Top Law Schools

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Go where the money is.

The above poster is right; there are too many variables to make a meaningful choice otherwise.

GULC's proximity is great for hustling during the semesters. It's possible you'll buddy up with the right person, and maybe that gives you some kind of bump for hiring, though it's impossible to quantify and certainly won't make up for bad grades. That said, DC firms know that Michigan is "better" (meaning slightly harder to get into), but how much of a bump that gives you is still probably minimal. Different firms value these things differently, so it's probably just a wash in the end.

On the other hand, if you know you want to do something on the regulatory side of biglaw you might have more justification for picking GULC due to the availability of the Fed agencies during 1L summer and throughout the academic year. But for litigation (or what little corporate work there is in DC), that won't matter at all.

They are pretty evenly footed. Try to intern in DC your 1L summer. Make sure you have some sort of tie to the market. Get good grades.

jarofsoup wrote:They are pretty evenly footed. Try to intern in DC your 1L summer. Make sure you have some sort of tie to the market. Get good grades.

Mostly this.

Yea, i'm steeling myself for re-entry into the academic world. Thx!

existentialcrisis wrote:

jarofsoup wrote:They are pretty evenly footed. Try to intern in DC your 1L summer. Make sure you have some sort of tie to the market. Get good grades.

Mostly this.

Firms like to diversify their entering classes (i.e.: they're not going to want their entire summer/entering cohort to be from a single school). At GULC, a good portion of your class, if not a majority, wants to practice in DC, so you're competing with a lot of people from your school for a relatively small number of BigLaw spots. At Michigan, there is a much smaller number of people wishing to go to DC, and there is therefore less direct competition from your classmates for those positions. This works to your advantage, provided that you have strong grades. That said, the benefit of GULC is a greater ability to network within the DC legal community, availability of externships in your target market, etc.

The other thing to consider: if 1L doesn't play out awesomely and your grades are median or below, Michigan offers a softer landing. DC might be out, but you'll have other options available, and it seems like at least some firms will dig deeper into the class at Michigan than GULC.

It's great to think about best outcomes, but always bear in mind the worst outcomes too.