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Is Pitt doable for someone with no ties looking for local gov (ADA) .
How would one get that position?

Yes, it's absolutely doable.

This would be your game plan to get an ADA position out of Pitt.

1. Make sure you want to be an ADA in that geographic region. Understand what that means financially for your earning power.
2. Do what it takes to get that degree from Pitt for free or close to it. This means not paying tuition and finding every way you can to save from borrowing loans. If you're supremely confident in PSLF, then you can bend on this a little bit, but it should still be within reason.
3. When you get to Pitt on your full ride, study hard during 1L. Try to get mock trial experience as an EC. But not at the expense of your grades. Find every possible opportunity you have to develop oral advocacy skills during that year. And connect with the local ADA/government organizations about wanting to work with them during your 1L summer. The better they know you, the more likely they'll want to bring you in, which will pay dividends down the road.
4. Work hard for them during 1L summer, and try to ingratiate yourself to the senior attorneys in those DA offices. You want them to think of you fondly and they want to believe in your commitment for working for/with them.
5. Once 1L summer is in the rearview, keep looking for every opportunity to extern/intern with the offices you worked at, and leverage your contacts in that office to develop a positive reputation in their office.
6. Repeat 5 at every opportunity, showing your dedication to working in their office for their local government. Because you lack personal ties, your personal dedication will make all of the difference.
7. Be ready to sweat it out following graduation to pass the bar, because most DA offices don't hire permanent attorneys until they pass the bar. I can't speak with knowledge of the DA offices in the Pittsburgh region, but I'm reasonably confident you will be waiting on a permanent employment offer until you pass the PA bar.

Wow thanks UVA2B
This is exactly what I was looking for. Thanks for the detailed game plan. I wouldn't think of attending w/o a full ride. I was just worried about the low employment outcomes and how that figures into city government prospects.

welcometothelsat wrote:Wow thanks UVA2B
This is exactly what I was looking for. Thanks for the detailed game plan. I wouldn't think of attending w/o a full ride. I was just worried about the low employment outcomes and how that figures into city government prospects.

I don't want to oversell you, because what I just outlined isn't easy, and it's not guaranteed. You could do everything I just outlined and actually strike out for a number of reasons (city govt hiring freezes up, down market hiring generally, etc.). I just meant that if you're all-in on ending up in Pittsburgh/Western PA DA offices, you can do it if you work hard enough at it, provided you also don't experience negative breaks.

And if you exclusively want to be in Pitt/Western PA in local government, Pitt is the best option you have if it's free.

Definitely and I want to be as realistic as possible
I guess I could do a search to see what schools they come from, but I'm sure if its not a t-14, then Pitt over any other Pennsylvania school right?