Top Law Schools

Currently deciding between:

Vanderbilt (125k)
Northwestern (150k)
Michigan (60k)
UT (105k)

I've visited Vanderbilt and Michigan, didn't love Michigan but completely fell in love with Vanderbilt, I was about to make my seat deposit and then got the scholarship offer from Northwestern yesterday. With tuition costs, the difference comes out to ~3k more to go to Vanderbilt but both costs will be low and I will not have to take out any loans to finance school. I have no question I'll be extremely happy at Vanderbilt, and I have a goal of working in the southeast/ midwest, and BigLaw isn't a primary goal. Is the difference between Northwestern and Vanderbilt in terms of employment and opportunity actually that great to justify changing my mind? The difference in being ranked 12-16 just doesn't seem to be that huge of a difference maker. Any input on the other two is welcomed as well.

With your level of flexibility and already stated desire to be at Vandy, I don't see anything wrong with you taking Vandy. Only question is if you've been to Northwestern. You might like it there as much if not more?

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I PM'ed you. I think there's a pretty big gap between the two schools when it comes to employment.

Visit both, pick the school you prefer.

rockchalk4 wrote:Currently deciding between:

Vanderbilt (125k)
Northwestern (150k)
Michigan (60k)
UT (105k)

I've visited Vanderbilt and Michigan, didn't love Michigan but completely fell in love with Vanderbilt, I was about to make my seat deposit and then got the scholarship offer from Northwestern yesterday. With tuition costs, the difference comes out to ~3k more to go to Vanderbilt but both costs will be low and I will not have to take out any loans to finance school. I have no question I'll be extremely happy at Vanderbilt, and I have a goal of working in the southeast/ midwest, and BigLaw isn't a primary goal. Is the difference between Northwestern and Vanderbilt in terms of employment and opportunity actually that great to justify changing my mind? The difference in being ranked 12-16 just doesn't seem to be that huge of a difference maker. Any input on the other two is welcomed as well.

I can't speak to Northwestern, but I go to Vandy. If you can, try to reach out to some Northwestern students and find out whether the markets you are interested in attend their OCI interviews. I know Vandy gets a lot of southeast employers at OCI. I have several friends working in Charlotte, a few in Nashville (full disclosure: very hard to land a job in Nashville!!), some in Florida, some in Atlanta, some in Chicago, ... the list goes on. I'll be working in the midwest (firm didn't come to OCI, but I reached out to them, and they hired me).

Anyway, that's my advice! It's important to be happy during law school and to like where you live/study, but stay focused on the prize. The prize is landing the job you want in the market you want! Feel free to message me if you have any other questions. Good luck!

rockchalk4 wrote:Currently deciding between:

Vanderbilt (125k)
Northwestern (150k)
Michigan (60k)
UT (105k)

I've visited Vanderbilt and Michigan, didn't love Michigan but completely fell in love with Vanderbilt, I was about to make my seat deposit and then got the scholarship offer from Northwestern yesterday. With tuition costs, the difference comes out to ~3k more to go to Vanderbilt but both costs will be low and I will not have to take out any loans to finance school. I have no question I'll be extremely happy at Vanderbilt, and I have a goal of working in the southeast/ midwest, and BigLaw isn't a primary goal. Is the difference between Northwestern and Vanderbilt in terms of employment and opportunity actually that great to justify changing my mind? The difference in being ranked 12-16 just doesn't seem to be that huge of a difference maker. Any input on the other two is welcomed as well.

I noted that you seemed to like Vandy better, but the placement power of the two schools is just incomparable. Add that to the fact that NU gave you more money (although the COA is higher) and it seems irresponsible to pick anything but NU here.

EDIT: In the interest of full disclosure, I currently live roughly a mile from NU Law and it was one of my top choices. At the very least you should visit. Chicago is easily one of the most underrated cities in the U.S. Read: (Chicago > Nashville by almost any metric you can think of other than weather). But keep that a secret. We don't want rent prices going the way of NYC and LA.

GFox345 wrote:

rockchalk4 wrote:Currently deciding between:

Vanderbilt (125k)
Northwestern (150k)
Michigan (60k)
UT (105k)

I've visited Vanderbilt and Michigan, didn't love Michigan but completely fell in love with Vanderbilt, I was about to make my seat deposit and then got the scholarship offer from Northwestern yesterday. With tuition costs, the difference comes out to ~3k more to go to Vanderbilt but both costs will be low and I will not have to take out any loans to finance school. I have no question I'll be extremely happy at Vanderbilt, and I have a goal of working in the southeast/ midwest, and BigLaw isn't a primary goal. Is the difference between Northwestern and Vanderbilt in terms of employment and opportunity actually that great to justify changing my mind? The difference in being ranked 12-16 just doesn't seem to be that huge of a difference maker. Any input on the other two is welcomed as well.

Chicago > Nashville by almost any metric you can think of other than weather

This isn't true

Generally wrote:

GFox345 wrote:

rockchalk4 wrote:Currently deciding between:

Vanderbilt (125k)
Northwestern (150k)
Michigan (60k)
UT (105k)

I've visited Vanderbilt and Michigan, didn't love Michigan but completely fell in love with Vanderbilt, I was about to make my seat deposit and then got the scholarship offer from Northwestern yesterday. With tuition costs, the difference comes out to ~3k more to go to Vanderbilt but both costs will be low and I will not have to take out any loans to finance school. I have no question I'll be extremely happy at Vanderbilt, and I have a goal of working in the southeast/ midwest, and BigLaw isn't a primary goal. Is the difference between Northwestern and Vanderbilt in terms of employment and opportunity actually that great to justify changing my mind? The difference in being ranked 12-16 just doesn't seem to be that huge of a difference maker. Any input on the other two is welcomed as well.

Chicago > Nashville by almost any metric you can think of other than weather

This isn't true

I will defend that statement to the death, sir. TO THE DEATH.

Northwestern

Picking vanderbilt here would just be silly. I think most other people would also agree that northwestern is the way to go here.

Northwestern, hands down.

BigLaw+Fed Clerkships (per http://www.lstscorereports.com/national/jobs/2014/)
Northwestern - 65.0%
Vanderbilt - 41.2%

You can get good options from either school, but you are significantly more likely to get a job you want from Northwestern. Also, as an earlier poster said, you can get a job from a firm that doesn't come to OCI. NU seems like the easy choice from a jobs perspective. OTOH, it is 3 years of your life and if you are OK with the decreased job prospects, Vanderbilt might be your best choice.

ETA: I reread and saw the BigLaw is not your goal. Even so, I think it is a good indicator of job-getting power. Also, your might change your mind or decide to do biglaw for a few years to gain experience and then transition into something else. And since both the midwest and southeast are places you want to live, NU seems like the best bet.

I second what most people have said about Northwestern over Vandy - however, is the difference in employment opportunities that vast between the 14th & 15th ranked law schools?

greatspirit wrote:I second what most people have said about Northwestern over Vandy - however, is the difference in employment opportunities that vast between the 14th & 15th ranked law schools?

Yeah, pretty much. You could make an argument that Georgetown (and possibly Michigan) are not vastly different from Vandy, but you could also argue that more people attend those schools who choose to go into public interest.

For the class of 2014, all of the T14 (save Michigan-53.8% and Georgetown-48.4%) had over 60% biglaw+FedClerkships. The mean for the T14 was 68%.

Best non-T14:
Texas - 46.4%
USC - 41%
Vanderbilt - 40.2%
UCLA - 39.6%
ND - 37.4%
Fordham - 37%

Why 14 schools? It just happened that way, and there is a lot of momentum to keep it so.

personofinterest wrote:

greatspirit wrote:I second what most people have said about Northwestern over Vandy - however, is the difference in employment opportunities that vast between the 14th & 15th ranked law schools?

Yeah, pretty much. You could make an argument that Georgetown (and possibly Michigan) are not vastly different from Vandy, but you could also argue that more people attend those schools who choose to go into public interest.

For the class of 2014, all of the T14 (save Michigan-53.8% and Georgetown-48.4%) had over 60% biglaw+FedClerkships. The mean for the T14 was 68%.

Best non-T14:
Texas - 46.4%
USC - 41%
Vanderbilt - 40.2%
UCLA - 39.6%
ND - 37.4%
Fordham - 37%

Why 14 schools? It just happened that way, and there is a lot of momentum to keep it so.

class of 2015:
http://law.vanderbilt.edu/2015-EmploymentSummary.pdf
vandy: 47% biglaw/fed clerk
https://www.law.georgetown.edu/careers/ ... Bundle.pdf
georgetown: 44% biglaw/fed clerk
https://law.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploa ... of2015.pdf
ut: 42%

http://www.law.northwestern.edu/profess ... y_2015.pdf
northwestern: 69%

Northwestern

I was offered similar packages from Vandy and Northwestern. While I'm attending neither, I'd recommend Northwestern. I visited in person and it seemed like a great school. Also, I think prestige and employment prospects are better at Northwestern than Vandy.