Top Law Schools

Vanderbilt ($145,000 w/ scholarship (in process of negotiating for more))
WUSTL ($90,000 w/ scholarship)
UNC ($35,000 w/ scholarship and living with boyfriend)
UT-Knoxville ($5,000 w/ scholarship and living at home)

My boyfriend has said he is willing to move from Chapel Hill if he can find a job (he is in tech so he probs will be able to easily) wherever I end up deciding on. In that case I could subtract another $60/70K from Vandy or WUSTL so please keep that in mind.

I have $25K in savings but the rest of COA will come from a Stafford Loan.

I am from TN and NC (divorced parents). My Dad has a firm in Knoxville which will be my backup plan if I can’t find anything after graduation. I have a lot of non-legal connections in NC from growing up here and attending school here. I can potentially inherit a boatload of connections from my Dad if I end up in TN. I will likely end up somewhere in the South since that is all I know.

My career goals are very vague right now, as I could see myself being (relatively) happy in many areas of the law. I like the idea of working for a government agency in DC or doing advocacy work but these goals are subject to change.

My numbers are 3.4/168 with B.A.s in Journalism and English from UNC.

I took the LSAT once and am not too keen on having to do that over.

Common sense tells me to go for UT-K, but I am not looking forward to having my Dad as such an immediate safety net. I would love to go to either Vanderbilt or WUSTL to open more doors for myself and get a better education. Is it worth the added cost?

Did you include the 25k savings in your COA? What does "doing advocacy work" mean? Do NOT attend Vandy at that cost. Honestly, with your dad as a safety net, go with UNC or UT-K and pray for the best. If you're lucky enough to be top of the class and have some doors open, good for you. If not, daddy has a job lined up and you aren't swimming in debt.

No, the $25K isn't included in the COA.

And I'm not really fluent in legal jargon yet, sorry for the confusion. By advocacy work I meant doing something like personal injury.

UTK if you'd rather be in TN, UNC if you'd rather be in NC. UTK if you have no preference or only a light preference for NC. Vandy and WUSTL make no sense.

Nahhh, don't use dad as a backup plan. That should be plan A.

Why would you risk not performing well at vandy or wustl and shouldering a boat load of debt when you can go to UT-k, emerge nearly unscathed, and have a guaranteed job upon graduation? Plus, your comment about your unwillingness to retake the LSAT to get a higher score suggests that you more than likely won't outwork top students at Vandy or WUSTL, hence the guaranteed debt wouldn't be worth the added potential[ benefit of attending those schools. Go to UT-K, enjoy your 3 years of law school, then enjoy the purchasing power that working for dad's firm brings.

Also, the "i'm too proud to work for Dad" logic is garbage. If my father had a firm I'd be ashamed of myself if I chose not to work there. Build that family lineage. One day it'll be yours.

co2017* wrote:No, the $25K isn't included in the COA.

And I'm not really fluent in legal jargon yet, sorry for the confusion. By advocacy work I meant doing something like personal injury.

Just so we're clear, "personal injury" isn't going to be like Matt Damon in the Rainmaker-type personal injury, it's going to be primarily billboarding, ambulance chasing, other attorneys hate you-type personal injury.

If you haven't included that 25k in savings for COA, then I agree you should choose between UT-K and UNC based on where you want to practice. If your SO has a job in Chapel Hill and you don't mind working in NC, there's no reason to leave unless you would prefer TN and your SO finds a job near Knoxville.

eljefe1 wrote:
Also, the "i'm too proud to work for Dad" logic is garbage. If my father had a firm I'd be ashamed of myself if I chose not to work there. Build that family lineage. One day it'll be yours.

It wasn't a pride thing so much as a wanting to test myself thing. But I like your perspective better

co2017* wrote:

eljefe1 wrote:
Also, the "i'm too proud to work for Dad" logic is garbage. If my father had a firm I'd be ashamed of myself if I chose not to work there. Build that family lineage. One day it'll be yours.

It wasn't a pride thing so much as a wanting to test myself thing. But I like your perspective better

See! you're failing to consider that working for your dad won't be a sufficient test for yourself and taking for granted that working somewhere else will be.

you should study for the LSAT and retake. You could definitely boost that 168 to a 175 with a better understanding of logic.