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I have always liked the thought of attending the university of Texas for law school, mainly for the prestige, but recently I received an offer for a full ride at the university of arkansas where I currently attend undergrad. What is the better choice? How important is the law school name, and does having no debt outweigh any upsides to it? Thanks!

Jspetree wrote:I have always liked the thought of attending the university of Texas for law school, mainly for the prestige, but recently I received an offer for a full ride at the university of arkansas where I currently attend undergrad. What is the better choice? How important is the law school name, and does having no debt outweigh any upsides to it? Thanks!

nice, I go to UG about an hour south of Arkansas. As someone who is in the, somewhat same predicament... it depends where you wanna work. No debt should be a HUGE factor in your decision, but if you want to stay in Arkansas for work, then your best option is UA on a full ride (that COL tho.... that's something to look forward to). But if you want to work in Texas, try to get as much as you can out of them. If you can't make it affordable then dont go. UT isn't worth it at sticker, even if you want to stay in Texas. Retake and try again next year if that's your situation.

tl;dr. Wanna work in Arkansas? Hell ya congrats on no debt, low COL, and familiar territory. Wanna work in Texas? Either get $$$ from UT or retake and try again next cycle cuz its not worth it at sticker.

You really need to give more info like stats and stuff for better advice

Also, don't attend UT "for the prestige." That's not really a reason to go. Check out other factors like employment, for starters.

YOu need to go where you want to work.

JohannDeMann wrote:YOu need to go where you want to work.

It heavily depends on what you want to do and where you want to do it...

I'm not really sure what you mean by prestige but whatever it is I'm not sure UT is it. Based on my experience, legal employers seem to think it's a solid school. People that don't know anything about legal hiring either don't know anything about the school or just assume any law school is prestigious.

I think the only prestigious law schools in this country and Harvard and Yale. If you want to stretch it maybe Columbia and Stanford too. Or, every law school is prestigious.

Anyway, prestige is a silly reason to choose a law school. All that really matters is job placement and cost. So what do you want to do and where do you want to do it and how will you pay for all this?

congrats on the full ride
it's great that you're thinking about cost instead of immediately opting for the more "prestigious" school

however, no one can really answer your question because you haven't provided enough information
please post:

-The schools you are considering (which UA?)
-The total Cost of Attendance (COA) of each. COA = cost of tuition + fees + books + cost of living (COL) + accumulated interest - scholarships. Here is a helpful calculator.
-How you will be financing your COA, i.e. loans, family, or savings
-Where you are from and where you want to work, and other places where you have significant ties (if any)
-Your general career goals
-Your LSAT/GPA numbers
-How many times you have taken the LSAT

Sorry for the confusion. By prestige all I am implying is job prospects upon graduation. I am from Texas and would most likely want to work there, but I am largely undecided. If I ended up going to university of Texas it would be payed for with loans, not to mention the added cost of living in austin, whereas I already have a payed off duplex in arkansas. My main concern is not being able to find as good of a job with a jd from arkansas compared to texas, and I also don't want to rule out any Big-law jobs by attending arkansas. Thanks for the replies people!

Jspetree wrote:Sorry for the confusion. By prestige all I am implying is job prospects upon graduation. I am from Texas and would most likely want to work there, but I am largely undecided. If I ended up going to university of Texas it would be payed for with loans, not to mention the added cost of living in austin, whereas I already have a payed off duplex in arkansas. My main concern is not being able to find as good of a job with a jd from arkansas compared to texas, and I also don't want to rule out any Big-law jobs by attending arkansas. Thanks for the replies people!

Well, one of the largest law firms in Arkansas only has about 30 attorneys. So, no, you likely won't get big law out of Arkansas.

But going to Texas at out of state sticker would be absurd. Big law is far from a guarantee there too. (Edit--misread, OP may have in-state at TX. Still would be a lot of debt)

Since you only mentioned scholarship $ for Ark, I assume TX is at sticker. With your current options, the best option would be Ark on a full ride, especially since you have no rent, but you would have to be okay with small law or gov't work. Otherwise, retake for $$ at Texas and lower T14.

Jspetree wrote:Sorry for the confusion. By prestige all I am implying is job prospects upon graduation. I am from Texas and would most likely want to work there, but I am largely undecided. If I ended up going to university of Texas it would be payed for with loans, not to mention the added cost of living in austin, whereas I already have a payed off duplex in arkansas. My main concern is not being able to find as good of a job with a jd from arkansas compared to texas, and I also don't want to rule out any Big-law jobs by attending arkansas. Thanks for the replies people!

pm'd you

If you're interested in working in small-law Arkansas is the correct choice. If you're not interested in working in small-law then you should not attend law school at this time.

You're highly unlikely to get anything other than small-law from Arkansas. And you're unlikely to get biglaw from UT (it's less than a 50/50 chance). The job opportunities at UT simply do not justify the tuition, even the in-state tuition. You need a serious discount to make it a good option.

Jspetree wrote:Sorry for the confusion. By prestige all I am implying is job prospects upon graduation. I am from Texas and would most likely want to work there, but I am largely undecided. If I ended up going to university of Texas it would be payed for with loans, not to mention the added cost of living in austin, whereas I already have a payed off duplex in arkansas. My main concern is not being able to find as good of a job with a jd from arkansas compared to texas, and I also don't want to rule out any Big-law jobs by attending arkansas. Thanks for the replies people!

Do you still qualify as in-state and has UT offered you anything at all? You could always retake in Feb and see if they'll offer you more money if your score goes up. Worth a shot, I'd say.