Rank v Alum for Southern Placement
Posted: Sun Feb 08, 2015 10:45 pm
U of Tennessee (72) or Alabama (23) for Nashville firms? Both free.
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Unfortunately not. At least by the data publicly available. But if you set up an appointment with CSO people from UT, you might be able to get them to show you their raw data. Worked for me on a visit.BNA wrote:Any way to compare actual placement numbers in a specific city? Two different, somewhat knowledgable people told me that UT actually places more of their class in Nashville than VU. Sounds crazy, but could there be something to that?
Agree with Ron Don's earlier post here. It is very possible. There are also lots of Vandy kids that are targeting other southern markets (Birmingham, Atlanta, Charlotte, etc.). I wouldn't be surprised if Tennessee did better, but at equal costs (probably not going to be the case) I would definitely take Vandy.BNA wrote:Any way to compare actual placement numbers in a specific city? Two different, somewhat knowledgable people told me that UT actually places more of their class in Nashville than VU. Sounds crazy, but could there be something to that?
even top students at Vandy struggle to get Nashville without tiesLouis1127 wrote:Better be at the top of the class from Bama to get Nashville, assuming you're not talking about shitlaw.
Agree with this; Nashville is an extremely tough market to crack.jk148706 wrote:even top students at Vandy struggle to get Nashville without tiesLouis1127 wrote:Better be at the top of the class from Bama to get Nashville, assuming you're not talking about shitlaw.
Law school is really just the (my) best use of the GI Bill. I have a trash UG degree, so it makes sense to follow up with something that stands alone. I'm a splitter at both schools. I think the military card helped. Retesting is not in the cards. I've got to get my career going. If I were to retake, it would be because I take a job in DC and need to get into GULC's PT. Finally, I'm done with the military - especially the judicial system. I've witnessed most JAGs lead painfully boring lives, not to mention they're routinely supplanted around the world.wolfie_m. wrote:Okay, given the following preconditions:BNA wrote:I'm sensing some Nashville experience between a few of you, so I'll extend the conversation. I'm from Nashville, but joined the Navy and am now back and waiting for 1L this fall. If I were to decide on UT, any advice on plan of attack aside from grades? Thanks for the feedback to this point.
1. You can't/won't do anything other than law school.
2. You can't retake or else wait to get a better school than Alabama. (Frankly, if you can get into Alabama, I'm curious to know your stats: am I correct in assuming that law school is free because of the Navy? Not trying to be rude with that question, btw.)
3. You can't/won't do Navy JAG, which I know nothing about.
What little advice I can give:
1. Pick Alabama because I think your chances at having two markets to apply to--Nashville and Alabama--are marginally better than they would be at UT.
2. Be ready to work very hard to get very good grades.
3. Network a lot.
4. Nashville and Birmingham are weird in that many major firms rely heavily on 1L hires. Most also do split summers and have lower acceptance rates. (BABC tries to pass off its acceptance rate at 100% but this is so only because it weeds out people in 1L.) So first semester 1L is *extremely* important.
Your class rank will probably be pretty similar. Or at least similar enough to not make a difference for career prospectsBNA wrote:They are, so you see my concern. Taking more time off in hopes of hitting the 168 I need is a huge gamble when I'm already in at schools that have high potential in Nashville as is. Besides, I'm not smart enough to compete with those kids. I'd be in the bottom of the class, and about 60k in debt.
wolfie_m. wrote:I'm not trying to scare/berate you TLS-style, but I don't think these are very good reasons to go to law school. Law school can be very emotionally and mentally taxing in a way that you can't understand until you've experienced it. "Getting your career going" may very well not happen from either Alabama or UT. What are you going to do if you strike out? Sure, you won't have law school debt, but you will have wasted three years of life.BNA wrote: Law school is really just the (my) best use of the GI Bill. I have a trash UG degree, so it makes sense to follow up with something that stands alone. . . . Retesting is not in the cards. I've got to get my career going. . . . I've witnessed most JAGs lead painfully boring lives, not to mention they're routinely supplanted around the world.
I really hope you to sit down with some attorneys from Nashville at the lower end of the prestige food chain and ask them about their experiences--particularly any attorneys who know you well. I'm skeptical that law school is your best use of your GI Bill benefits, and I think you ought to get creative and think through some other options. Seriously.
As of last year, I've got 253 VU alumni at BigLaw (100+ lawyer firms) in Nashville, 159 from UT. That's all lawyers, not just recent placement though. Looking at 2010-2013 grads, it's 38 VU to 28 UT.Ron Don Volante wrote:Unfortunately not. At least by the data publicly available. But if you set up an appointment with CSO people from UT, you might be able to get them to show you their raw data. Worked for me on a visit.BNA wrote:Any way to compare actual placement numbers in a specific city? Two different, somewhat knowledgable people told me that UT actually places more of their class in Nashville than VU. Sounds crazy, but could there be something to that?
I would not be shocked if this stat were true. Vandy isn't horribly generous with scholarships, and most grads probably cant afford to get paid 50-60K a year to stick around Nashville (which is what the vast majority of entry-level legal jobs pay). Also Vandy has a largely out of state population, and as small law jobs are often about hustle, locals might have an advantage over Vandy folks not from Tenn., and the Vandy grads who missed out on biglaw might self-select back to their home regions for one reason or another.