Miami v. Emory Forum

[bcoco9292]

Hi all- I would like to hear your thoughts on Miami v. Emory. I am from NY but want to live in a warmer climate ie: southeast region. COL is significantly higher in Miami than Atlanta, but with a scholarship to Emory, the cost would balance out. I am fortunate enough to have my parents cover my first year of law school and COL, but 2 and 3L are all on me. Ideally, I would like to work for a mid size firm after graduating, not exactly sure what type of law, but am interested in international law (speak Spanish and studied abroad in Argentina). I know that Emory is ranked significantly higher than Miami on USNWR, but if I attend Emory and then get a job in Miami post graduation, I asusme U Miami has a stronger presence and more prestige there. Don't get me wrong, I would be happy to live in Atlanta as well. I guess I just would like some opinions on either school and employment stats etc.

[georgej]

neither sounds like a strong option as they are regional schools in regions in which you lack ties. If you got a scholarship from emory, I'm surprised you didn't get one from miami. did you apply to UGA? that might be a cheaper option which would give you a chance at being a lawyer similar to emory's, tho you would probably need to convince employers that you are serious about remaining in the south for them to hire you.

[bcoco9292]

neither sounds like a strong option as they are regional schools in regions in which you lack ties. If you got a scholarship from emory, I'm surprised you didn't get one from miami. did you apply to UGA? that might be a cheaper option which would give you a chance at being a lawyer similar to emory's, tho you would probably need to convince employers that you are serious about remaining in the south for them to hire you.

I did receive a scholarship from Miami. I was noting that Emory and Miami would cost around the same so that is a non-issue. I didn't apply to UGA. I have ties to the city of Miami which I forgot to mention.

[georgej]

So what would be your total cost of attendance and how much of it would you need to take out as loans?

[Saddle Up]

Before enrolling at Emory I was touch with several schools, including Miami (love vacationing there). Miami wasn’t nearly as generous as Emory (actually very surprised on how tightfisted they were).

Being from Atlanta Emory is a big deal here (but not so much on tls). I suppose the same is true for Miami in South Florida (possibly the state). If I spoke Spanish, I'd pick Miami (not too many people speak Spanish in Ga)... you'll certainly enjoy the tropical weather and Miami should set you up for a good firm job.

[CoffeeIsLife]

http://www.lstscorereports.com/compare/miami/emory/

Just realize a large portion (21%) of Emory jobs are school funded

[cotiger]

Being from Atlanta Emory is a big deal here (but not so much on tls). I suppose the same is true for Miami in South Florida (possibly the state). If I spoke Spanish, I'd pick Miami (not too many people speak Spanish in Ga)... you'll certainly enjoy the tropical weather and Miami should set you up for a good firm job.

This is not even close to accurate. Less than 7% of the c/o 2012 at Miami (last class we have salary info on) was making 100k+ or in a federal clerkship.

[bcoco9292]

Being from Atlanta Emory is a big deal here (but not so much on tls). I suppose the same is true for Miami in South Florida (possibly the state). If I spoke Spanish, I'd pick Miami (not too many people speak Spanish in Ga)... you'll certainly enjoy the tropical weather and Miami should set you up for a good firm job.

This is not even close to accurate. Less than 7% of the c/o 2012 at Miami (last class we have salary info on) was making 100k+ or in a federal clerkship.

where did you find that stat?

[bcoco9292]

So what would be your total cost of attendance and how much of it would you need to take out as loans?

Just a rough estimate I would have to take out a loan of about $110k

[MisterGabriel]

Being from Atlanta Emory is a big deal here (but not so much on tls). I suppose the same is true for Miami in South Florida (possibly the state). If I spoke Spanish, I'd pick Miami (not too many people speak Spanish in Ga)... you'll certainly enjoy the tropical weather and Miami should set you up for a good firm job.

This is not even close to accurate. Less than 7% of the c/o 2012 at Miami (last class we have salary info on) was making 100k+ or in a federal clerkship.

I'm also curious as to where this statistic was found.

[CoffeeIsLife]

http://www.lstscorereports.com/schools/miami/sals/2012/

[CoffeeIsLife]

http://www.lstscorereports.com/schools/ ... more/2012/ if you take the private sector jobs and look at the mean salary and only use columns of $100,000 or more, and include every graduate in that you get 31 total students out of a 461 person graduating class. This equals 6.7% with a salary over $100,000

[bcoco9292]

http://www.lstscorereports.com/schools/ ... more/2012/ if you take the private sector jobs and look at the mean salary and only use columns of $100,000 or more, and include every graduate in that you get 31 total students out of a 461 person graduating class. This equals 6.7% with a salary over $100,000

thank you so much! I see that! I wish that Emory's salary stats were available

[MisterGabriel]

I'd assert that the c/o 2013 employment stats are going to be significantly better once LST puts them together.

based on this: http://employmentsummary.abaquestionnaire.org/

6% in firms greater than 500+ attorneys.

[HRomanus]

http://www.lstscorereports.com/schools/ ... more/2012/ if you take the private sector jobs and look at the mean salary and only use columns of $100,000 or more, and include every graduate in that you get 31 total students out of a 461 person graduating class. This equals 6.7% with a salary over $100,000

thank you so much! I see that! I wish that Emory's salary stats were available

Class of 2012 info is in the Emory admissions packet.

Firms of 501+ $141,500 15%
Firms of 251-500 $135,000 4%
Firms of 101-250 $125,000 5%
Firms of 51-100 N/A 2%
Firms of 26-50 $82,500 4%
Firms of 11-25 $60,000 6%
Firms of 2-10 $60,000 19%
Judicial Clerkships $58,000 11%
Business $55,500 11%
Government $54,000 9%
Public Interest $52,000 9%

[cotiger]

I'd assert that the c/o 2013 employment stats are going to be significantly better once LST puts them together.

based on this: http://employmentsummary.abaquestionnaire.org/

6% in firms greater than 500+ attorneys.

Lol sure, better in that $100k + fed clerks will be more like 9% rather than 7%. Let's not get too excited.

It's also relevant that those 501+ jobs only pay around $125k, and half of the jobs counted in the 101-250 and 251-500 biglaw categories don't even make $100k.

[transferror]

So what would be your total cost of attendance and how much of it would you need to take out as loans?

Just a rough estimate I would have to take out a loan of about $110k

You should definitely not pay 110k for Miami. It's not a good price for Emory, but you could make worse decisions. I don't understand why you want to attend Emory when you have no ties to the South (Miami doesn't really count). It will be really difficult to snag firms in Atlanta, and even if you end up with top grades at Emory, you're probably going to wind up right back in NYC since many of their top grads go to NYC firms.

Full disclosure: I attend a regional school (although with worse numbers than Emory) about 900 miles from home with no ties to the area, and firms hammered me on the "no ties" issue when I was looking for a summer job. I struck out (on SAs) with good grades in a relatively large secondary market that isn't nearly as insular as southern markets.

[bcoco9292]

Thanks for all of your advice. Do you think that as the employment market becomes stronger, over the next 3 years, that the median starting salaries will increase and school funded employment will decrease? Perhaps this is only temporary?

[rwhyAn]

OP, if the costs are the same, I'd go Emory just for the fact that Miami has a top 50% stipulation on their scholarships, and it would be insane to pay sticker for your second and third years at the U in the event that you lost your scholarship. $110k is still a lot of debt, even if it is now less than average debt for a law grad. You'd have to pay over $500/month just on interest alone to keep the principal from going up. It's very difficult to do for someone making around $50-60k when including all other expenses.

[treeey86]

Emory has much better job placement and prestige than Miami. Go to Emory. You might not be able to work in Miami from Emory, but more likely than not you probably will not find a good job from Miami Law in Miami either.

full disclosure: Emory alum, 3rd year in-house attorney, job market sucked coming out but most Emory grads find something decent eventually. I have friends that went to Miami and they cannot say the same.

[MyNameIsFlynn!]

Emory has much better job placement and prestige than Miami. Go to Emory. You might not be able to work in Miami from Emory, but more likely than not you probably will not find a good job from Miami Law in Miami either.

full disclosure: Emory alum, 3rd year in-house attorney, job market sucked coming out but most Emory grads find something decent eventually. I have friends that went to Miami and they cannot say the same.

as an emory grad, can you speak to what this 24% school-funded rate is about? What kind of jobs? What kind of $?

TLS hivemind suggests that the only desirable school-funded jobs are from HYS, and even V's (high) rate is looked upon very skeptically. Interested to hear what Emory's program is like

[treeey86]

Since most people are not employed after graduation Emory gives out school-funded stipends so long as you are working at a qualifying firm/company/job/whatever.

Most schools are doing this nowadays. Obviously the better the school the less likely you come out of graduation unemployed, hence why Emory's numbers are probably higher than the UVAs and Dukes of the world. To be honest it is a good program. It does give a potential employer who would not otherwise look at someone an interest in giving the grad a trial period, and for a grad who is broke and needs money it gives you some (although very little) money. TLS bashes on it, but then most people I know who started in the program were hired on full-time either by their employer within 6-9 months or found another full-time job elsewhere due to the experience they got while on the program. It is a creative way to get your foot in the door.

Full disclosure I was on the program for 6 months. It's how I landed in-house at a great company (NASDAQ listed sophisticated company, not some mom and pop shop) that otherwise would not have taken the risk on me. Six months later they realized how much I brought to the table

[transferror]

TLS bashes on it, but then most people I know who started in the program were hired on full-time either by their employer within 6-9 months or found another full-time job elsewhere due to the experience they got while on the program. It is a creative way to get your foot in the door.

The program isn't bashed on TLS because it is per se bad, these programs get negative treatment because they are used to pad employment numbers and are misleading to prospective students. I think it's great that schools have this option, especially for students looking for non-profit work, but the issue comes down to transparency - there is no way for us to know how many of these students receive full-time offers after their 9 months is up. If the school was forthcoming about how many school-funded students received offers, what type of offers they received, and salary info, I don't think it would be such a big deal. As of now, they just say, "these students are employed" and that is the end of it, which seems shady and leaves us with no data about actual outcomes.

[Nucky]

At equal cost, and considering OP hasn't said he/she has ties and/or would rather work in one market over the other, I really don't understand how anyone could suggest Miami over Emory.

Please tell me what I'm missing. Because I think Emory is the obvious choice.

Disclosure: 0L

[splittinghairs]

At equal cost, and considering OP hasn't said he/she has ties and/or would rather work in one market over the other, I really don't understand how anyone could suggest Miami over Emory.

Please tell me what I'm missing. Because I think Emory is the obvious choice.

Disclosure: 0L

Did you not read?

but if I attend Emory and then get a job in Miami post graduation, I asusme U Miami has a stronger presence and more prestige there

I have ties to the city of Miami which I forgot to mention.