Is UT Austin worth it? non-Texas biglaw Forum

[Maxcol95]

Hi guys, i am wondering what you guys think of UT-Austin for someone that has no plans to stay in Texas, ideally finding a biglaw job in Chicago, NYC, Boston, DC or Philly, is UT at the same COA better than Vandy, WUSTL or BU for those goals?

[CanadianWolf]

Commonsense is an important attribute for an attorney.

Assuming that your post is sincere, my opinion is that one should not invest heavily in a UT law school education if targeting NYC, Boston, Wash DC, San Francisco, or Philadelphia.

[crazywafflez]

UT wouldn't be my choice if those were my target markets. I personally think Vandy, out of those options, places the best in each of those markets (not that any of those schools have big pulls in DC, SF or Philly really...)
WashU will place better in the midwest, I believe; and BU will place better in Boston. UT is second to none in Texas.
If costs were equal, and your target market is NYC, I'd take Vandy. Check out the LST for each of these schools to see where they send their grads and see if it lines up with your goals.
I don't think any of these are a good choice though if you're aiming for SF or DC.

[yankees12345!]

UT has a well-established pipeline to NYC big law. The rest of those places, not so much.

[Anon-non-anon]

Yeah idk what those other people are talking about. If it's equal COA, take UT Austin over the lower ranked schools you list, especially if you're happy in NYC.

[Anon-non-anon]

Commonsense is an important attribute for an attorney.

Assuming that your post is sincere, my opinion is that one should not invest heavily in a UT law school education if targeting NYC, Boston, Wash DC, San Francisco, or Philadelphia.

WTF is this take? He's asking a reasonable question, "commonsense" wouldn't give you an answer without relevant information. And your "commonsense" was to suggest OP goes to a lower ranked school at the same COA, where OP has a worse shot at their goals. If anything, "commonsense" tells us to go to the highest ranked school, especially with a broad range of cities one would be happy to end up in.

OP didn't say I'm deciding between Cornell and UT. He said UT and a bunch of lower ranked schools for same COA.

[CanadianWolf]

Commonsense is an important attribute for an attorney.

Assuming that your post is sincere, my opinion is that one should not invest heavily in a UT law school education if targeting NYC, Boston, Wash DC, San Francisco, or Philadelphia.

WTF is this take? He's asking a reasonable question, "commonsense" wouldn't give you an answer without relevant information. And your "commonsense" was to suggest OP goes to a lower ranked school at the same COA, where OP has a worse shot at their goals. If anything, "commonsense" tells us to go to the highest ranked school, especially with a broad range of cities one would be happy to end up in.

OP didn't say I'm deciding between Cornell and UT. He said UT and a bunch of lower ranked schools for same COA.

Never suggested that OP attend any law school. Please reread my post.

[Anon-non-anon]

Commonsense is an important attribute for an attorney.

Assuming that your post is sincere, my opinion is that one should not invest heavily in a UT law school education if targeting NYC, Boston, Wash DC, San Francisco, or Philadelphia.

WTF is this take? He's asking a reasonable question, "commonsense" wouldn't give you an answer without relevant information. And your "commonsense" was to suggest OP goes to a lower ranked school at the same COA, where OP has a worse shot at their goals. If anything, "commonsense" tells us to go to the highest ranked school, especially with a broad range of cities one would be happy to end up in.

OP didn't say I'm deciding between Cornell and UT. He said UT and a bunch of lower ranked schools for same COA.

Never suggested that OP attend any law school. Please reread my post.

Sorry I inferred that you were trying to answer the question.

[CanadianWolf]

Commonsense is an important attribute for an attorney.

Assuming that your post is sincere, my opinion is that one should not invest heavily in a UT law school education if targeting NYC, Boston, Wash DC, San Francisco, or Philadelphia.

WTF is this take? He's asking a reasonable question, "commonsense" wouldn't give you an answer without relevant information. And your "commonsense" was to suggest OP goes to a lower ranked school at the same COA, where OP has a worse shot at their goals. If anything, "commonsense" tells us to go to the highest ranked school, especially with a broad range of cities one would be happy to end up in.

OP didn't say I'm deciding between Cornell and UT. He said UT and a bunch of lower ranked schools for same COA.

Texas placed just 8.7% in New York compared to 13.8% for Vanderbilt & 12.9% for WashUStL. I did not check your other listed schools.

OP: Check lawschooltransparency website. Shows that Texas placed 8.7% of class in New York, while Vanderbilt placed 13.8% in New York & WashUStL placed 12.9% in New York. I didn't check the other schools on your list.

Never suggested that OP attend any law school. Please reread my post.

Sorry I inferred that you were trying to answer the question.

OP: Again, check lawschooltransparency's website. Boston University placed over 21% of graduates in New York.
Among your 4 listed law schools, Texas places the lowest percentage of its graduates in New York.

[Anon-non-anon]

Commonsense is an important attribute for an attorney.

Assuming that your post is sincere, my opinion is that one should not invest heavily in a UT law school education if targeting NYC, Boston, Wash DC, San Francisco, or Philadelphia.

WTF is this take? He's asking a reasonable question, "commonsense" wouldn't give you an answer without relevant information. And your "commonsense" was to suggest OP goes to a lower ranked school at the same COA, where OP has a worse shot at their goals. If anything, "commonsense" tells us to go to the highest ranked school, especially with a broad range of cities one would be happy to end up in.

OP didn't say I'm deciding between Cornell and UT. He said UT and a bunch of lower ranked schools for same COA.

Texas placed just 8.7% in New York compared to 13.8% for Vanderbilt & 12.9% for WashUStL. I did not check your other listed schools.

OP: Check lawschooltransparency website. Shows that Texas placed 8.7% of class in New York, while Vanderbilt placed 13.8% in New York & WashUStL placed 12.9% in New York. I didn't check the other schools on your list.

Never suggested that OP attend any law school. Please reread my post.

Sorry I inferred that you were trying to answer the question.

OP: Again, check lawschooltransparency's website. Boston University placed over 21% of graduates in New York.
Among your 4 listed law schools, Texas places the lowest percentage of its graduates in New York.

Sure but there's going to be a huge self selection problem. Most would agree if you're aiming for big law in any of the above cities, which includes NYC, of the schools listed at the same COA, UT is the best choice by a pretty significant margin. Plus 3 years in Austin would be cool.

Edit to clarify point with cities. If OP said I want Boston or midwest only, this might be different. But with NYC in play, take the highest rank school at same COA.

[hookem7]

UT has a program for connecting with NYC firms but if you don't want to be in Texas, going to UT is not a great idea imo. The average outcome for a UT graduate is working as a non-biglaw attorney in Texas.

[ignorantfoot96]

UT has a program for connecting with NYC firms but if you don't want to be in Texas, going to UT is not a great idea imo. The average outcome for a UT graduate is working as a non-biglaw attorney in Texas.

You know someone is giving Texas facts when the username is hookem

Also commend you for your recent honest posts about UT/Texas market. It's a killer regional school that definitely has the ability to place nationally, but average outcome is not going to be NYC big law

[yankees12345!]

UT has a well-established pipeline to NYC big law. The rest of those places, not so much.

Just to clarify, by this comment i meant “UT does not have a strong pipeline to Boston, DC, Chicago, etc.”

Not that the other schools don’t have a pipeline to NYC. I have no idea about them. But you can definitely get NYC big law if you’re top third or higher at UT and a decent interviewer. Lots of people do.

I have no idea how you would get a Boston or Chicago placement from UT. I don’t remember seeing any of those office locations on the OCI list or hearing about a satellite interview program. Some people go to DC.

For what it’s worth, Austin is a very nice place to attend law school. Hook ‘em!

[CanadianWolf]

UT has a program for connecting with NYC firms but if you don't want to be in Texas, going to UT is not a great idea imo. The average outcome for a UT graduate is working as a non-biglaw attorney in Texas.

Helpful post.

I agree that Austin is a great city both for education & for professional endeavors. I have family members who are heavily involved with UT-Austin grad schools in business. Great city.

OP was targeting multiple cities including Philadelphia, Chicago, Wash DC, & Boston in addition to NYC.