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I was recently accepted to William & Mary and was given an offer which amounts to about $19,000 per year (roughly half tuition/fees as an out of state student). As a part of that package, I was awarded a position as a Graduate Fellow, where I would work with the law school administration/law library the first year and then the next two years I would work on research projects with faculty.

How valuable is a fellowship like this? Is it something "prestigious" I could list on my resume and use to open doors by working closely with faculty, or is it a glorified version of work-study? I found similar topics through the search function, but no one could really answer these questions directly.

It's worth about $58,000.

You're an RA, but I'd list it on the resume both under education and work experience. Faculty are not particularly great employment contacts in general, and employers aren't likely to be swinging open doors, since RA is one of the most common jobs.

The real problem is that you're paying over 120K to go to W+M. That's too much.

timbs4339 wrote:It's worth about $58,000.

You're an RA, but I'd list it on the resume both under education and work experience. Faculty are not particularly great employment contacts in general, and employers aren't likely to be swinging open doors, since RA is one of the most common jobs.

The real problem is that you're paying over 120K to go to W+M. That's too much.

Thanks for the input. So it sounds like it's decent résumé filler for a law student, but nothing that will be too significant during the job search?

My spouse will be working while I'm in law school, so the lower COL would put us under $100k...though I assume most here would say that's still too much for W&M.

AT9 wrote:

timbs4339 wrote:It's worth about $58,000.

You're an RA, but I'd list it on the resume both under education and work experience. Faculty are not particularly great employment contacts in general, and employers aren't likely to be swinging open doors, since RA is one of the most common jobs.

The real problem is that you're paying over 120K to go to W+M. That's too much.

Thanks for the input. So it sounds like it's decent résumé filler for a law student, but nothing that will be too significant during the job search?

My spouse will be working while I'm in law school, so the lower COL would put us under $100k...though I assume most here would say that's still too much for W&M.

That's correct. Named, full scholarships are usually prestigious and recognizable, but some people question even the impact of those. Whatever you're working on as an RA may lead to the occasional interesting conversation at an interview, but it's not likely to have anyone pull your name out of the pile, and the list of professional contacts of most professors is pretty short or obscure.

100K for W+M is pushing it. 80K would be about as much as I'd pay for that school.

I gotcha. I like W&M, but at the moment I'd probably go with UGA at about $39k total tuition if I had to choose now. But, that decision is a few months off. Thanks again for the input!

AT9 wrote:I gotcha. I like W&M, but at the moment I'd probably go with UGA at about $39k total tuition if I had to choose now. But, that decision is a few months off. Thanks again for the input!

I like the idea of the fellowship, it sounds pretty awesome to be honest. But I guess if the end goal of law school is to be gainfully employed in law, and this doesn't provide a boost per say, then I guess if the price isn't right, definitely see how the UGA or other school offers go.

Go to UGA if you want to work in Atlanta. Go to W+M if you are aiming to work in Richmond/Northern VA.

That's where those schools feed into. Decide for yourself if the costs are worth it

vicpin5190 wrote:

AT9 wrote:I gotcha. I like W&M, but at the moment I'd probably go with UGA at about $39k total tuition if I had to choose now. But, that decision is a few months off. Thanks again for the input!

I like the idea of the fellowship, it sounds pretty awesome to be honest. But I guess if the end goal of law school is to be gainfully employed in law, and this doesn't provide a boost per say, then I guess if the price isn't right, definitely see how the UGA or other school offers go.

What is it that you like about the fellowship?

treeey86 wrote:Go to UGA if you want to work in Atlanta. Go to W+M if you are aiming to work in Richmond/Northern VA.

That's where those schools feed into. Decide for yourself if the costs are worth it

I don't really prefer one market over the other, unfortunately. I wish I was more geographically picky.

AT9 wrote:

vicpin5190 wrote:

AT9 wrote:I gotcha. I like W&M, but at the moment I'd probably go with UGA at about $39k total tuition if I had to choose now. But, that decision is a few months off. Thanks again for the input!

I like the idea of the fellowship, it sounds pretty awesome to be honest. But I guess if the end goal of law school is to be gainfully employed in law, and this doesn't provide a boost per say, then I guess if the price isn't right, definitely see how the UGA or other school offers go.

What is it that you like about the fellowship?

I'm an academic junkie, so I really think the idea of working with professors in research is a lot of fun and intellectually rewarding, that's all. I don't know anything about the program besides what you wrote about it, so I was just remarking on that detail.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LquoHARaCNM

Interesting.