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I desperately need help to fill the gap to choose Temple v Wake Forest law by the end of March.

Tuition wise similar enough not to distinguish it. Temple ($27k)v Wake Forest($32K).

I'm a mid 30, have 10 years of working experience in a bank as an economist. Pursuing International Trade law & security law. Plan to get a job in NYC.

Any advice is welcome. again Tuition is not the key deal-breaker

Wake forest is ranked a little higher, but they are pretty similar (#31 for Wake Forest and #48 for Temple). Once you are in the ~20-50 range, it all sort of blurs together.

I strongly suggest looking at the ABA disclosures for employment outcomes. You can find them here:

• Temple: https://www.law.temple.edu/site/wp-cont ... f-2018.pdf
  
  Wake Forest: http://career.law.wfu.edu/files/2019/04 ... 2-2019.pdf

The numbers highlight that these are regional schools, and your chance of working in NYC is slim. Most people graduate and get jobs, but Temple only placed 9/209 graduates in New York, and Wake Forest only placed 10/152 graduates in New York. I don't like those odds.

The single most important factor here is whether you are more comfortable working in Pennsylvania or North Carolina as a back-up option. You shouldn't go to Temple if you aren't prepared to work in Philly; and you shouldn't go to Wake Forest if you aren't prepared to work in Raleigh.

dvlthndr wrote:Wake forest is ranked a little higher, but they are pretty similar (#31 for Wake Forest and #48 for Temple). Once you are in the ~20-50 range, it all sort of blurs together.

I strongly suggest looking at the ABA disclosures for employment outcomes. You can find them here:

• Temple: https://www.law.temple.edu/site/wp-cont ... f-2018.pdf
  
  Wake Forest: http://career.law.wfu.edu/files/2019/04 ... 2-2019.pdf

The numbers highlight that these are regional schools, and your chance of working in NYC is slim. Most people graduate and get jobs, but Temple only placed 9/209 graduates in New York, and Wake Forest only placed 10/152 graduates in New York. I don't like those odds.

The single most important factor here is whether you are more comfortable working in Pennsylvania or North Carolina as a back-up option. You shouldn't go to Temple if you aren't prepared to work in Philly; and you shouldn't go to Wake Forest if you aren't prepared to work in Raleigh.

Just had to chime in to say Wake Forest is not in Wake Forest (i.e. near Raleigh), it's in Winston-Salem. Maybe that's where their students go, idk. but anyways I generally agree with what you said but I'd add that stay in the local regions should not be the backup as it is the vastly more likely outcome. OP, if you want to go to NYC you should go to a school there or a top school. If you envision yourself making the big bucks, which "International Trade law & security law" indicates, then you honestly need to go to a T13.

Wubbles wrote:If you envision yourself making the big bucks, which "International Trade law & security law" indicates, then you honestly need to go to a T13.

This.

OP: You may be banking on your prior experience giving you a leg up. Don't. I don't know of any way to practice international trade law that doesn't involve biglaw or a competitive federal agency. And those jobs are only realistically accessible from the T13 or from the top of the class at the schools you've identified as options. Since you should assume you'll perform at the class median, you shouldn't go to either of these schools for your career goals.