Top Law Schools

Total COA after scholarships/grants taken out, not including UG debt:

Columbia 203k
Penn 152k
UVA 132k
Michigan 94k
Georgetown 98k
UCLA 90k
UT 86k

Goals: Biglaw/midlaw/govt in Houston (weak ties - I'm not from TX). Would be fine with doing big law elsewhere though.

Debt: Will also have ~55k UG debt after law school.

-Michigan offer is tempting, but went there for UG, so kind of wanting a new experience + resume diversity.

-Loved Columbia when I visited, though not sure I can justify taking out so much debt when working at a NYC vault isn't all that important to me.

-Seeing that I want to work in TX, is 86k too much to pay for UT?

Def not Columbia. Would be real dumb to pay over 100K more, when you could just go to UT for a reasonable amount. Especially since your goal is to work in TX. I'd say its between UT and Michigan. Michigan is a better overall school, but I'm not sure if TX employers will view a Michigan degree more favorably than a UT degree. A part of me is inclined that they may actually prefer someone local who goes to school local. But I'm not really sure on that. However, I am fairly certain that UT and Michigan should be your top two choices, especially since you have that undergrad debt.

If I had to vote, I'd say UT over Michigan since you went to undergrad at MI, and it would be much harder to make the sell on a TX employer if you spent the past 7 plus years away from TX.

86k on top of your undergrad debt is too much for UT. I'd probably do Michigan, but I don't know much about their placement into Texas.

Michigan is the right call, but forget working in TX

UVA at 132k looks dead sexy to me -if it were me I'd be heading to Charlottesville in a nano-second.

Edit: If Texas obv UT is cheapest option and will probably place as well if not better than any of the others - so ignore the above comment if that is indeed OPs intent.

do michigan. And you don't have to forget working in TX. But I would bid Houston + NYC when it comes OCI time. I'd be surprised if TX firms didn't pick u up tho if you have some ties that you can aritculate, decent grades, and seem sincere about wanting to be in houston

The question might be if UVA is worth 38k more than Michigan for Texas firms. If it's not, then do Michigan. 150k debt is a lot better than 180 given comparable biglaw numbers.

I don't understand why everyone on TLS thinks that UVA (and to a slightly lesser extent, Duke) are so much better than the rest of the "lower" T14 for snagging TX Biglaw. Sure, there may be more lawyers at big tx firms from those schools, but I think there is a correlation/causation confusion going on. The big ones recruit at Michigan and will be at Michigan OCI.

I really don't think OP's odds of getting TX biglaw are gonna be much different b/w Mich and UVA. Whether he gets a job in TX is gonna depend much more on his grades, ties, interviewing ability, etc.

crit_racer wrote:I don't understand why everyone on TLS thinks that UVA (and to a slightly lesser extent, Duke) are so much better than the rest of the "lower" T14 for snagging TX Biglaw. Sure, there may be more lawyers at big tx firms from those schools, but I think there is a correlation/causation confusion going on. The big ones recruit at Michigan and will be at Michigan OCI.

I really don't think OP's odds of getting TX biglaw are gonna be much different b/w Mich and UVA. Whether he gets a job in TX is gonna depend much more on his grades, ties, interviewing ability, etc.

Agreed.

Fewer people who go to non Southern schools want to work in the South or TX but biglaw firms generally recruit at all the Top 14. This is easy to me- Michigan.

Did you negotiate with UT post-Michigan offer? If that's as low as UT will go, then go Michigan.

Regarding ties: some Houston firms care more about ties than others, but if you happen to be interested in energy work, that's easy to explain away. If I were you, I'd try to get something 1L year in Houston (not a ton of 1L BigLaw SAs, but there are some to be had, as well as other mid-law/in-house gigs), see if you like it, establish some ties/interest to the city for 2L OCI, and then bid NYC as backup.