Notre Dame vs WashU Forum

[DougStamper]

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[acr]

Chicago and DC are lofty goals from either. Chicago is a saturated market with two T14 schools in the city. By targeting Chicago, you're not only competing with Northwestern and U Chicago kids, but you're competing with basically every other Midwestern school as well. UIUC, Iowa, WUSTL, ND, IU-B, Loyola, John Marshall, etc etc. Getting Chicago from either school will require grades at the top of your class, which is a tough feat at schools like WUSTL and ND that attract T14ish quality applicants.

tl;dr: don't go to WUSTL or ND planning on getting Chicago.

DC is similarly saturated. I can't speak for ND, but I do know that WUSTL has a DC externship/clinic where they will send you to work at an administrative agency or government agency for a semester. They seem to be pretty proud of it and former students give it some praise, but I'm not sure if it actually impacts your chances at landing DC. In any event, I still wouldn't base a decision off of this.

Given your goals, I think it's a wash and you should pick the school that you like better where you can keep your costs lower. The Notre Dame brand name will likely go further, but Wash U is a cheap place to go to school.

[TirantMartorell]

Chicago biglaw is doable from ND if you have decent grades - you don't need to be at the "top of the class" like the prior poster claims. DC will be harder - it's a tough legal market to crack and not that many people from ND end up in DC each year - part of that is self-selection, but part of it is also the fact that DC is a very tough market and you're competing with students from every school in the country. The people I know who've made it to DC have tended to be on Law Review. Not the case for Chicago, non-Law Review but decent to good grades makes Chicago doable.

[woodchuck78]

I think Doug Stamper is the last guy who needs a law degree. And since when did you get a SO??? Is Underwood ok with that?

Ok, I'm done with the HoC references [maybe]. My vote is with ND, but disclaimer since I only applied there and not Wash U. I'll keep it short and sweet. I went out and visited ND, looked over employee data, everything. They place great with federal clerkships, and Chicago and DC are two of their four biggest markets (Chicago #1, DC fluctuates b/w 2-4). They also have some of the highest SCOTUS clerk #s for a non-T14 school. Campus is great. I don't know much about Wash U, so I may not be fully informed, but I think ND would be a great choice for you.

Edit: ND also has a semester-long externship in DC program, so that's also a plus.

[mogwli]

I need to make my decision by next week. I've narrowed my decision down to ND and WashU.

Both ND and WashU have offered me $42,000 per year (ND's tuition is about $2,500 more than WashU). My SO will be working full time, so I won't be taking out any loans for COL. I would love to work in Chicago, but I'm also interested in working in DC as well. My goal is to get a federal clerkship or government job.

Trying to figure out which degree is more portable, as well as the differences in student life between the two schools.

Can't comment to student life but I'd say ND over WashU. ND's recent employment #s are really strong, and you'd be in a solid position to get Chicago biglaw if you do decently well. As others have said, DC is going to be hard just b/c DC is hard for everyone.

[tuesdayninja]

Given they're pretty equal employment numbers and cost wise, I'd say ND because of proximity to Chicago.

[Rigo]

I'd go with whichever you liked more from your visits and/or where SO will have a better time finding/transferring her job.

[DougStamper]

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[Smallville]

After my visit to both I chose ND. Thanks for all the input!

[Rigo]

Enjoy! (You both)

[DougStamper]

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