Top Law Schools

-The schools you are considering:

Texas, Vanderbilt, USC & (possibly) Columbia

-The total Cost of Attendance (COA) of each. Including Scholarship + Grant Support from Parents' Work here.

Texas: 154k - 54k = 100k - 100k = 0
Vanderbilt: 210k - 95k = 115k - 100k = 15k
USC: 240k - 90k = 150k - 100k = 50k
Columbia: 240k - 0 = 240k - 100k = 140k

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

My parents both work at a university that provides a 20k stipend/grant per child per parent to help with grad tuition...as a result, I'm expecting probably 100k (my mom does not yet work at the university, but will almost surely be working there by my second year) to help with tuition.

Columbia's remaining 140k would be financed mostly by loans, possibly with some parental assistance.

-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. Not opposed to working in New York, even though I dislike the cold. Given my field, I'm bound to do a lot of work in NY, and I think I could certainly grow to like it.

-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:
I posted here before, but a great deal has changed since then. I know posting about schools I'm not in at is highly discouraged here, but I would like to know where to rank the school should I be accepted. And between UT & Vandy, what do yall think? I've been told by people that it's not a good idea to go back to the school you went to undergrad at (unless its HYSCCN), but others have said that's nonsense. And Vandy's LST score is significantly better than UT's (86% vs 77%, 6% vs 10% underemployed). I am aware that attending Texas means that unless I'm in the top quarter or so of my class, I'll be practicing in Texas; that idea doesn't bother me too much honestly, Texas isn't a bad place to practice at all. Obviously with regards to int law, it's not NY or DC, but much can change in three years and I'm not too concerned with focusing on just international law right now.

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

I feel like I'm getting Punk'd

This is basically the same thread: http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 6#p7606186

You never said how much debt you'll be in. And now you want us to do it again?

Dude, how much debt will you be in at graduation? Factor in everything. We don't care what your situation is with weird 20K gifts, we don't care what the inputs are, just tell us exactly how much debt you will be in at graduation.

4 numbers. That's all we want. What will your debt be at each school?

BigZuck wrote:I feel like I'm getting Punk'd

This is basically the same thread: http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 6#p7606186

You never said how much debt you'll be in. And now you want us to do it again?

Dude, how much debt will you be in at graduation? Factor in everything. We don't care what your situation is with weird 20K gifts, we don't care what the inputs are, just tell us exactly how much debt you will be in at graduation.

4 numbers. That's all we want. What will your debt be at each school?

Don't think I could be any clearer...I followed the exact rubric for posting and provided CoA, scholarship & any parental support. That directly gives you the amount of debt I'll have. I suppose if you're not looking to read at all...

Texas: 0
Vandy: 0 (15 from savings)
Columbia: 140

Free UT? Enjoy.

Eta: also keep in mind that you said UT would be 100K, you had 20K benefit each year and as a result were expecting 100K assistance (wtf? 20X3=60) and somehow we were supposed to figure out that that meant UT wouldn't cost you a dime. That's confusing dawg. We have no way of knowing whether UT cost 200 and you subtracted the 100 and were left with 100 COA or if it was 100-100=0. We aren't you, we can't read your mind, nor do we care about the fluff. Just post cost of attendance when asked, that's all brother. The rest is just a wall of words that won't help people give you the best advice possible.

BigZuck wrote:Free UT? Enjoy.

Eta: also keep in mind that you said UT would be 100K, you had 20K benefit each year and as a result were expecting 100K assistance (wtf? 20X3=60) and somehow we were supposed to figure out that that meant UT wouldn't cost you a dime. That's confusing dawg. We have no way of knowing whether UT cost 200 and you subtracted the 100 and were left with 100 COA or if it was 100-100=0. We aren't you, we can't read your mind, nor do we care about the fluff. Just post cost of attendance when asked, that's all brother. The rest is just a wall of words that won't help people give you the best advice possible.

Fair enough. I get 20k assistance per year for each parent working, and mom will be working at the university next year. 60k from Dad + 40k from mom.

I've edited to make it simpler.

Any of these options are great - Columbia for 140k is stellar - UT and Vandy for virtually nothing is amazing - can't go wrong with any of these.

Vandy 1L here. That's a pretty great price.

If you end up wanting to go back to TX, you can get there with strong Houston ties. Wherever you go, I'd gun hard as a 1L to try and land 1L SAs with a couple firms in TX. If your grades turn out to be NYC or DC level, do that your second summer. If not, you can probably get back to TX with decent grades and strong ties, especially if one or both of your 1L firms gives you an offer for 2L summer.

Also, international law isn't a real thing. 95/100 you won't end up doing international law, other than maybe working on deals between non-domestic companies.

arklaw13 wrote:Vandy 1L here. That's a pretty great price.

If you end up wanting to go back to TX, you can get there with strong Houston ties. Wherever you go, I'd gun hard as a 1L to try and land 1L SAs with a couple firms in TX. If your grades turn out to be NYC or DC level, do that your second summer. If not, you can probably get back to TX with decent grades and strong ties, especially if one or both of your 1L firms gives you an offer for 2L summer.

Also, international law isn't a real thing. 95/100 you won't end up doing international law, other than maybe working on deals between non-domestic companies.

Agree that Vandy is a good school and that's a great price but it literally makes no sense to me here.

Do you think Vandy offers a more meaningful shot at NYC/DC? That's an honest question. I'm inclined to think firms would consider UT and Vandy on par in that regard, do you think I'm off base?

NYC/DC probably won't happen for the OP either way, so then what is he left with? Texas. UT clearly gives the OP a leg up there.

For a Texan, I think UT over Vandy at the same price is a no brainer.

BigZuck wrote:

arklaw13 wrote:Vandy 1L here. That's a pretty great price.

If you end up wanting to go back to TX, you can get there with strong Houston ties. Wherever you go, I'd gun hard as a 1L to try and land 1L SAs with a couple firms in TX. If your grades turn out to be NYC or DC level, do that your second summer. If not, you can probably get back to TX with decent grades and strong ties, especially if one or both of your 1L firms gives you an offer for 2L summer.

Also, international law isn't a real thing. 95/100 you won't end up doing international law, other than maybe working on deals between non-domestic companies.

Agree that Vandy is a good school and that's a great price but it literally makes no sense to me here.

Do you think Vandy offers a more meaningful shot at NYC/DC? That's an honest question. I'm inclined to think firms would consider UT and Vandy on par in that regard, do you think I'm off base?

NYC/DC probably won't happen for the OP either way, so then what is he left with? Texas. UT clearly gives the OP a leg up there.

For a Texan, I think UT over Vandy at the same price is a no brainer.

Notice I never said he should pick Vandy over UT, only that he could get back there from Vandy if his ties are strong. Just giving a bit of strategy advice for wherever he goes because being from TX gives you a wider range of opportunities than you might otherwise have. That advice would apply equally at Columbia.

I have no idea if Vandy would give him a leg up for NYC or DC. I think firms probably see the two as peer schools. A greater number of Vandy kids go to those markets even though UT is almost twice the size of Vandy, but that can mostly be explained by self-selection and the fact that 2/3 of UT people are TX residents and presumably want to stay there.

Grades being equal, a UT student and a Vandy student with strong TX ties will probably have similar results in getting TX biglaw. Vandy might open up some southern markets that TX wouldn't, Nashville being one of them. On the other hand, since UT is so much larger I would think that more NYC and DC firms would come to OCI. That's just my impression, though, and might not be true given the fact that so few UT people go to NYC/DC.

In the end I don't think OP can choose wrong between the two.