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I want to do a clerkship, biglaw litigation and/or bigfed in D.C. My debt at graduation for UVA will be approx. 200k and my debt at graduation for Duke will be approx. 135k. I am not terribly opposed to doing litigation in NYC or Chicago (strongest ties), but will be gunning for a clerkship and then D.C. after. What do you all think? Is UVA worth the extra 65k in debt at graduation? I have visited both and liked them equally.

GeneralFile(s) wrote:I want to do a clerkship, biglaw litigation and/or bigfed in D.C. My debt at graduation for UVA will be approx. 200k and my debt at graduation for Duke will be approx. 135k. I am not terribly opposed to doing litigation in NYC or Chicago (strongest ties), but will be gunning for a clerkship and then D.C. after. What do you all think? Is UVA worth the extra 65k in debt at graduation? I have visited both and liked them equally.

Save the money and go with Duke

Duke and UVA are the same.

This ^

You'd be crazy to spend extra money to go to the same school.



And in all seriousness I actually think going to the smaller school when the two have the same rep is a better idea in general. Only thing is I don't like that Duke makes you grade on to their journals. That's whack and journals actually do matter a bit for non biglaw jobs (especially in the secondary markets). Still the money is more important.


Note: I'm a UVA grad.

It's been said but I just wanted to throw in one more vote for Duke. Duke places well in DC and Virginia is in no way worth 65K more (more than that once you account for interest).

They have the same employment prospects AND you liked Duke better AND Duke is cheaper.

No-brainer. Duke it is.

BruceWayne wrote:This ^

You'd be crazy to spend extra money to go to the same school.



And in all seriousness I actually think going to the smaller school when the two have the same rep is a better idea in general. Only thing is I don't like that Duke makes you grade on to their journals. That's whack and journals actually do matter a bit for non biglaw jobs (especially in the secondary markets). Still the money is more important.


Note: I'm a UVA grad.

Dunno where you're getting this info. All of Duke's journals require participation in the casenote competition. Only one third of Duke Law Journal's membership grades on.

name of user wrote:

BruceWayne wrote:This ^

You'd be crazy to spend extra money to go to the same school.



And in all seriousness I actually think going to the smaller school when the two have the same rep is a better idea in general. Only thing is I don't like that Duke makes you grade on to their journals. That's whack and journals actually do matter a bit for non biglaw jobs (especially in the secondary markets). Still the money is more important.


Note: I'm a UVA grad.

Dunno where you're getting this info. All of Duke's journals require participation in the casenote competition. Only one third of Duke Law Journal's membership grades on.

One of their students told me that a few year ago. Maybe I missunderstood him/her but they said grades factored into all of the journals.

For me UVA’s 16.2% School Funded Jobs and their 20.9% public service score is a troubling red flag. In their favor UVA tied Duke on big firm placement (50% each). Given the difference in tuition, Duke easily wins.