UF vs UPenn vs GULC vs UVA for Florida Law Forum

[homie1515]

Turns out Duke has a round 2 ED. So I'm going to ED Penn and know by December, then Ill send off my app to Duke for ED round 2, then if that doesnt pan out Ill ED to UVA in February. All the while sending in RD apps to UF, FSU, Vandy, and Emory. Hopefully Ill get into one of these schools ED so I wont have to make that decision about UF vs. T-14 School.

[sflyr2016]

Turns out Duke has a round 2 ED. So I'm going to ED Penn and know by December, then Ill send off my app to Duke for ED round 2, then if that doesnt pan out Ill ED to UVA in February. All the while sending in RD apps to UF, FSU, Vandy, and Emory. Hopefully Ill get into one of these schools ED so I wont have to make that decision about UF vs. T-14 School.

Haha sounds good man. Gl!

[homie1515]

Thanks, you too!

[homie1515]

Can people voting please give their reasoning for their decision... thanks

Also, Should i ED Penn then ED Duke ,then ED to UVA? or ED UVA, and RD Duke, Emory, Vandy, UF/FSU?

I just dont know about Duke and its placement in FL. Im reading conflicting reports.

UVA vs Duke... Whats the consensus?

Sorry to ask these questions before I have applied or been accepted, but the order in which i Apply will make all the difference as im only going to get in if i ED...

Thanks

[sflyr2016]

Can people voting please give their reasoning for their decision... thanks

Also, Should i ED Penn then ED Duke ,then ED to UVA? or ED UVA, and RD Duke, Emory, Vandy, UF/FSU?

I just dont know about Duke and its placement in FL. Im reading conflicting reports.

UVA vs Duke... Whats the consensus?

Sorry to ask these questions before I have applied or been accepted, but the order in which i Apply will make all the difference as im only going to get in if i ED...

Thanks

Dude you are getting way too ahead of yourself. Start buying E&E books and get ahead on that since you have soo much time. Also consider how ED will be binding, and if a scholarship is not included then you will not allow yourself the opportunity to negotiate for more money. If I were you, I would enjoy the summer, start on drafting my personal statement, and familiarize myself with the material. Keep your options open once you apply, and just know that none of those schools will guarantee you a foot in the door anywhere. You will get into a great school, and probably with money, so the best thing you can do is start gaining an advantage now.

[homie1515]

Can people voting please give their reasoning for their decision... thanks

Also, Should i ED Penn then ED Duke ,then ED to UVA? or ED UVA, and RD Duke, Emory, Vandy, UF/FSU?

I just dont know about Duke and its placement in FL. Im reading conflicting reports.

UVA vs Duke... Whats the consensus?

Sorry to ask these questions before I have applied or been accepted, but the order in which i Apply will make all the difference as im only going to get in if i ED...

Thanks

Dude you are getting way too ahead of yourself. Start buying E&E books and get ahead on that since you have soo much time. Also consider how ED will be binding, and if a scholarship is not included then you will not allow yourself the opportunity to negotiate for more money. If I were you, I would enjoy the summer, start on drafting my personal statement, and familiarize myself with the material. Keep your options open once you apply, and just know that none of those schools will guarantee you a foot in the door anywhere. You will get into a great school, and probably with money, so the best thing you can do is start gaining an advantage now.

Thanks, and ya I know. The amount of time I have until the decision is going to haunt me until I make it. If only I could make my decision tomorrow and be done with it. But as far as not EDing goes. I think that would be foolish if I actually wanted to attend UPenn, UVA, and IDK enough about Duke ED to actually give my opinion, regardless of cost. Like this poll was intended for. UPenn or UVA at sticker vs UF at full scholly.

[sflyr2016]

Can people voting please give their reasoning for their decision... thanks

Also, Should i ED Penn then ED Duke ,then ED to UVA? or ED UVA, and RD Duke, Emory, Vandy, UF/FSU?

I just dont know about Duke and its placement in FL. Im reading conflicting reports.

UVA vs Duke... Whats the consensus?

Sorry to ask these questions before I have applied or been accepted, but the order in which i Apply will make all the difference as im only going to get in if i ED...

Thanks

Dude you are getting way too ahead of yourself. Start buying E&E books and get ahead on that since you have soo much time. Also consider how ED will be binding, and if a scholarship is not included then you will not allow yourself the opportunity to negotiate for more money. If I were you, I would enjoy the summer, start on drafting my personal statement, and familiarize myself with the material. Keep your options open once you apply, and just know that none of those schools will guarantee you a foot in the door anywhere. You will get into a great school, and probably with money, so the best thing you can do is start gaining an advantage now.

Thanks, and ya I know. The amount of time I have until the decision is going to haunt me until I make it. If only I could make my decision tomorrow and be done with it. But as far as not EDing goes. I think that would be foolish if I actually wanted to attend UPenn, UVA, and IDK enough about Duke ED to actually give my opinion, regardless of cost. Like this poll was intended for. UPenn or UVA at sticker vs UF at full scholly.

Then why phrase the question as if you would actually consider choosing among those schools? In reality, you just want to play the lotto and pick your numbers in the order of school rank. You are not really considering what each will provide and how they will compare among these "choices", because you want the school to choose you. In that case, why ask for opinions lol.

You should have said: I want sticker at the highest rank school and cross my fingers for money, or, I guess I'll try to get into UF with money if all else fails. Which btw is not a bad way to go if you really realy want penn. But you contradicted yourself many times throughout this post. I think that you are really far away from applying and are in good position to strike a great balance of - great school, good placement in your desired region, and manageable debt. Of course, you may just want one of those at the expense of the others as it seems you are now favoring rank over flexibility.

I am sure in the end tho you will do very well any way you go about it. Just giving you my two-cents.

[homie1515]

Can people voting please give their reasoning for their decision... thanks

Also, Should i ED Penn then ED Duke ,then ED to UVA? or ED UVA, and RD Duke, Emory, Vandy, UF/FSU?

I just dont know about Duke and its placement in FL. Im reading conflicting reports.

UVA vs Duke... Whats the consensus?

Sorry to ask these questions before I have applied or been accepted, but the order in which i Apply will make all the difference as im only going to get in if i ED...

Thanks

Dude you are getting way too ahead of yourself. Start buying E&E books and get ahead on that since you have soo much time. Also consider how ED will be binding, and if a scholarship is not included then you will not allow yourself the opportunity to negotiate for more money. If I were you, I would enjoy the summer, start on drafting my personal statement, and familiarize myself with the material. Keep your options open once you apply, and just know that none of those schools will guarantee you a foot in the door anywhere. You will get into a great school, and probably with money, so the best thing you can do is start gaining an advantage now.

Thanks, and ya I know. The amount of time I have until the decision is going to haunt me until I make it. If only I could make my decision tomorrow and be done with it. But as far as not EDing goes. I think that would be foolish if I actually wanted to attend UPenn, UVA, and IDK enough about Duke ED to actually give my opinion, regardless of cost. Like this poll was intended for. UPenn or UVA at sticker vs UF at full scholly.

Then why phrase the question as if you would actually consider choosing among those schools? In reality, you just want to play the lotto and pick your numbers in the order of school rank. You are not really considering what each will provide and how they will compare among these "choices", because you want the school to choose you. In that case, why ask for opinions lol.

You should have said: I want sticker at the highest rank school and cross my fingers for money, or, I guess I'll try to get into UF with money if all else fails. Which btw is not a bad way to go if you really realy want penn. But you contradicted yourself many times throughout this post. I think that you are really far away from applying and are in good position to strike a great balance of - great school, good placement in your desired region, and manageable debt. Of course, you may just want one of those at the expense of the others as it seems you are now favoring rank over flexibility.

I am sure in the end tho you will do very well any way you go about it. Just giving you my two-cents.

Doesn't rank, essentially, give me the most flexibility?

[sflyr2016]

No.

[sflyr2016]

Lol. Consider the following. Bottom half Penn with $200,000 debt, vs median UF without debt. Neither have good biglaw prospects in Fl. But one can make a transition into whatever law they may find interesting or fruitful, without having the fear of meeting close to a quarter million dollar debt. They have, essentially, much more flexibility.

Consider what I actually think will be your prospects: UVA/Duke at sticker vs Vandy/Emory with 1/2 to 2/3's scholarship. The former will dictate you toward the only path of law practice that will allow you to meet the debt. The latter will allow you to do whatever you desire without worrying as much about debt. Again, flexibility.

Dude you irk people by making a thread about schools you haven't even applied to yet. Now you irked the only person giving you genuine advice. Shut up, enjoy your summer, read the EE books to get ahead, and prepare you PS statement to Penn on why rankings are important to you.

[matt4415]

I am in a similar situation myself and have enjoyed reading this thread about the FL markets specifically as well as other new/old threads on here.

I am a 27 year old white male, have a 172 LSAT, and a 3.0 undergrad double major in accounting & finance. I am also a certified public accountant (CPA) with 5 solid years of work experience as an audit senior associate in public accounting (1 year at a big 4 firm & 4 years at a large regional firm with over 100 employees in my specific office) in Tampa, FL. To answer my low GPA question, I really did not have an upward trend I see so commonly mentioned on the forum (as rebuttal to low GPA), however I did maintain a solid/consistent "B" average all four years of undergraduate (in most arguably the hardest business concentration(s) - for what it's worth). Did not get a whole lot of A's, but also did not get many C's either. One other minor GPA note was that I had accepted a full time position before beginning senior year of undergrad and admittedly could have done better had I known it would factor in life later on (hence trying to get into law school)!

I really had two questions prior to reading this thread - (1) what is the best way for me to approach getting into Miami biglaw & (2) what T-14 schools, if any, would reasonably consider admitting me based on my stats. If no T-14 schools, then what schools in general should I be looking into past T-14 (see below for my specific prefs)?

I believe I have the answer to #1 overall from the previous posts, but am curious about #2 in what schools to consider applying to (given my specific situation above). On a personal level, I would really like to stay in FL given my wife and I call it home & the fact that she has a sound career in healthcare here. At the same time, her/I have both discussed and agreed that Biglaw overall (any state) should be top priority/preference (as you may already infer - her career in healthcare give her the ability to move relatively easily). I would say the BigLaw overall > FL biglaw > FL Other law would be my specific preference given the above, with "BigLaw overall" representing the best overall opportunity in BigLaw.

I have triangulated so many responses on this forum and feel like i have a decent answer to the questions above, but thought i would throw my specific situation out there for review (since no two are 100% the same).
Would like to hear feedback from any of you guys, everyone (well, mostly everyone) on here seems to provide valuable insight that without I would totally be lost applying for Tier 4 schools hoping to work on Wall street! Lol It's good to have everyone as a resource/support, good luck to all!

[Nelson]

I am in a similar situation myself and have enjoyed reading this thread about the FL markets specifically as well as other new/old threads on here.

I am a 27 year old white male, have a 172 LSAT, and a 3.0 undergrad double major in accounting & finance. I am also a certified public accountant (CPA) with 5 solid years of work experience as an audit senior associate in public accounting (1 year at a big 4 firm & 4 years at a large regional firm with over 100 employees in my specific office) in Tampa, FL. To answer my low GPA question, I really did not have an upward trend I see so commonly mentioned on the forum (as rebuttal to low GPA), however I did maintain a solid/consistent "B" average all four years of undergraduate (in most arguably the hardest business concentration(s) - for what it's worth). Did not get a whole lot of A's, but also did not get many C's either. One other minor GPA note was that I had accepted a full time position before beginning senior year of undergrad and admittedly could have done better had I known it would factor in life later on (hence trying to get into law school)!

I really had two questions prior to reading this thread - (1) what is the best way for me to approach getting into Miami biglaw & (2) what T-14 schools, if any, would reasonably consider admitting me based on my stats. If no T-14 schools, then what schools in general should I be looking into past T-14 (see below for my specific prefs)?

I believe I have the answer to #1 overall from the previous posts, but am curious about #2 in what schools to consider applying to (given my specific situation above). On a personal level, I would really like to stay in FL given my wife and I call it home & the fact that she has a sound career in healthcare here. At the same time, her/I have both discussed and agreed that Biglaw overall (any state) should be top priority/preference (as you may already infer - her career in healthcare give her the ability to move relatively easily). I would say the BigLaw overall > FL biglaw > FL Other law would be my specific preference given the above, with "BigLaw overall" representing the best overall opportunity in BigLaw.

I have triangulated so many responses on this forum and feel like i have a decent answer to the questions above, but thought i would throw my specific situation out there for review (since no two are 100% the same).
Would like to hear feedback from any of you guys, everyone (well, mostly everyone) on here seems to provide valuable insight that without I would totally be lost applying for Tier 4 schools hoping to work on Wall street! Lol It's good to have everyone as a resource/support, good luck to all!

Enjoy Northwestern.

[sflyr2016]

I am in a similar situation myself and have enjoyed reading this thread about the FL markets specifically as well as other new/old threads on here.

I am a 27 year old white male, have a 172 LSAT, and a 3.0 undergrad double major in accounting & finance. I am also a certified public accountant (CPA) with 5 solid years of work experience as an audit senior associate in public accounting (1 year at a big 4 firm & 4 years at a large regional firm with over 100 employees in my specific office) in Tampa, FL. To answer my low GPA question, I really did not have an upward trend I see so commonly mentioned on the forum (as rebuttal to low GPA), however I did maintain a solid/consistent "B" average all four years of undergraduate (in most arguably the hardest business concentration(s) - for what it's worth). Did not get a whole lot of A's, but also did not get many C's either. One other minor GPA note was that I had accepted a full time position before beginning senior year of undergrad and admittedly could have done better had I known it would factor in life later on (hence trying to get into law school)!

I really had two questions prior to reading this thread - (1) what is the best way for me to approach getting into Miami biglaw & (2) what T-14 schools, if any, would reasonably consider admitting me based on my stats. If no T-14 schools, then what schools in general should I be looking into past T-14 (see below for my specific prefs)?

I believe I have the answer to #1 overall from the previous posts, but am curious about #2 in what schools to consider applying to (given my specific situation above). On a personal level, I would really like to stay in FL given my wife and I call it home & the fact that she has a sound career in healthcare here. At the same time, her/I have both discussed and agreed that Biglaw overall (any state) should be top priority/preference (as you may already infer - her career in healthcare give her the ability to move relatively easily). I would say the BigLaw overall > FL biglaw > FL Other law would be my specific preference given the above, with "BigLaw overall" representing the best overall opportunity in BigLaw.

I have triangulated so many responses on this forum and feel like i have a decent answer to the questions above, but thought i would throw my specific situation out there for review (since no two are 100% the same).
Would like to hear feedback from any of you guys, everyone (well, mostly everyone) on here seems to provide valuable insight that without I would totally be lost applying for Tier 4 schools hoping to work on Wall street! Lol It's good to have everyone as a resource/support, good luck to all!

Enjoy Northwestern.

Aim for CCN, Penn, Duke, UVA, Vendy with good money, or Emory at nearly a full scholarship, and UF at full, in that order. I would think that given your we and your lsat, your low GPA won't hurt you as bad as you may think and should have a really good shot at some t10's and t14's with some money. I would aim for Duke/UVA with some money and leverage it to Vandy for even more, and go from there. Each of these schools will give you good placement into the south, as well as other markets. Best luck!

[matt4415]

I am in a similar situation myself and have enjoyed reading this thread about the FL markets specifically as well as other new/old threads on here.

I am a 27 year old white male, have a 172 LSAT, and a 3.0 undergrad double major in accounting & finance. I am also a certified public accountant (CPA) with 5 solid years of work experience as an audit senior associate in public accounting (1 year at a big 4 firm & 4 years at a large regional firm with over 100 employees in my specific office) in Tampa, FL. To answer my low GPA question, I really did not have an upward trend I see so commonly mentioned on the forum (as rebuttal to low GPA), however I did maintain a solid/consistent "B" average all four years of undergraduate (in most arguably the hardest business concentration(s) - for what it's worth). Did not get a whole lot of A's, but also did not get many C's either. One other minor GPA note was that I had accepted a full time position before beginning senior year of undergrad and admittedly could have done better had I known it would factor in life later on (hence trying to get into law school)!

I really had two questions prior to reading this thread - (1) what is the best way for me to approach getting into Miami biglaw & (2) what T-14 schools, if any, would reasonably consider admitting me based on my stats. If no T-14 schools, then what schools in general should I be looking into past T-14 (see below for my specific prefs)?

I believe I have the answer to #1 overall from the previous posts, but am curious about #2 in what schools to consider applying to (given my specific situation above). On a personal level, I would really like to stay in FL given my wife and I call it home & the fact that she has a sound career in healthcare here. At the same time, her/I have both discussed and agreed that Biglaw overall (any state) should be top priority/preference (as you may already infer - her career in healthcare give her the ability to move relatively easily). I would say the BigLaw overall > FL biglaw > FL Other law would be my specific preference given the above, with "BigLaw overall" representing the best overall opportunity in BigLaw.

I have triangulated so many responses on this forum and feel like i have a decent answer to the questions above, but thought i would throw my specific situation out there for review (since no two are 100% the same).
Would like to hear feedback from any of you guys, everyone (well, mostly everyone) on here seems to provide valuable insight that without I would totally be lost applying for Tier 4 schools hoping to work on Wall street! Lol It's good to have everyone as a resource/support, good luck to all!

Enjoy Northwestern.

Aim for CCN, Penn, Duke, UVA, Vendy with good money, or Emory at nearly a full scholarship, and UF at full, in that order. I would think that given your we and your lsat, your low GPA won't hurt you as bad as you may think and should have a really good shot at some t10's and t14's with some money. I would aim for Duke/UVA with some money and leverage it to Vandy for even more, and go from there. Each of these schools will give you good placement into the south, as well as other markets. Best luck!

Thank you for the response. I was wishing for northwestern at best based on other similar but not exact situations on here. Makes it difficult to peg with the 3.0 outlier and mathematical odd generators out on the net.
As a result, I know there is no way to really tell for certain how each T14 will respond to me given the GPA, however if your post is even remotely accurate that is the best news I've heard all year (I.e - meaning I'll most likely crack one of the T14).
I would like to make a run for YHS at sticker honestly, but I assume they are virtually out of the question? Or does either of the three lean towards WE over GPA historically? I know HLS is pretty much numbers/index based from my understanding....
Thanks again for the optimism / encouragement; it is appreciated.

[muskies970]

I wouldn't ED if I were you, it would definitely lock you into minimal or no scholly and you have a decent shot at money from these schools RD. We have very similar numbers, and I was offered 30k a year at Vandy this cycle.

I didn't get into Penn, UVA, or Duke, however I attribute that to not writing the optional essays, so definitely do them!

I think Vandy is a great option for you for minimal debt/ shot at entering Florida, definitely check it out.

[matt4415]

I wouldn't ED if I were you, it would definitely lock you into minimal or no scholly and you have a decent shot at money from these schools RD. We have very similar numbers, and I was offered 30k a year at Vandy this cycle.

I didn't get into Penn, UVA, or Duke, however I attribute that to not writing the optional essays, so definitely do them!

I think Vandy is a great option for you for minimal debt/ shot at entering Florida, definitely check it out.

Thanks for the advice on the letters, I will get started early!

I dunno about vandy honestly. I am most likely missing something here but it appears only top 25% of 2012's class went BigLaw? I am really liking the 50-70% proportion that CCN, northwestern, etc. possess. Any thoughts, corrections, input would be appreciated; thanks as always.

[matt4415]

I wouldn't ED if I were you, it would definitely lock you into minimal or no scholly and you have a decent shot at money from these schools RD. We have very similar numbers, and I was offered 30k a year at Vandy this cycle.

I didn't get into Penn, UVA, or Duke, however I attribute that to not writing the optional essays, so definitely do them!

I think Vandy is a great option for you for minimal debt/ shot at entering Florida, definitely check it out.

After thinking/researching the potential options, it is just going to come down to the numbers in the end (risk vs reward); as it always does in life!

I am open to anything tier 1 in this enviornment. T14 would be an absolute blessing, however some schools outside T14 in tier 1 have some appealing stats that look great (with potentially no financial risk aside from opportunity cost).

Glad i did some serious initial research today in my search. T14 surprised me with superior prestige, while remainder of Tier 1 impressed me on its overall competitiveness! Throw the numerical rankings away, everyone should have their own rankings!

Thanks again for the feedback, I will get back to you guys in a few months!

[nebula666]

I think it's between Penn and UF. I'd probably take Penn since you are almost guaranteed biglaw if you don't screw up.