Indiana Maurer vs. University of Houston. Forum

[life2323]

Houston would be about 20,000 cheaper overall. I want to work in Texas big law. Struggling with this because Maurer is a t25 school and has a great reputation nationwide. Houston is good with placing people in big law only in Texas. Would I be able to get a big law job coming from Indiana. Also, does being a URM(AA male) help.

[kellohitty]

I'm also considering IU for law school as well. Having said that, neither school gives you a good shot at Big Law.

[Lord Randolph McDuff]

Who told you that Indiana U had a great reputation nationwide?

[Lord Randolph McDuff]

Being an AA helps for big law, depending on where you are in the country it can help a moderate amount or an huge amount. Out west in many places there are no black people. I know in Colorado it is a huge bump. No idea about Houston, though I imagine it has to be a smaller bump. Houston is what, 25% black? Denver is 5%, by contrast.

[downinDtown]

Houston would be about 20,000 cheaper overall. I want to work in Texas big law. Struggling with this because Maurer is a t25 school and has a great reputation nationwide. Houston is good with placing people in big law only in Texas. Would I be able to get a big law job coming from Indiana. Also, does being a URM(AA male) help.

Don't know what your numbers are (LSAT, GPA, or COA and scholly $$$ at either school). But just so you can look at the numbers before you make any rash decisions: these are the latest BigLaw numbers (% placed in NLJ 250 for 2013):

Houston ranks 30th in the country with 41 students out of 266 (or 15.41%) in BigLaw. This was up 13.36% in 2012.

Indiana--just west of BFE--ranked 42, placing 23 grads out of 227 in BigLaw (or 10.13%), up from 9.13% in 2012. I'd venture to say that these 23 souls split out between Indy and Chicago primarily, with some to NYC maybe. If any of those kids from IU came to TX it's because they were from TX to begin with.

As other posters have mentioned. Neither gives much shot at BigLaw (200+ people or 85-90% of each school did NOT get that 160K pie-in-the-sky). That being said, if you want to work in TX, have maxed out your retakes (and can't get T14, or even UT which ups your BigLaw chances to 30%), then, in my opinion, Houston is the better option of the two. The only Indiana grads I have seen around here have been people from TX that went to IU and then came down for Christmas break to try and hustle/network with firms. TX firms have no incentive to go recruit at IU when they can fill their classes with people in TX or with TX ties (First all the T14 kids who want TX, then UT, and then SMU or UH depending on Dallas/Houston, and then the rest of TX schools fighting for scraps). Indiana is not even on most firms' radar. That puts a major onus on you to connect with firms/alumni that don't really have much connection to your school when you are 1000 miles away.

TL;DR: If you're fixed on these two schools and want the best possible employment outcome, I'd recommend that you look at LST and the employment numbers, so you're fully secure with what will likely happen if you don't get BigLaw. Then ask yourself if you're hustling to find a job, from which area would you rather be searching? Look at the economy in the area surrounding the school: (1) living in the 4th biggest economy in the country, or (2) living in Bloomington, which half the people in Houston don't even know exists.

[californiauser]

retake for t14 if you want big law

firms won't care that you're AA out of these schools, that's a terrible mindset to have going into law school

[Nova]

Houston would be about 20,000 cheaper overall.

but what is the total cost of attendance at each? 3(tuition + fees + cost of living - scholarship)

I want to work in Texas big law.

Both are bad bets for that

Struggling with this because Maurer is a t25 school and has a great reputation nationwide.

T25 is meaningless. Ignore USNWR and go by LST. Indiana only has a great reputation in Indiana

Houston is good with placing people in big law only in Texas.

UHLC is not good at placing people in big law.

Would I be able to get a big law job coming from Indiana.

It would be very unlikely.

[sublime]

..

[AT9]

If Texas biglaw is your goal, Indiana makes zero sense, especially when it's $20k more than Houston.UH doesn't give you a great shot at biglaw, but it does give you a shot (maybe 15-20%).

Unless you're ok working non-biglaw in Texas, you should shoot for T14/UT-Austin.

[Nova]

Unless you're ok working non-biglaw in Texas, you should shoot for T14/UT-Austin.

yeah

& "ok", as in, you would consider it a good outcome.

[uvandy]

If you're receiving $$ from UH, you have a good chance at UT. Submit if you haven't already. Better late than never.