Top Law Schools

Hi all,

I've got acceptances at both UVA and William and Mary. I have a scholly at 100$ at W&M and nothing from UVA. My goal is to become an AUSA in a flyover district or an ADA in a small town. I'm trying to pick the school that will give me a decent shot at both. I have no interest in Biglaw, so my theoretical route would be clerk-->ADA-->AUSA. Also, I am worried about my eligibility for UVA LRAP because my fiance is a physician.

Any advice?

Congrats on your offers!

Did you apply to any other schools? (If not, you definitely should.) You should have more options than a T13 at sticker or a T1 with full scholly. Assuming you applied to the other T13/T20s, you should have additional results come in over the next few months - it's still super early in the cycle.

If you absolutely must choose between your two current offers, you should attend UVA. School rank/prestige wouldn't really matter if you wanted to be a local public defender, but it's absolutely critical for getting a good clerkship and becoming an AUSA. (And why are you preemptively limiting yourself to a small town/"flyover" district? It's certainly fine if you'd prefer to live somewhere more rural for personal reasons, but as a T13 student, you'd absolutely be in the running for a more competitive district.) Make no mistake: I'm not saying W&M's a bad school; it isn't. But it isn't in the same league as UVA. UVA had "good outcomes" (BigLaw or federal clerkships) for 79% of its class of 2017. W&M only produced such outcomes for 29% of its class of 2017. That's night and day. Sure, you'd be fine if you managed to land in the top 10-20% at W&M. But you can't guarantee that - law school grades aren't predictable ex ante, and the fact that you were admitted to UVA doesn't guarantee that you'd outperform 80-90% of your classmates at W&M. On the other hand, you'd be fine at UVA even if you were to end up substantially below median. A full-tuition scholly is worth a lot - but I don't think it's worth trading a 79% placement rate for a 29% rate.

But again, though, the best choice will likely be one of the other T13s with a substantial scholly, or a T20 with a very big/full scholly. If you were to get into, say, Cornell with $$$, that'd likely be a better choice than either UVA at sticker or W&M for free.

Agree with all points above. I basically blanketed T13 last year and got $ from UVA but $$$ from their peer schools, so I would definitely consider applying more broadly. Also, I thought I hadn't gotten any money from UVA for several months after getting in until I got my award via snail mail in late Winter, so it may just be that they haven't decided how much to give you yet. I believe several others had a similar experience last year with UVA so that may just be how they do scholarships

Nobody has been awarded anything from UVA yet - They said they would start awarding merit-based scholarships in late February and need-based would be handled in March. So, you won't know till then if you're being asked to pay sticker or not.