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From linked thread:

Hikkomorist wrote:Texas (no ties, sadly),

In that case, Duke is worth $0 more than Texas. Texas ties don't need to be ironclad, but they do need to actually exist in some fashion; people who go to Texas from elsewhere do well in Texas (commensurate with their performance in school, of course).

(Reasonable minds may differ on this.)

Give us all the information we need. i.e. from the choosing threads. We can't give a good answer to the main question in a vacuum.

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no it wasn't

update this OP with this info if you want good advice

-The schools you are considering
-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

Hikkomorist wrote:

Traynor Brah wrote:Give us all the information we need. i.e. from the choosing threads. We can't give a good answer to the main question in a vacuum.

I didn't provide exact numbers for Duke, because I'm trying to come up with a figure to give them that will guarantee my commitment.

wait, wut? are you like on their waitlist and hatching a plan to tell them how much you'll pay to attend?

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I have no idea how beneficial duke is for texas biglaw. However, if texas bl doesn't happen for you, then duke would give you an advantage pretty much everywhere else.

I feel like the question is: are you biglaw or bust or texas or bust?

Also, that question completely ignores cost. I wouldn't put duke on the table unless they offered you at least like 90ish? That would be defensible to me.

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the more that biglaw is more important to you than being in texas, the more I would lean towards duke. but dude you have to give us solid numbers. we can't give a good answer.

Hikko if you are not from Texas and do not have significant, deep Texas ties, and if you are certain that you want to work in Texas, you had better go to UT. I'm dead serious. I work in law down here and the only lawyers I know who didn't go to a Texas school were born and raised here and just left the state for LS to take a breather.

Duke is probably the move if the $ is sufficient.

Why Texas anyway?

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Downside of Duke is that their summer funding is meh, so trying to do a 1L summer in TX would probably be rough. But I'd still lean that way for the better job #'s. That said, it depends on what the numbers are, and the fact that you should definitely go to Texas (go Horns).

Hikkomorist wrote:

usn26 wrote:Duke is probably the move if the $ is sufficient.

Why Texas anyway?

It's away from snow/ice and has a low CoL and no state income tax. I don't really have ties to anywhere in the South, so I figured I had to pick a school that would provide that.

pretty lame reasoning. I wouldn't go to UT if those are your actual reasons.

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Have you spent much time in Texas? I'm not a Texas hater (love Austin), but it has a unique culture that definitely isn't for everyone. The winters may not be bad, but summers are brutal.

Hikkomorist wrote:

usn26 wrote:Duke is probably the move if the $ is sufficient.

Why Texas anyway?

It's away from snow/ice and has a low CoL and no state income tax. I don't really have ties to anywhere in the South, so I figured I had to pick a school that would provide that.

This may be true, but for your sake NEVER use this answer in an interview in Texas. The appropriate response for a non native is: "Texas is the greatest state in the union and I got here as fast as I could."

I think Duke is a better option without considering costs. If you assume you are at the median (which if anything is still presumptuous) then I'm not sure how non Texans do from UT since most jobs would be non-BL.

From Duke it's not like you cant apply to Texas firms and see what happens. Duke is better for your goals (and I'm a grad of UT for UG and law)

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BVest wrote:From linked thread:

Hikkomorist wrote:Texas (no ties, sadly),

In that case, Duke is worth $0 more than Texas. Texas ties don't need to be ironclad, but they do need to actually exist in some fashion; people who go to Texas from elsewhere do well in Texas (commensurate with their performance in school, of course).

(Reasonable minds may differ on this.)

I have one of the minds (of questionable reasonableness) that differs. Ties to Texas markets can be developed in law school by taking a 1L job in whichever of Houston or Dallas most strikes your fancy. That, plus a succinct, clear explanation to an OCI interviewer about why you want to be there, is all you need.

If you aren't down for biglaw, then I agree with BVest (though I know a few people from Michigan with 0 ties to Texas working public interest gigs in shit towns in the state).

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Traynor Brah wrote:

Hikkomorist wrote:

usn26 wrote:Duke is probably the move if the $ is sufficient.

Why Texas anyway?

It's away from snow/ice and has a low CoL and no state income tax. I don't really have ties to anywhere in the South, so I figured I had to pick a school that would provide that.

pretty lame reasoning. I wouldn't go to UT if those are your actual reasons.

That was pretty close to my actual reasoning. So far so good.

Hikkomorist wrote:

Traynor Brah wrote:the more that biglaw is more important to you than being in texas, the more I would lean towards duke. but dude you have to give us solid numbers. we can't give a good answer.

I am looking at $75,000 in debt at UT and around $150,000 in debt at Duke, based on current offers. I already know this is too much, so I'm trying to figure out how much more I'd need from Duke to make it worth it.

Given everything else you've said I'd take Duke at those prices. Try to get as much as you can from here obviously.

Definitely duke if you can lower COA a bit.

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