Duke ($$) versus Michigan ($$) Forum

[QAZWSX123]

Hi guys,

I have been struggling between the two for a while. Duke's deposit deadline is this Friday. I truly appreciate any insight on the comparison between the two!

Duke gives me 75K and Michigan gives me 90K.

I am an international student. My short term goal after graduation would be working for a big law firm (NYC, DC preferably) to pay off the loan. Long term goal is on the public policy/governmental side of law, and I am not too sure of how that is going to play out.

My impression is that Duke has a slight edge in landing big law jobs, but different rankings give different results. Princeton Review rated Michigan as having better job prospect, but NLJ and some other rankings say Duke is better. I have talked with a Michigan Law student, and he said job prospect in Michigan is at least as good as Duke.

Also it seems that Michigan Law enjoys a better prestige nationwide, but Duke has been climbing up fast.

Which one should I pick? Thanks!!!




Edit: Thank you guys for all your thoughts! I think I am more leaning towards Duke at this point.

[Hitchensian]

With Big Law as your goal, Duke. IIRC, Michigan has the second lowest Big Law placement rate of the T14, behind only Georgetown.

[lecsa]

With Big Law as your goal, Duke. IIRC, Michigan has the second lowest Big Law placement rate of the T14, behind only Georgetown.

Berkeley is second lowest.

The placement of Duke and Mich into biglaw differ by 2 per centage points so they are pretty equal IMO. I think someone mentioned Mich is cutting its class size to 270 from 400 in the next couple years so its placement will prob improve.

[jk148706]

With Big Law as your goal, Duke. IIRC, Michigan has the second lowest Big Law placement rate of the T14, behind only Georgetown.

No. Yale, Satanford, Berkeley, and GULC all have lower BigLaw percentages than Michigan (obvi Yale and Stanford are better than UM, just saying)

Also Duke had a 2.1% edge in biglaw placement, so idk if that's worth $15k

[jk148706]

With Big Law as your goal, Duke. IIRC, Michigan has the second lowest Big Law placement rate of the T14, behind only Georgetown.

Berkeley is second lowest.

The placement of Duke and Mich into biglaw differ by 2 pe centage points so they are pretty equal IMO.

So when we say t14 we basically don't include YS bc those grads self select out of biglaw, right? Cause they are also lower

[lecsa]

With Big Law as your goal, Duke. IIRC, Michigan has the second lowest Big Law placement rate of the T14, behind only Georgetown.

Berkeley is second lowest.

The placement of Duke and Mich into biglaw differ by 2 pe centage points so they are pretty equal IMO.

So when we say t14 we basically don't include YS bc those grads self select out of biglaw, right? Cause they are also lower

HYS are its own thing but I was talking about biglaw and fed clerkship for class of 2013

[Hitchensian]

With Big Law as your goal, Duke. IIRC, Michigan has the second lowest Big Law placement rate of the T14, behind only Georgetown.

No. Yale, Satanford, Berkeley, and GULC all have lower BigLaw percentages than Michigan (obvi Yale and Stanford are better than UM, just saying)

Also Duke had a 2.1% edge in biglaw placement, so idk if that's worth $15k

Ah, I wasn't aware that Berk is below Michigan. And I was just discounting HYS because it's HYS.

And regarding the $15k difference, I believe Duke's overall COA is lower to being with, so that might mitigate the difference in part.

Ultimately the OP should just visit both and go to the one s/he likes best. But I thought Duke was a good amount ahead of Michigan in Big Law placement, but it looks like I'm wrong on that.

[jk148706]

With Big Law as your goal, Duke. IIRC, Michigan has the second lowest Big Law placement rate of the T14, behind only Georgetown.

Berkeley is second lowest.

The placement of Duke and Mich into biglaw differ by 2 pe centage points so they are pretty equal IMO.

So when we say t14 we basically don't include YS bc those grads self select out of biglaw, right? Cause they are also lower

HYS are its own thing but I was talking about biglaw and fed clerkship

Gotcha. Yeah that's the relevant number anyway.

[anyriotgirl]

With Big Law as your goal, Duke. IIRC, Michigan has the second lowest Big Law placement rate of the T14, behind only Georgetown.

No. Yale, Satanford, Berkeley, and GULC all have lower BigLaw percentages than Michigan (obvi Yale and Stanford are better than UM, just saying)

Also Duke had a 2.1% edge in biglaw placement, so idk if that's worth $15k

Ah, I wasn't aware that Berk is below Michigan. And I was just discounting HYS because it's HYS.

And regarding the $15k difference, I believe Duke's overall COA is lower to being with, so that might mitigate the difference in part.

Ultimately the OP should just visit both and go to the one s/he likes best. But I thought Duke was a good amount ahead of Michigan in Big Law placement, but it looks like I'm wrong on that.

There is a difference of less than $200 between Michigan and Duke's tuition, and as per the schools' estimates, M's COA is $5k less, the difference being mostly that Duke budgets for a car, health insurance and higher origination fees.

[PrideandGlory1776]

Toss-up can't go wrong either way - the extra 15k at Mich offsets the employment differential so in my opinion the Expected Value is objectively equal.

[Nomo]

Duke budgets for a car because it really is necessary. I couldn't imagine living in Durham without one.

A car would be nice in Ann Arbor, but its hardly necessary. Its an actual college town so the downtown, drug stores, etc. are all within a mile of campus. The bus system is free and its much better than Durham's. You can easily get by catching a ride with a friend or hoping on the bus once in a while; or taking using a zip car if you really want to venture further from town.

[Hitchensian]

With Big Law as your goal, Duke. IIRC, Michigan has the second lowest Big Law placement rate of the T14, behind only Georgetown.

No. Yale, Satanford, Berkeley, and GULC all have lower BigLaw percentages than Michigan (obvi Yale and Stanford are better than UM, just saying)

Also Duke had a 2.1% edge in biglaw placement, so idk if that's worth $15k

Ah, I wasn't aware that Berk is below Michigan. And I was just discounting HYS because it's HYS.

And regarding the $15k difference, I believe Duke's overall COA is lower to being with, so that might mitigate the difference in part.

Ultimately the OP should just visit both and go to the one s/he likes best. But I thought Duke was a good amount ahead of Michigan in Big Law placement, but it looks like I'm wrong on that.

There is a difference of less than $200 between Michigan and Duke's tuition, and as per the schools' estimates, M's COA is $5k less, the difference being mostly that Duke budgets for a car, health insurance and higher origination fees.

So apparently I am wrong on all fronts and shouldn't have bothered posting ITT at all. Yay for looking like an idiot!

[beachbum]

I am highly, highly skeptical of any tangible difference in job prospects between the two. In fact, I think the biggest (only?) difference between these two schools is location and campus environment. One is in a cold weather state; the other is not. One is a large state school; the other is a mid-sized private school. One has pretty good football and pretty good basketball; the other has awesome basketball and... also has a football program. One has a law school building ripped straight out of Harry Potter; the other has a more modern, corporate law building. Etc.

Both place well in DC and NYC, and neither is likely to open up new markets. Their total placement is a wash. "Prestige," to the extent that such a thing can be measured and compared, is inconsequential. So, basically, if you've visited both and don't have a preference, take the money at Michigan. Or, if you have a preference for Duke, I think $15k is a small price to pay for attending your preferred institution.

Edit: Duke 3L.