Top Law Schools

(Please don’t quote)

-The schools you are considering : BYU, UVA
-The total Cost of Attendance (COA) of each: Pretty much equal COA between the two, so not a factor in my decision.
-Where you are from and where you want to work, and other places where you have significant ties (if any) : Undergrad in Utah, ties to ID and CA. Would like to work in CA (preferably Sacramento area), but I’m open to anywhere in the west.
-Your general career goals: I don't necessarily have big-law aspirations, but I want to keep as many doors open as possible. I would love to work in-house someday (which would most likely require big-law), but I’m also interested in immigration law.

I currently live in Utah, so I’m basically trying to decide if it’s worth it to move across the country if my ultimate goal is to end up back in the mountain west region. Thanks for the help!

There is a fairly big LDS community at UVA. Have you spoken with anyone from the Rex E Lee Society? Very good group of LDS folks.

Charlottesville is also very family friendly. You shoukd definitely talk to some students here. PM me if you are interested.

edit: Sorry there! My tablet kept auto correcting LDS to LSD.

Yikes. I say take the Dillard and run, but can you clarify your career goals? What do you actually want to do with a JD in the mountain west?

What's best for your family?

Thanks for the replies. As for what I want to do with a jd, I'm very interested in immigration law (one of the reasons I applied to UVA, since they offer an immigration clinic), although I understand those opportunities are fairly limited or are mainly pro bono. I have some connections to a real estate firm in CA, but I am honestly open to all sorts of options. As for what's best for my family, BYU may be the best option, since we are familiar with the area and proximity to family would be a plus. I just know that UVA would potentially open more doors in the future.

UVAIce wrote:There is a fairly big LDS community at UVA. Have you spoken with anyone from the Rex E Lee Society? Very good group of LSD folks.

Charlottesville is also very family friendly. You shoukd definitely talk to some students here. PM me if you are interested.

So you know there's about to be some good, knowledgable advice in this thread.

Honestly Op, you probably know best. The kind of obligations, relationships, and subtleties that make this less than a no brainer for you are going to be lost on people here, whether those issues are meaningful or not.

"Am I crazy for even thinking about turning down UVA?"

Yes.

Skool wrote:

UVAIce wrote:There is a fairly big LDS community at UVA. Have you spoken with anyone from the Rex E Lee Society? Very good group of LSD folks.

Charlottesville is also very family friendly. You shoukd definitely talk to some students here. PM me if you are interested.

So you know there's about to be some good, knowledgable advice in this thread.

Honestly Op, you probably know best. The kind of obligations, relationships, and subtleties that make this less than a no brainer for you are going to be lost on people here, whether those issues are meaningful or not.

Are you really jumping into unironic raging aspie asshole mode over a completely understandable typo? Or am I missing something here.

The Dillard is arguably one of the best possible outcomes in LS admissions. But if living in/around Utah is what's most important to you, you're going to have to make a judgment call. I'd reach out to some attorneys at firms you're interested in working at for advice.

jj2014 wrote:Thanks for the replies. As for what I want to do with a jd, I'm very interested in immigration law (one of the reasons I applied to UVA, since they offer an immigration clinic), although I understand those opportunities are fairly limited or are mainly pro bono. I have some connections to a real estate firm in CA, but I am honestly open to all sorts of options. As for what's best for my family, BYU may be the best option, since we are familiar with the area and proximity to family would be a plus. I just know that UVA would potentially open more doors in the future.

fwiw, Charlottesville is a great town and your family may enjoy living here for a few years. I recommend you visit if you have not if you are worried how your family will like it.

There is a also an organization at UVa. called West Coast Wahoo's which could be a good source for networking.

ymmv wrote:

Skool wrote:

UVAIce wrote:There is a fairly big LDS community at UVA. Have you spoken with anyone from the Rex E Lee Society? Very good group of LSD folks.

Charlottesville is also very family friendly. You shoukd definitely talk to some students here. PM me if you are interested.

So you know there's about to be some good, knowledgable advice in this thread.

Honestly Op, you probably know best. The kind of obligations, relationships, and subtleties that make this less than a no brainer for you are going to be lost on people here, whether those issues are meaningful or not.

Are you really jumping into unironic raging aspie asshole mode over a completely understandable typo? Or am I missing something here.

Youre missing something. It's ok, though, you could just let it go.

Ron Don Volante wrote:The Dillard is arguably one of the best possible outcomes in LS admissions. But if living in/around Utah is what's most important to you, you're going to have to make a judgment call. I'd reach out to some attorneys at firms you're interested in working at for advice.

+1

I think this is exactly the kind of advice TLS stinks at giving, unless OP really just wants TLS to tell him to go to UVA.

Retake

Skool wrote:

Ron Don Volante wrote:The Dillard is arguably one of the best possible outcomes in LS admissions. But if living in/around Utah is what's most important to you, you're going to have to make a judgment call. I'd reach out to some attorneys at firms you're interested in working at for advice.

+1

I think this is exactly the kind of advice TLS stinks at giving, unless OP really just wants TLS to tell him to go to UVA.

what the fuck are you talking about

Skool wrote:

Ron Don Volante wrote:The Dillard is arguably one of the best possible outcomes in LS admissions. But if living in/around Utah is what's most important to you, you're going to have to make a judgment call. I'd reach out to some attorneys at firms you're interested in working at for advice.

+1

I think this is exactly the kind of advice TLS stinks at giving, unless OP really just wants TLS to tell him to go to UVA.

What are you talking about. TLS advises applicants to talk to practicing attorneys in their region of choice all the fucking time.

jj2014 wrote:If I go to UVA, will it be difficult for me to find a job in the mountain west?

this is difficult to say. AZ, ID, and UT are statistically very unpopular destinations for uva grads, but surely most of that is just preference.

if you have very strong ties to AZ or ID or UT or wherever, i bet uva gets you a job, and uva is obviously a much more powerful brand overall.

ergo, dillard.

edit: double post

harvardorbust wrote:Retake

You made an account just to troll someone who will surely snag Harvard?

Don't know if he's still active but you might want to PM a poster named Veyron. He went from Penn back to AZ.

ymmv wrote:

Skool wrote:

Ron Don Volante wrote:The Dillard is arguably one of the best possible outcomes in LS admissions. But if living in/around Utah is what's most important to you, you're going to have to make a judgment call. I'd reach out to some attorneys at firms you're interested in working at for advice.

+1

I think this is exactly the kind of advice TLS stinks at giving, unless OP really just wants TLS to tell him to go to UVA.

What are you talking about. TLS advises applicants to talk to practicing attorneys in their region of choice all the fucking time.

Which amounts to advising someone to defer to someone else (some non tls advice giver), which is my point. That's advice of a kind, I guess....

Skool wrote:

ymmv wrote:What are you talking about. TLS advises applicants to talk to practicing attorneys in their region of choice all the fucking time.

Which amounts to advising someone to defer to someone else (some non tls advice giver), which is my point. That's advice of a kind, I guess....

What? That's not at all what it amounts to. It's advice to collect information about a specific local market from people actually in that market. It doesn't require doing anything they say.

Sorry to bump an old thread, but it's been a few months and I'm still stuck deciding between the two. Is UVA worth it if I'm trying to make it back to a mountain-west or California market?

http://www.lstscorereports.com/schools/byu/
http://www.lstscorereports.com/schools/uva/

Absolutely UVA. Both schools have identical California placement (though at UVA that's probably at least a little self-selection), but UVA's large firm score trumps BYU's by a mile. You say you want the door open to BL-->in-house- UVA is by far the best (only?) way to keep that door open. Congratulations on the Dillard, that's an amazing outcome.

OP, i grew up LDS. I went BYU undergrad, i get the whole thing (why you are thinking of staying, etc.)

please don't go to BYU Law. get yourself and your family out of Utah Valley for a time. BYU law is ultra-competitive and offers middling (at best) job prospects. the one upside is the fairly strong alumni network. but that will not outweigh the comparative benefits of of a UVA jd, and for free? come on now.

I've had too many friends pass up T14 including HYS for BYU law for different reasons. i can't imagine a sillier choice.

Like others have said, Charlottesville has a big LDS population and it's a beautiful town. better school, better employment prospects, strong wards in the area, beautiful school and city. take the leap out of the UV, man.

no brainer