad school. With that said, it is a new law school and you will get very little positive response on this site. IMO not a bad school if you want to live in Nashville and get a large scholarship. I have been considering and attented ASD, pm me if you want anymore info.

No. Vandy kids have trouble getting jobs in Nashville. How could going to Belmont be a good idea?

jalsup11 wrote:Pretty impressive facility and well respected undergrad school. With that said, it is a new law school and you will get very little positive response on this site. IMO not a bad school if you want to live in Nashville and get a large scholarship. I have been considering and attented ASD, pm me if you want anymore info.

Belmont University adcomm member?

PRgradBYU wrote:

jalsup11 wrote:Pretty impressive facility and well respected undergrad school. With that said, it is a new law school and you will get very little positive response on this site. IMO not a bad school if you want to live in Nashville and get a large scholarship. I have been considering and attented ASD, pm me if you want anymore info.

Belmont University adcomm member?

Actually quite possible. The notion that a TLS applicant actually went to Belmont's ASD seems pretty far fetched.

Let's see you have to compete with grads from Vandy, UTK, UTM, for jobs in Nashville. Let's see you run a law firm in Nashville and have one opening. Who do you think is going to win the guy from the unaccredited TTTT or the guy from the "Harvard of the South"? Even if the Vandy guy passes, I'd still bet on the kid from the state's flagship school before the guy from Belmont. As a way of anecdote, I know a guy who graduated from Belmont law and is working at a small, but successful criminal defense law firm in my town. The firm's investigator makes twice what the attorney from Belmont makes.

eric922 wrote:Let's see you have to compete with grads from Vandy, UTK, UTM, for jobs in Nashville. Let's see you run a law firm in Nashville and have one opening. Who do you think is going to win the guy from the unaccredited TTTT or the guy from the "Harvard of the South"? Even if the Vandy guy passes, I'd still bet on the kid from the state's flagship school before the guy from Belmont. As a way of anecdote, I know a guy who graduated from Belmont law and is working at a small, but successful criminal defense law firm in my town. The firm's investigator makes twice what the attorney from Belmont makes.

No you don't. No one has graduated from there -- they just started offering classes in Fall 2011. Everything else is right, though; Belmont's a very poor investment.

,

rad lulz wrote:I can think of way more fun ways to set my $ on fire

Don't go to Belmont, unless you get a full ride and want to work as a paralegal in an over saturated market for lawyers and paralegals for the rest of your life.

ATR wrote:

eric922 wrote:Let's see you have to compete with grads from Vandy, UTK, UTM, for jobs in Nashville. Let's see you run a law firm in Nashville and have one opening. Who do you think is going to win the guy from the unaccredited TTTT or the guy from the "Harvard of the South"? Even if the Vandy guy passes, I'd still bet on the kid from the state's flagship school before the guy from Belmont. As a way of anecdote, I know a guy who graduated from Belmont law and is working at a small, but successful criminal defense law firm in my town. The firm's investigator makes twice what the attorney from Belmont makes.

No you don't. No one has graduated from there -- they just started offering classes in Fall 2011. Everything else is right, though; Belmont's a very poor investment.

You're right. He graduated from the night school in Nashville, I think. My bad.

eric922 wrote:You're right. He graduated from the night school in Nashville, I think. My bad.

It's all good. I think you're talking about Nashville School of Law. IMO, that's a better option than Belmont, because they have a fairly good alumni network, it's very cheap, and if you go there, you likely already have a decent career (since it's night school). Caveat: it's only a decent option if you want to work in Nashville and already have connections in the field of law that you're targeting. I know attorneys from NSOL who work at respected firms, but I also know some who work as paralegals and others who simply can't find legal work.