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Hey guys

I need to commit to Duke, UVA, or UPenn in the morning, and am curious if anyone has a particularly convincing argument why I should go UPenn (or perhaps Chicago) over UVA?

169 / 3.92

Interest: definitely clerking, past that transactional? I'm not gunning for big law and have a background in government, though I do expect to work in the private sector. I'm from the midwest, but plan to work in a major city (DC, Chicago, Dallas).

Finances: I'm on my own to keep my debt as low as possible. With differences in COA, Duke, UVA, and Penn will all cost me the about the same amount.

Duke, Penn, and Chicago appeal to me as I'm interested in going to a school that is aware that the legal market is changing rapidly.

My first love is UVA--it's the only school that I've visited and I love the atmosphere.

Curious what you think!

Upenn.

If you love UVA, the cost difference between them and UPenn is minimal so take Virginia and don't look back.

No reason to pay more for Penn than UVA given your goals. I am also willing to bet you can keep down your cost of living while you are in Cville.

Edit: misread that, still the cost of U Penn is higher than UVA since the coa at Penn is 5k more a year.

You say you're not gunning for biglaw, but since you want to do transactional work and then go into gov work, I suspect you'll change your tune come 1L. That aside, these are all pretty good options and you should just go to whichever school you like most since employment options and cost are similar enough between Duke/UVA/Penn and the 50k trade-off nulls the employment advantage at UChi. Enjoy UVA

If you want transactional work you'll probably have to go to a firm. None of these are great for clerking.

Penn > Duke and UVA in terms of biglaw placement. For class of 2013, biglaw and fed clerk placement:

Penn: 59.8 + 9.3 = 69.1%
UVA: 50 + 12.9 = 62.9%
Duke: 51.4 + 8.7 = 60.2%

I'd choose Penn.

None of these are bad choices. Texas is not a great choice given your goals, and Chicago is too expensive for what it is. Your pick of UVA, Penn, and Duke, with slight employment edge to Penn.

Thanks, guys! I've been a long term lurker and I see now why people post so frequently--it's great to get feedback!!

I deposited with UVA. Penn's isn't due for a week so if I have a sudden change of heart, I have some wiggle room..

lecsa wrote:If you want transactional work you'll probably have to go to a firm. None of these are great for clerking.

Penn > Duke and UVA in terms of biglaw placement. For class of 2013, biglaw and fed clerk placement:

Penn: 59.8 + 9.3 = 69.1%
UVA: 50 + 12.9 = 62.9%
Duke: 51.4 + 8.7 = 60.2%

I'd choose Penn.

Lecsa, I'm curious, who would you recommend for clerking? UVA's 12.9% placement seems solid to me?

estukenborg wrote:Thanks, guys! I've been a long term lurker and I see now why people post so frequently--it's great to get feedback!!

I deposited with UVA. Penn's isn't due for a week so if I have a sudden change of heart, I have some wiggle room..

lecsa wrote:If you want transactional work you'll probably have to go to a firm. None of these are great for clerking.

Penn > Duke and UVA in terms of biglaw placement. For class of 2013, biglaw and fed clerk placement:

Penn: 59.8 + 9.3 = 69.1%
UVA: 50 + 12.9 = 62.9%
Duke: 51.4 + 8.7 = 60.2%

I'd choose Penn.

Lecsa, I'm curious, who would you recommend for clerking? UVA's 12.9% placement seems solid to me?

I think I can answer this for lecsa/as lecsa would: yale or stanford.

No other school gives you a halfway decent shot at a prestigious federal clerkship from outside law review/journal EIC & good grades (like 15-20% of the class at most), neither of which any 0L can predict, or should expect, to get. UVA isn't substantially different at getting grads clerkships than Penn or Duke, there might just be a bigger crop of wanna-be litigators or DOJ year to year.

UVA’s 16.2% school funded employment is a deal killer. Penn’s is negligible.

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