Texas vs G-Town Forum

[TLSCLB]

-The schools you are considering:

Texas, Vanderbilt, Georgetown & USC

-The total Cost of Attendance (COA) of each. Just doing tuition here, most of other costs are near equal across the board (though Georgetown & USC COL is probably a bit more expensive than Texas & Vandy)

Three Yr Tuition - Scholarship = Total Tuition left to be Paid
Texas: 100k - 54k = 46k
Vanderbilt: 150k - 95k = 55k
USC = 159k - 90k = 69k
Georgetown = 153k - 60k = 93k

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

Parents' benefits package @ work provides about 20k in support money per year...meaning that at Texas & Vanderbilt, I'd have a decent amount leftover to use towards books, fees & COL. At USC, the remaining 9k would likely be loans, while the same applies to the 33k at Georgetown.

-Where you are from and where you want to work, and other places where you have significant ties (if any)

Grew up in Houston, TX, though I've always wanted to work in Washington DC. Undergrad was at Vandy, so naturally have many ties to Nashville, TN.

-Your general career goals

Usually I say that I'm interested in international law, but as I've thought on it more, I think I'd like to incorporate international work into whatever field of the law I go into than make it my actual career goal. For sure looking to do BigLaw for at least a couple of years upon graduation, then we'll see from there.

-Your LSAT/GPA numbers:

Not disclosing, but I assure you I've overachieved by the typical expectations for my numbers that you'll find here or on lawschoolnumbers. Also, LSAT has been taken three times, so taking it again not really an option. I'm also very satisfied with the offers I have on the table, especially given my GPA.


Additional info:

Right now, I'm mainly torn between Texas and G-Town. I have a feeling that Texas may up their number if I email them a matching request, whereas G-Town has made it clear that this is their final offer. If I were to attend Georgetown, I would be considerably closer to family than I would be in Austin, would be only 3-4 hrs from my girlfriend & would be able to split housing costs with one of my best friends from high school. However, based on the visits I've made to both campuses, and the contact I've had with prospective students and faculty at both universities, I much prefer the atmosphere In Austin. Again though, while working in Texas after graduation would not be the end of the world, I'd much prefer to be in DC.

And career-wise, if I was as dedicated to international law as I used to be, Georgetown might be a no-brainer. But international law is more of an interest now than my dead-on career objective, and I'm looking to explore and learn more about other fields when I get into law school.

All thoughts/comments appreciate. Even the dreaded "Retake."

EDIT: Since when did re-take auto-correct to that lol

[KatyMarie]

I'm a little bit confused about your COA numbers. Are you saying that you'd have to pay 46k per year for Texas, 93k per year for Georgetown etc?

[BigZuck]

You need to go back and tell us the total cost of attendance. Factor in cost of living, tuition increases, and loan interest/origination fees. Use the Georgetown law calculator, people here aren't going to do that for you and it's crucial.

A couple things- It's a little disturbing that you haven't actually thought about how much this will cost you to be perfectly honest. Also, big law chances from all of these schools are a little sketchy (meaning ending up without big law is more likely than ending up with big law). Finally, international law doesn't really exist, at least not in a meaningful way. What do you mean by international law?

Cost and career goals are pretty much the only two things that matter here (we can't help you with the personal decisions) so you have got to tell us how much each school will cost.

[BigZuck]

I'm a little bit confused about your COA numbers. Are you saying that you'd have to pay 46k per year for Texas, 93k per year for Georgetown etc?

Right. Just give us 4 numbers: the total cost of attendance at each school after all relevant factors have been factored in.

[Winston1984]

I'm a little bit confused about your COA numbers. Are you saying that you'd have to pay 46k per year for Texas, 93k per year for Georgetown etc?

Haha that'd be a little expensive for Georgetown. Even though your COA aren't quite accurate, I'd take Georgetown here. Even though biglaw isn't guaranteed, you would have very little chance at DC biglaw from Texas. If you take Texas you have to be cool with Houston/Dallas. If your total COA is under 100k for Georgetown, I think that's a pretty good deal.

[McAvoy]

If I'm reading this right and GTTTown will cost >100K more over three years, UT no doubt. But clarify your COA.

What, like 10 people go to DC from UT every year. Not great odds, but with Texas ties you'd have good options to stick around if you can't get DC right away.

[El Principe]

I'd take UT in your situation (funny how I got the same scholarship from Texas but I didn't even get accepted to GULC )

And if I'm not mistaken, doesn't Georgetown still send most of their biglaw people to NYC? I'm sure GULC obviously sends more people to DC than Texas, but I thought the best shot for DC was HYS, and everyone else, including Georgetown, has to have super-high grades, regardless of where you go.

Like I said, my suggestion for Texas is contingent on what that stuff being true, or at least relatively accurate.

[Winston1984]

If I'm reading this right and GTTTown will cost >100K more over three years, UT no doubt. But clarify your COA.

What, like 10 people go to DC from UT every year. Not great odds, but with Texas ties you'd have good options to stick around if you can't get DC right away.

The way I read it is that he gets an additional 60k to knock off the total. So he'd have some savings when graduating from Texas and Georgetown would cost <50k. OP, it would help a whole lot if you used a COA calculator from Georgetown or BU to really give us a better understanding of the financial situation. Also, would you rather be in NY or TX if you couldn't get DC?

[TLSCLB]

Apologies everyone, at first, I planned to do COA per year, then I decided just to do Tuition for all three years, but forgot to take out "per year."

Hope that clears things up a bit. I'll do the Georgetown calculator thing later tonight.

[McAvoy]

Texas for free sounds good. So does GTown for almost free. Can't make a bad choice here.

[PrideandGlory1776]

Texas or GTown at those COA is a toss-up

[TLSCLB]

Thanks for those who replied after the update...anymore thoughts from anyone else? My gut feeling is that it is pretty much a toss-up as well...but if anyone feels particularly inclined towards one side over the other, I'd love to hear your reasoning!

[jarofsoup]

I would GULC. Texas ties will get u back to TX.

[BigZuck]

Thanks for those who replied after the update...anymore thoughts from anyone else? My gut feeling is that it is pretty much a toss-up as well...but if anyone feels particularly inclined towards one side over the other, I'd love to hear your reasoning!

I guess I'm dumb. Are those 4 numbers the total cost of attendance? Meaning tuition+fees+cost of living+tuition increases+loan origination fees and interest? So Georgetown will only cost 93K when all that stuff is factored in?

[de5igual]

You really should factor in COL too.

Your comparison looks more like this:

GULC: $206,376
Vanderbilt: $156,124
USC: $178,841
UT: $122,632

less ~$67K in savings if you take out 20K less per year since your parents are helping fund that much.

[El Principe]

You really should factor in COL too.

Your comparison looks more like this:

GULC: $206,376
Vanderbilt: $156,124
USC: $178,841
UT: $122,632

less ~$67K in savings if you take out 20K less per year since your parents are helping fund that much.

Assuming the above is correct:

OP, Eliminate USC with that COA.

No way Georgetown is worth 80K + interest more compared to Texas. Am I not the only one looking at the big law + clerkship numbers for GULC and noticing that the difference is marginal between Vandy/UT/GULC?

With that price, plus the higher COL if you end up in DC, you'll be in debt much longer than you would be coming from Texas.

Hell, I'd probably take Vanderbilt with the smaller class sizes, seeing as it's still cheaper as well.

[buttes]

From Texas, at GULC. If you want to work in DC, GULC is your best shot. If you're ok with Texas, UT is an option. You can get back to Texas (with ties) from GULC, but DC from UT is unlikely. According to LST, GULC is keeping about 41% of its graduates in DC, while UT is sending less than 3% of graduates to DC, so it's really just is DC worth the extra cash.

Edit: that 41% number probably includes a lot of gov't and public interest jobs, but if there's a way for me to look at job location broken down by job type, I have no idea how to do it.

[PrideandGlory1776]

If you want to do international law and you want to work in D.C. it seems to me that Georgetown would make a lot of sense. If you want to save more money and are unsure about the future Vandy or UT would make a lot of sense.

[Kool-Aid]

I'd take Georgetown if you really want D.C.

[transferror]

Why aren't you seriously considering Vandy?

[n1o2c3a4c5h6e7t]

Paying an extra $80k for GT seems financially obtuse. Is living in DC really worth that? I'd argue no, but it is your decision to make and your debt to take.

[TLSCLB]

Why aren't you seriously considering Vandy?

I went to undergrad at Vandy, and while I wouldn't hate working in Nashville, it is less desirable than working in Texas and far less desirable than working in DC.

Also de5igual, thank you for doing the work for me haha. I guess COA for GTown is then 140k, UT 55k, Vandy 90k. That looks fine for Vandy & GTown; for UT, if I'm saving about 5k a year, I would think COA would be closer to 50k than 55k, but it's fine for the sake of discussion.

I guess I'm more focused on tuition than COA because a decent amount of food & living expenses will be paid by parents, so you could probably cut my COL costs in half for an accurate reflection of what I'll actually have to pay.

[lawschool22]

If you take Texas make sure you're comfortable working in Texas. Yes, Texas and GULC have similar biglaw + fed clerk percentages, but the vast majority of Texas' strength is in Texas. According to LST, 65% of UT grads ended up in Texas. The next highest geographic location was NY, at 5%. Think about that.

Don't take that to mean that I think GULC at that cost is a good idea. I think you should probably choose UT, but only if you are okay with Texas. Otherwise I wouldn't choose either.

ETA: I'm still a little confused by your total COA numbers. So if you could give real numbers to us that would be great. I made a thread in this forum (I think it's on the first page) that has a spreadsheet which will do this for you.

[McAvoy]

If you take Texas make sure you're comfortable working in Texas. Yes, Texas and GULC have similar biglaw + fed clerk percentages, but the vast majority of Texas' strength is in Texas. According to LST, 65% of UT grads ended up in Texas. The next highest geographic location was NY, at 5%. Think about that.

True, but that's not to say you're tied there. Or, at least, as an out of stater likely heading there, I'd like to believe the Texas placement is a product of self selection because: (1) 65% percent of UT's classes are required to be Texas residents and those residents prefer to live in Texas, and (2) most out-of-state UT grads' most attractive options are in Texas because two of the country's top 10 legal markets are within a couple hours' drive, there are no T14s even remotely close to Texas, and it has dirt cheap COL.

ETA: If you go out of state from UT, though, you're probably going to have to hustle more than you would if you went to Georgetown and tried to find a job in a market they don't feed into. Whether that's worth the cost difference is up to you; I would say it isn't, but that's just me.

[BigZuck]

If you take Texas make sure you're comfortable working in Texas. Yes, Texas and GULC have similar biglaw + fed clerk percentages, but the vast majority of Texas' strength is in Texas. According to LST, 65% of UT grads ended up in Texas. The next highest geographic location was NY, at 5%. Think about that.

Don't take that to mean that I think GULC at that cost is a good idea. I think you should probably choose UT, but only if you are okay with Texas. Otherwise I wouldn't choose either.

ETA: I'm still a little confused by your total COA numbers. So if you could give real numbers to us that would be great. I made a thread in this forum (I think it's on the first page) that has a spreadsheet which will do this for you.

Exactly. How have we gone a week and a number of posts and we still don't have cost of attendance numbers?