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Thanks for the help everyone

First, don't plan on getting to work in Chicago or NY with either of those. If you go to Indiana, you will work in Indiana. If you go to Georgia, you will work in Georgia. If you feel like working in Atlanta is worth 60k more in debt (because that's what the actual price difference is), then do it.

However, you didn't specify what kind of work you want to get. What sort of job do you want to have out of school?

cavalier1138 wrote:First, don't plan on getting to work in Chicago or NY with either of those. If you go to Indiana, you will work in Indiana. If you go to Georgia, you will work in Georgia. If you feel like working in Atlanta is worth 60k more in debt (because that's what the actual price difference is), then do it.

However, you didn't specify what kind of work you want to get. What sort of job do you want to have out of school?

Wait..why the 60k difference?


Im unsure what kind of work I want (yet) but I'll probably be aiming for mid-sized law firms in the area

Government work is just not for me
Also no public sector or academia

chooy wrote:

cavalier1138 wrote:First, don't plan on getting to work in Chicago or NY with either of those. If you go to Indiana, you will work in Indiana. If you go to Georgia, you will work in Georgia. If you feel like working in Atlanta is worth 60k more in debt (because that's what the actual price difference is), then do it.

However, you didn't specify what kind of work you want to get. What sort of job do you want to have out of school?

Wait..why the 60k difference?


Im unsure what kind of work I want (yet) but I'll probably be aiming for mid-sized law firms in the area

Government work is just not for me
Also no public sector or academia

I think that he was trying to account for percents you pay on loans, but he probably misunderstood your costs. The difference after percents will probably be closer to 25-30k, depending on how long you take to pay it off.


As for your situation, like he mentioned, it pretty much comes down to where you would be happier afterwards (mainly, Atlanta or Indianapolis). Top people at IUB can go to Chicago (or NYC) - sure. But at the same time top people at UGA could probably go to places like DC and NYC as well. So top at either school could get you a job in a big city. Closer to median at either school and you are stuck in the region. Seems like a fairly straightforward situation here. 20k difference doesn't seem like a big deal to me if you would prefer Georgia to Indiana. If it makes no difference, then might as well go to Indiana and save money.

Faculty + sitting in on classes should not be much of a concern for these two options. The above posters nailed it: in which state or city would you rather practice? Your debt will be very serviceable with these two options, and you should not have trouble finding a job from either option (albeit, biglaw is more of a stretch).

That's the question I've been asking myself


I know I'll be happy at either schools. For sure

If I were to choose only one assuming that they're the same price,
I'll probably choose UGA since I'd be a tad bit happier at Georgia due to the food & weather...

But will that "happier" amount equal to 20k?
Now that's the issue

chooy wrote:

cavalier1138 wrote:First, don't plan on getting to work in Chicago or NY with either of those. If you go to Indiana, you will work in Indiana. If you go to Georgia, you will work in Georgia. If you feel like working in Atlanta is worth 60k more in debt (because that's what the actual price difference is), then do it.

However, you didn't specify what kind of work you want to get. What sort of job do you want to have out of school?

Wait..why the 60k difference?


Im unsure what kind of work I want (yet) but I'll probably be aiming for mid-sized law firms in the area

Government work is just not for me
Also no public sector or academia

I would be really careful choosing to go to the South (not sure about Indiana markets) and trying to work in a mid-size law firm there without ties. Southern firms generally care about ties to the area/South generally + high grades. They have generally small SA classes and the programs can be very selective, not to mention T-14 kids who want to go back home apply and choose to summer down South. I would not assume you can readily get a job just because you go to the local school, even if these firms do recruit at these schools.

Shootin wrote:

chooy wrote:

cavalier1138 wrote:First, don't plan on getting to work in Chicago or NY with either of those. If you go to Indiana, you will work in Indiana. If you go to Georgia, you will work in Georgia. If you feel like working in Atlanta is worth 60k more in debt (because that's what the actual price difference is), then do it.

However, you didn't specify what kind of work you want to get. What sort of job do you want to have out of school?

Wait..why the 60k difference?


Im unsure what kind of work I want (yet) but I'll probably be aiming for mid-sized law firms in the area

Government work is just not for me
Also no public sector or academia

I think that he was trying to account for percents you pay on loans, but he probably misunderstood your costs. The difference after percents will probably be closer to 25-30k, depending on how long you take to pay it off.


As for your situation, like he mentioned, it pretty much comes down to where you would be happier afterwards (mainly, Atlanta or Indianapolis). Top people at IUB can go to Chicago (or NYC) - sure. But at the same time top people at UGA could probably go to places like DC and NYC as well. So top at either school could get you a job in a big city. Closer to median at either school and you are stuck in the region. Seems like a fairly straightforward situation here. 20k difference doesn't seem like a big deal to me if you would prefer Georgia to Indiana. If it makes no difference, then might as well go to Indiana and save money.

This is why no one pays me to do math stuff.

But yes, OP, if you want to do mid-size firm law, then just pick the one where you want to work.

From what I can tell, Atlanta isn't quite as ties sensitive as some people make it out to be, but it's certainly helpful to say "I chose to go to school where I want to practice" and talk about why Atlanta is awesome. UGA is great for getting a job in Georgia. Outside of Georgia, less so. Washington DC is still realistic if you have good grades. NYC is NFL - not likely; probably a function primarily of self-selection.
Indy is a super cool city IMO, but its certainly a very different vibe and lifestyle than Atlanta. Personally, it would come down to personal preference on market and how much that $20K difference is worth to you long term.

unsweetened wrote:From what I can tell, Atlanta isn't quite as ties sensitive as some people make it out to be, but it's certainly helpful to say "I chose to go to school where I want to practice" and talk about why Atlanta is awesome. UGA is great for getting a job in Georgia. Outside of Georgia, less so. Washington DC is still realistic if you have good grades. NYC is NFL - not likely; probably a function primarily of self-selection.
Indy is a super cool city IMO, but its certainly a very different vibe and lifestyle than Atlanta. Personally, it would come down to personal preference on market and how much that $20K difference is worth to you long term.

Agreed. This may be anecdotal, but I do have a family member from PA who attended law school at Wake Forest and secured a good job as a lawyer in Atlanta following graduation. He had absolutely 0 ties to the area, or even the state of Georgia. This was maybe 10 years ago?

I'll add to that anecdote. Graduated with a guy (school in Pennsylvania) who has a nice job w/ a firm down in Atlanta. Pretty sure he was a lifelong Pennsylvanian. Don't know his family ties, though.

unsweetened wrote:From what I can tell, Atlanta isn't quite as ties sensitive as some people make it out to be, but it's certainly helpful to say "I chose to go to school where I want to practice" and talk about why Atlanta is awesome. UGA is great for getting a job in Georgia. Outside of Georgia, less so. Washington DC is still realistic if you have good grades. NYC is NFL - not likely; probably a function primarily of self-selection.
Indy is a super cool city IMO, but its certainly a very different vibe and lifestyle than Atlanta. Personally, it would come down to personal preference on market and how much that $20K difference is worth to you long term.

Speaking purely from my own experience, I didn't find NYC to be any harder to get than DC as a person at a regional Southern school. You need top grades to get interviews but if you mass mail and hustle, neither are off limits. And frankly, NYC is probably easier simply because there are more jobs.(speaking strictly about biglaw...not public sector jobs)

I also didn't get the feeling that Atlanta ties were as important as say ties to the bigger Florida markets.

OP here

Seems like I'm changing my mind every hour

chooy wrote:OP here

Seems like I'm changing my mind every hour

Now i'm leaning towards Bloomington because of its library and its campus.
And I whether I go UGA or IUB, chances at NY/DC/Chicago seems similar

The plural of "anecdote" is not "data".

Stop considering things like the beauty of the campus or the layout of the library. Stop considering the extremely slim chance that you may get to work in NY/DC/Chicago from one of these schools. The overwhelming majority of students at these schools stay in-state. So pick where you want to work, because using any other criteria is not going to be helpful.