Top Law Schools

Emory $$$, my family ties in the South.

SMU $$$, fiancée's folks in Dallas, currently in TX right now.

No overriding personal preference to remain in Texas. I'd be content in ATL or Dallas.

Please avoid the retake comment. I'm a non-traditional applicant transitioning out of a job and I don't have the luxury of sitting out another cycle to boost my LSAT. My softs are getting me some decent offers though.

I'm WLed at Berkeley (top quartile) and UT, and I'm still waiting to hear from Vanderbilt and Penn (the super-long-shot). I added Michigan after a personalized invitation to apply. I'm willing to ride waitlists pretty hard.

It seems like TLS has a huge preference for biglaw, but it seems like part of that is due to having to service large debts. I'd be fine with a mid-sized firm as well. My main preference is to 1) get a good education for the offers I've received, and 2) get a decent job that will service remaining debts.

Thanks for the feedback.

Need total COA. But everyone is still going to say retake. Which you definitely should.

Emory

Post removed.

Good education doesn't really matter all that much.

What do you mean by a decent job? Does that job exist for recent grads and can those schools get you that job?

Based on what you said, sounds like you need to retake the LSAT.

Need COA to make an adequate recommendation. If you're leaning TX, you could deposit at SMU and then ride the waitlist at UT, but if you're not getting in-state tuition, that could be a pricey venture.

Tuxedo wrote: fiancée's folks in Dallas

SMU. Save yourself the expense of moving away from Texas and moving back in 5 years.

Apples vs. Oranges. If you want Texas than stay put and go to SMU. If you want Atlanta go Emory.

If you want another market...you are $@!* out of luck.

SMU and Emory are both fantastic private law schools. There is arguably a bit more portability with Emory and you might be better off there if you end up closer to the median. However, you sound like you got your act together so I suspect you will perform extremely well wherever you go.

Plus, rolling with SMU through the summer will allow you to stay put while you "ride the waitlists" hard.

I'm just glad Washington & Lee wasn't one of the private school options for once.

Penn @ sticker > Berkeley/Michigan @ sticker > Emory (ATL/NY preference) / SMU (Dallas preference) > UT @ sticker.

I'd probably end up taking Emory for free over sticker at Michigan but I'm just more debt adverse.