Help me pick Forum

[Austinb34]

Hey y'all

I was wondering what everyone thought about these options

UCLA with a 10k/yr schol, GW 20k/yr, Emory 25k/yr, Fordham with a 30k/yr schol, Washington and Lee with 40k/yr, Wake forest full ride. My goal is to make money (don't need biglaw), have a good worklife balance, and I'm fine living in any major city. Have ties to atlanta and dallas. Gpa was 3.high, lsat was 16mid. Took it 4 times so seems like i'm out of options. Hope thats enough info. What do y'all think?

[nixy]

Money and good work/life balance are kind of diametrically opposed, so you may need to decide your priorities.

[trebekismyhero]

Yep, until you get an in-house gig it is hard to make money and have good work-life balance so figure out which is more important to you. Also most of these schools are good, but you aren't likely to be making $190k from any of them. I'd say if you're paying for this yourself, UCLA, GW and Emory are too expensive. Fordham is probably too expensive. So basically down to W&L and WF. I'd probably go with Wake, but only if you are prepared to live in NC and likely make less than $100k.

[cavalier1138]

As mentioned, your career goals seem a bit at odds. It might help to define what you think an appropriate salary would be after graduation. It would also help if you could define goals that are slightly more specific than making money and have a good work/life balance.

[crazywafflez]

Not sure I'd take the leap for UCLA tbh- especially if Texas or the South is your goal. Emory maybe if you've got a place to live for free in Atlanta. Ford is too much. I would pick either Wake or W&L- I'd probs take W&L. It has a special allure for some reason here, in the South at least, not sure how it does in the Southwest like Texas but probs decently. Wake would be great too, and I think both are fantastic choices and quite comparable. Lexington and WS are way different cities; visit both or look them up and see what one gives you a better feel and pick that one. Atlanta will be tough from these but easily possible if you're the top 20%. Good choices and nice job, best of luck!

[decimalsanddollars]

Definitely agree with the above posters, and I'll reemphasize that none of these schools have strong placement in biglaw, clerkships, federal government, or elite public interest---what they offer is strong *regional* placement generally, and specifically in the region where the school is. If these are your only options, it's more of a decision of where you want to be than what you want to do, because none of these schools will give you an edge over the others in a specific career line (except for the fact that GW is physically in DC, where many federal govt jobs happen to be).

If this were my choice, I'd pick W&L just because it offers more options for my (read: your) Atlanta and Texas ties: decent placement in and around the Southeast and DC, plus okay placement in Texas. Of course, if you had any location preference at all, that should control over an option-maximizing choice. For example, not taking UCLA would be dumb if you wanted to work on the West Coast; if you wanted to be in Chicago, picking UCLA would be even dumber. I'd only pick Emory to stay in Atlanta or maybe to maximize options in Florida markets, where Emory places pretty well. Agreed w/ trebek that Wake is regional; I'd even say it has the worst out-of-market reach of any of the schools you listed.

Alternatively, if your main goal was biglaw generally, I would say Fordham wins by an inch because of inroads at NYC firms (which take massive associate classes, so your odds are better overall); if it was fed gov, I'd go GW; if it's clerking or top-shelf PI, I'd retake and reapply.