Page 1 of 1
Emory or UGA
Posted: Thu Apr 23, 2015 10:50 am
by ATLaw13
-The schools you are considering
Emory and UGA
-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.
Emory--Tuition 150k; Scholarship 100k; COL 75k; Total investment 125k
UGA--Tuition 60k; Scholarship 38k; COL 55k; Total investment 77k
-How you will be financing your COA, i.e. loans, family, or savings
Tuition not covered by scholarship money will be financed by loans. Family will probably be able to cover at least half of COL.
-Where you are from and where you want to work, and other places where you have significant ties (if any)
From GA and want to work here to begin with, but would like to have the opportunity to leave after I gain some work experience
-Your general career goals
Want to take a shot at big law if I am high enough in my class, but otherwise I'd like to work in state or federal government preferably as senior staff in a congressional office.
-Your LSAT/GPA numbers
165 3.7
-How many times you have taken the LSAT
2
I would like to be in Atlanta during law school and am not really a big fan of Athens. The two things I am most worried about though are job prospects and debt, so I would do whatever is best to maximize the former and minimize the latter.
Re: Emory or UGA
Posted: Thu Apr 23, 2015 11:02 am
by Winston1984
No way is Emory worth $50k more than UGA. If you want biglaw you should go to a T14. If you want to work in a congressional office, you shouldn't go to law school. Instead go work on the hill.
Re: Emory or UGA
Posted: Thu Apr 23, 2015 8:33 pm
by gregfootball2001
If you want to work in Georgia, and are okay with the idea of not working biglaw, go to Georgia.
If you don't want to work in Georgia, and Emory is your only other choice, go to Emory.
If you want way less risk, take a year off, take the LSAT again, go to Vandy or Duke with $$$.
Re: Emory or UGA
Posted: Thu Apr 23, 2015 8:35 pm
by Hutz_and_Goodman
Either school you will need top 10-20% to get biglaw.
Re: Emory or UGA
Posted: Thu Apr 23, 2015 8:37 pm
by CanadianWolf
I may be off by a place or two, but I think that Emory is the number one law school for hiring its own graduates (over 20%) in low paying, very limited hours menial work.
Re: Emory or UGA
Posted: Thu Apr 23, 2015 8:41 pm
by CanadianWolf
Any other options ? Georgia or Georgia State over Emory, but if you really want biglaw, go to a T-14 law school.
Re: Emory or UGA
Posted: Thu Apr 23, 2015 8:51 pm
by fisheatbananas
CanadianWolf wrote:I may be off by a place or two, but I think that Emory is the number one law school for hiring its own graduates (over 20%) in low paying, very limited hours menial work.
I second that
Re: Emory or UGA
Posted: Fri Apr 24, 2015 10:15 am
by ATLaw13
CanadianWolf wrote:I may be off by a place or two, but I think that Emory is the number one law school for hiring its own graduates (over 20%) in low paying, very limited hours menial work.
Yeah that was one of the things I was always skeptical about. They say the positions are "bridge-to-practice" positions usually in non-profits or gov't offices and Emory pays the salary for a year. Apparently 90% of people get full time employment from this as well, but its still not a position I'd like to be in.
Biglaw is not so much something I want as much as something that I would do for three or four years to pay back loans/get experience. In the literature Emory provided at ASW it said that 33% of their 2014 grads work at 501+ firms, which is roughly 50 people. Seems like the top 40-50% would have the opportunity to at least get and IV at biglaw firms with those type of numbers, but other resources show lower numbers of Emory grads in biglaw. Either way I'm hoping I can get away with taking out 60k in loans and get my parents to help finance my COL.
Re: Emory or UGA
Posted: Fri Apr 24, 2015 10:18 am
by OhBoyOhBortles
Retake for Duke/Vandy/UVA next year.
Re: Emory or UGA
Posted: Fri Apr 24, 2015 10:25 am
by MT Cicero
ATLaw13 wrote:CanadianWolf wrote:I may be off by a place or two, but I think that Emory is the number one law school for hiring its own graduates (over 20%) in low paying, very limited hours menial work.
Yeah that was one of the things I was always skeptical about. They say the positions are "bridge-to-practice" positions usually in non-profits or gov't offices and Emory pays the salary for a year. Apparently 90% of people get full time employment from this as well, but its still not a position I'd like to be in.
Biglaw is not so much something I want as much as something that I would do for three or four years to pay back loans/get experience.
In the literature Emory provided at ASW it said that 33% of their 2014 grads work at 501+ firms, which is roughly 50 people. Seems like the top 40-50% would have the opportunity to at least get and IV at biglaw firms with those type of numbers, but other resources show lower numbers of Emory grads in biglaw. Either way I'm hoping I can get away with taking out 60k in loans and get my parents to help finance my COL.
You may want to re-read that literature. 43 graduates in 501+ firms out of 268 total graduates = 16%. If you make it 101+ firms & fed clerkships, it's 29%.
http://law.emory.edu/_includes/document ... -36-36.pdf
Re: Emory or UGA
Posted: Fri Apr 24, 2015 10:31 am
by ATLaw13
What I read was in the booklet they give you at ASW. Should have known they would fudge the stats to make them look better.
Re: Emory or UGA
Posted: Fri Apr 24, 2015 5:27 pm
by The Dark Shepard
CanadianWolf wrote:I may be off by a place or two, but I think that Emory is the number one law school for hiring its own graduates (over 20%) in low paying, very limited hours menial work.
Which only matters in terms of bringing down the FTLTBPR jobs towards its real number. After you do that, you just compare the two schools. "Emory hires more of its own people" is not a valid reason to pick a different school over it in and of itself.
Re: Emory or UGA
Posted: Fri Apr 24, 2015 5:50 pm
by Yeezus
Don't do Emory at that price. I personally wouldn't even go there for free if I had any remotely similar options. If you really want ATL Biglaw,
OhBoyOhBortles wrote:Retake for Duke/Vandy/UVA next year.
If for some reason you feel compelled to go to school this fall, definitely choose UGA. Emory imo is the most overrated school in the T20.
Re: Emory or UGA
Posted: Sat Apr 25, 2015 11:39 am
by ATLaw13
The thing is that I have a SO in Atlanta who will be going to school there for the next 2 years. UGA isn't far away, but its just far enough to be a pain in the ass to commute back and forth. I could also live with her for my 3rd year so that would significantly cut COL.
Re: Emory or UGA
Posted: Sat Apr 25, 2015 11:46 am
by CanadianWolf
Is Georgia State an option for you ?
Re: Emory or UGA
Posted: Sat Apr 25, 2015 11:58 am
by Nomo
Why aren't you counting tuition increases, accumulating interest, and loan origination fees in your COA numbers. You're probably 15 to 20k low on your estimates.
Re: Emory or UGA
Posted: Sat Apr 25, 2015 2:38 pm
by NotASpecialSnowflake
OhBoyOhBortles wrote:Retake for Duke/Vandy/UVA next year.
Re: Emory or UGA
Posted: Sat Apr 25, 2015 6:51 pm
by gregfootball2001
ATLaw13 wrote:The thing is that I have a SO in Atlanta who will be going to school there for the next 2 years. UGA isn't far away, but its just far enough to be a pain in the ass to commute back and forth. I could also live with her for my 3rd year so that would significantly cut COL.
This does make a difference. Commuting sucks. Let me share with you my solution as a UGA student.
My wife has a rockin' job inside the perimeter, and we bought a house close-ish to her work. Instead of me driving 90 minutes (each way, without traffic) every day, I've rented a hole-in-the-wall apt up at UGA. Furnished, cheap, but livable. I stay in Athens during the week and study my butt off. Then, every weekend, I go home. It's nice to get away, and it gives me an incentive to work harder during the week - the harder I work then, the less I do on the weekend. Let's be honest - 1Ls spend a ton of time in the library anyway.
2L and 3L I made sure to do clinics in and around Atlanta on Mondays or Fridays, which allowed me to spend even more time at home. I knew that I wanted to work in Atlanta after school (again, house, spouse has a great job), but having a spouse near Atlanta meant that I didn't want to go to school out of state if I could help it (though if I had the GPA for Harvard...). So, when I looked at the debt loads I'd have from Georgia and Emory, and the fact that the two schools place pretty evenly in Atlanta, I chose UGA. It worked out really well for me, but of course, YMMV. It's a tough world out there, so tread lightly.
Re: Emory or UGA
Posted: Mon Apr 27, 2015 9:07 am
by ATLaw13
CanadianWolf wrote:Is Georgia State an option for you ?
Already counted out GA State as I just didn't feel that it compared, IMO, to Emory or UGA
Nomo wrote:Why aren't you counting tuition increases, accumulating interest, and loan origination fees in your COA numbers. You're probably 15 to 20k low on your estimates.
I actually included that in the COL. I also didn't mention that if I go to Emory I would probably live with my SO the 3rd year for free. I've also been looking around at houses in the Atlanta/Athens area and while Atlanta is more expensive, I have found that 3/4 br houses near Emory can go for 500/pp/month, which is not a huge difference compared to Athens.