Georgetown, Duke or Vanderbilt Law Forum

[MICHELECARTALK]

Cost doesn't matter of the school. I am interested in becoming a US Attorney or federal public defender or another type of public interest law. I would like to live in a city in the Northeast like Boston or New York or Chicago.

Which law school would you choose?

Thanks,

M

[64Fl]

Ahh, yes, Chicago, that famous northeastern city.

Razzing aside, I'd go with Georgetown or Duke here. GULC has a much better PI/Gov't network than Duke or Vandy. Though, if you want to be an AUSA/AFPD, then a clerkship will probably be important, and Duke should get some serious consideration.

[cavalier1138]

Cost doesn't matter of the school.

Yes, it does. If you don't understand why it does, then you shouldn't be going to law school yet.

(I've decided on this approach in lieu of asking whether your family is loaded. Wasting $300k of your parents' money is just as bad as wasting $300k of your own.)

[QContinuum]

Cost doesn't matter of the school.

Yes, it does. If you don't understand why it does, then you shouldn't be going to law school yet.

(I've decided on this approach in lieu of asking whether your family is loaded. Wasting $300k of your parents' money is just as bad as wasting $300k of your own.)

It's possible Michele thinks cost doesn't matter because they are all-in on public interest, and plan to rely on PSLF. Even still, cost should be a consideration. It's kind of reckless to just go, "oh, I'll have PSLF anyway; let's just go nuts and maximize the ol' student debt!" Even putting aside concerns about PSLF eligibility and reliability, a ton of students - maybe even a majority, certainly a plurality - who go into T13s laser-focused on public interest end up getting sucked into the BigLaw vortex, at which point PSLF vanishes and student debt becomes all too relevant.

[nealric]

Cost doesn't matter of the school.

Yes, it does. If you don't understand why it does, then you shouldn't be going to law school yet.

(I've decided on this approach in lieu of asking whether your family is loaded. Wasting $300k of your parents' money is just as bad as wasting $300k of your own.)

Perhaps, although there's a certain level of family wealth where $300k isn't all that material. OP: do you actually have offers from these schools, or are you just looking to apply?

[Delano]

In a vacuum, this is pretty easy: Duke.
GULC may have some advantages when it comes to location and a larger PI/gov alumni base, but its employment stats have lagged a lot lately. Vanderbilt is not in the same tier and wouldn't make sense over Duke at equal cost in most situations.

As others have said, cost should definitely be a consideration.

[MICHELECARTALK]

Yes, I have offers from Duke, Vanderbilt and Georgetown. Also got a $120,000 scholarship offer from Vanderbilt. Waiting to see if any scholarship money from Duke or Georgetown.

I will rephrase my initial sentence about cost as follows: Please disregard cost in your analysis. Doesn't mean that I will disregard cost but that I am interested in your opinions and knowledge about the schools themselves.

Thank you,

M

[Anon-non-anon]

Yes, I have offers from Duke, Vanderbilt and Georgetown. Also got a $120,000 scholarship offer from Vanderbilt. Waiting to see if any scholarship money from Duke or Georgetown.

I will rephrase my initial sentence about cost as follows: Please disregard cost in your analysis. Doesn't mean that I will disregard cost but that I am interested in your opinions and knowledge about the schools themselves.

Thank you,

M

Duke is very clearly the right answer for any job other than totally non-prestige based PI/government (and even then, prob the right option) if cost is not a factor. The jobs you listed are very prestige based. Therefore, Duke is the best option.

But full ride at Georgetown vs. sticker at Duke would be a very different calculus then the above, which is why everyone is talking about costs as being important here.

[decimalsanddollars]

I'd join the chorus that Duke is better in a vacuum/cost notwithstanding/for all options, and I'd add that GULC and Vandy should be considered on par with one another for your goals and target markets: employment numbers are similar; neither is in a city or region you're targeting directly; both are not as good as Duke in their markets (or any national market). USAO/FPD often want to see clerkship experience, and each of these schools place a decent number of clerks each year, but Duke does much better for it. My recommendation of Duke is primarily based on my belief that it will make it easier for you to land clerkships/fellowships/honors/unicorn PI than the other two schools.