Wisco ($$$$) vs. Wake ($$$$) Forum

[potatolover]

I have my decision down to these two schools, but I am having a rather difficult time deciding. I currently live in Minnesota and am a year out of undergrad. I attended undergrad at a southern religious school, which pushed me academically but left me miserable socially. I did not fit in with the uppity culture present and most of the students around me (I became an atheist during college, which didn't help matters). Being back in MN, I now value my friendships here at an incredibly high rate, but I also despise the weather after being away from it for four years. Unfortunately, MN Law waitlisted me, but I was fortunate enough to receive a full ride from Wisconsin.

After visiting Wake, I now believe that I could do better there academically than I would at Wisconsin. Their faculty really impressed me; however, out of all the people I met at their open house, I was not confident that any of them would one day be a friend. Much of their prospective students seemed to be either cliquey, isolated, or just anti-social. The uppity culture that I had experienced during undergrad seemed to be present to a certain extent, as well. I was not able to meet many of these prospective students, but I was expecting to have more of a connection with some of them. North Carolina has been somewhat a dream of mine, but it appears to be a monumental risk, given my desires in life.

As a moderate conservative (who has been veering a little more left recently, though), I was a little concerned at the reaction the prospective student body at Wisconsin had to the idea that I was a conservative. I felt like I had to quickly move past the topic and be quiet about it. I am unsure if this political disparity in their student body has the ability to damage one's academic experience in law school, but it is something that came to mind. I did end up clicking with some of these students in other ways that I had not socially with those I met at Wake, though. A possible huge downside of Wisconsin is that they increased their class size by two-thirds last year, and I am afraid of what this will do to the school and its future employment opportunities.

My goal is small to mid size law, so I am not presently concerned at the low big law numbers at both of these schools. I would prefer having the option to practice in MN, but I realize this is not an automatic possibility even at Wisconsin. I realize this is a lot and is a bit of a rant, but if anyone has any advice or has had similar experiences, it would be amazing if you could respond with it.

[QContinuum]

A few general pieces of advice:

• Try not to use the word "uppity." That word has loaded, racial connotations, and while you're obviously using it to refer to people of all races, it's just a bad word to be using in this day and age.
• Outside the T13/T20, law schools place locally. That means you should attend law school in the market you want to practice in. So the key choice here is whether you want to set down roots in NC or in WI. If you attend Wake, you should go in fully expecting to live in NC for the next few decades. Only attend Wake if you are sure you are 100% comfortable with that outcome.
• Why are you going around broadcasting your political views to strangers at ASW? I would find it frankly pretty weird for a stranger to come up to me at a social event and say, "hi, my name's potatolover, and I'm a Republican!" (I'd find it equally weird if said stranger were to say they were a Democrat or a liberal.) So in other words, I suspect your prospective future classmates weren't reacting oddly to your political viewpoints so much as they simply didn't know how to react to your "in-your-face" politics talk. Even in 1L I generally had little clue what most of my classmates' political views were.

[cavalier1138]

In addition to what Q said (and I second everything regarding you sounding extremely socially awkward by your own description), this was a big red flag for me:

After visiting Wake, I now believe that I could do better there academically than I would at Wisconsin.

You have no way of knowing that. Your academic performance in law school is defined entirely in relation to your classmates' performance. And you don't know how any of you are going to perform in law school until you've actually had exams.

Pick the school in the region you want to practice in. If that's Wisconsin, then go to Wisconsin. If it's North Carolina, go to Wake.

[pummer]

A few points:
-I definitely don't think you should discount the advantage of Wisco over Wake if you want to practice in MSP. There are likely to be hundreds of Wisco grads in MSP and single-digit Wake grads. If this is the most important thing to you, I think it's a no-brainer Wisco.
-It sounds like Wake Forest (esp for Law) is not likely to be nearly as religious as your undergrad experience. Be careful you don't bring your own baggage from the past to making that judgment.
-On the other hand, it does sound like Wake Forest would be a better fit for your political views. Wisco and Madison in general are very liberal. But I'm sure you will find some moderate/rightys staying quiet in LS.