Top Law Schools

-The schools you are considering
UVA (the Dillard full-tuition scholarship), Duke (JD/LLM program), and Chicago

I've also been admitted to Columbia, NYU, Harvard and Northwestern but I'm not seriously considering those schools because of terrible financial aid combined with bad weather. I love running and being outside (and it'll probably not be very often that I'll get to do that in law school, but it's still an important consideration). But Chicago made it onto the list because of it's minuscule class-size and fairly generous financial aid.

-The total Cost of Attendance (COA) of each
UVA: total debt at graduation comes to around 70,000
Duke: 131,000
Chicago: 170,000

-How you will be financing your COA, i.e. loans, family, or savings
Loans

-Where you are from and where you want to work, and other places where you have significant ties (if any)
I'd love to work in a firm in Miami, DC, San Francisco, LA, or in a satellite firm abroad. I have absolutely no interest in going into the NYC market unless it's later in my career for some job at the UN, World Bank or similar organization.

-Your general career goals
I want to clerk for a judge on the federal court of appeals or a district court right after graduation. Afterwards, I'd like to work for a firm somewhere warm before going to an intergovernmental agency.

Around mid-career, I plan on trying to get into academia (I do really enjoy researching and writing since that's what I did for most of my junior and senior years in undergrad, and I'd like to publish while in law school).

Also since I'm interested in international/comparative law, I thought Duke's JD/LLM program would give it an edge over UVA even if it's more expensive. Chicago has history with producing law professors so it seems like the best option for my ultimate career goal.

-Your LSAT/GPA numbers
I'm definitely not going through the torture of applying for law school again... So this is irrelevant.

Thanks everyone!!

Well, since everyone is thinking it when they read this, the truly best choice here for your goals - fed clerkship, gov, academia - is Harvard, hands down. Second best would be Chicago. Neither has a "habit of" producing law professors. That can really only be said for Yale.

Of the three options you listed I would vote UVA. The Duke dual degree is of marginal significance - certainly not worth $60,000. UVa also traditionally does pretty well with competitive clerkships.

For most people, UVA and its not close. For your goals, I might think about Chicago or Harvard but UVA still is the correct response.

I suppose my reluctance to go to Harvard can be confusing, but I loathed Cambridge when I visited Harvard, and its class size is just too big for me. I'm not interested in going into a huge NYC firm for the same reasons I don't want to go to Harvard: being somewhere where I would be just another student/associate just wouldn't work well for my personality.

Do you have your Harvard need-based aid offer yet?

mimi101 wrote:I suppose my reluctance to go to Harvard can be confusing, but I loathed Cambridge when I visited Harvard, and its class size is just too big for me. I'm not interested in going into a huge NYC firm for the same reasons I don't want to go to Harvard: being somewhere where I would be just another student/associate just wouldn't work well for my personality.

These are dumb reasons not to choose a school if it aligns with your goals.

ETA: Not saying Harvard is the right choice, but you really need to consider things other than weather and the difference of a few hundred people in a given class.

ETA2: I just re-read your goals, and tbh Harvard is probably the right choice. It does offer a distinct advantage for everything you mentioned (clerkship, government, DC market, professor, etc.)

lawschool22 wrote:Do you have your Harvard need-based aid offer yet?

Yes. I would be basically paying sticker if I choose to go there.

mimi101 wrote:

lawschool22 wrote:Do you have your Harvard need-based aid offer yet?

Yes. I would be basically paying sticker if I choose to go there.

That makes it a little tougher. I guess my first question is whether you would be okay with biglaw first instead of clerking right out of law school.

UVA. Your career goals point to HLS, but let's be honest--those career goals are just a list of prestigious stuff at this point.

lawschool22 wrote:

mimi101 wrote:

lawschool22 wrote:Do you have your Harvard need-based aid offer yet?

Yes. I would be basically paying sticker if I choose to go there.

That makes it a little tougher. I guess my first question is whether you would be okay with biglaw first instead of clerking right out of law school.

It's definitely not ideal. Knowing myself, the BigLaw salary and possibility of making partner in another 5 or 6 years would be too difficult to give up for a clerkship once I pay off my loans.

banjo wrote:UVA. Your career goals point to HLS, but let's be honest--those career goals are just a list of prestigious stuff at this point.

Harvard is the only school that will give you a really measurable edge in terms of clerking, $150k or so is a lot to forgo for something that will be unlikely even at Harvard.

banjo wrote:UVA. Your career goals point to HLS, but let's be honest--those career goals are just a list of prestigious stuff at this point.

They're hardly prestigious when you consider the cohort of people attending T10 law schools who don't want to spend their lives in a firm or as in-house counsel and want to make a decent living. And I'm actually interested in academia and government work.

mimi101 wrote:

banjo wrote:UVA. Your career goals point to HLS, but let's be honest--those career goals are just a list of prestigious stuff at this point.

They're hardly prestigious when you consider the cohort of people attending T10 law schools who don't want to spend their lives in a firm or as in-house counsel and want to make a decent living. And I'm actually interested in academia and government work.

Their point is the majority of people attending "T10" law schools do exactly that.

While the desire to clerk and go into academia clearly favor Harvard, I don't think you can go wrong with UVA for free with a named scholarship. I'd take that over the other two options you've considered since the Duke dual degree won't mean much and is more expensive, as is Chicago.

If you really want to do what you say you want to do, suck it up and go to Harvard. I think that it is literally worth it, if those are your goals. I do suspect, however, that you just made a list of prestigious ("important") things and perhaps do not know what you actually want to do. If such is the case, take the full ride at UVA.

Would you mind PMing your numbers? I'm really interested in what type of student gets the Dillard.

Take the Dillard. Never a bad call.