Top Law Schools

I've withstood posting one of these for the longest time but as a deadline applicant, I'm just now getting my full options and have about a week to make the call so I'd like to get all of the input possible. I will outline my situation below.

I've been living in NYC for 3 years and am obviously going to law school. I had to apply at the deadlines and take the Feb LSAT. I'm originally from VA and I'm not exactly sure where I would like to end up after school though it's probably NY/ DC/ VA. I know that I wouldn't like to stay in NY forever, but it is just as hard to leave. I definitely need to be in a city in the end. I'm certainly not deciding my future based on an anonymous online poll, but I would certainly like to hear as much input as possible and anything I might have failed to consider. As it stands now my options look like this:

Brooklyn ~20k / year after schol
Washington and Lee ~ 22k / year after Schol
Richmond ~ 10k a year, and John Marshall Scholars. Top Scholarship included weekly seminar conducted by a State Supreme Court Justice

None of those include cost of living which is obviously lowest in Lexington, and highest in BK with Richmond in the middle. However I also have lucked into the real estate deal of the century and have a great apt with stabilized rent in NY. Washington and Lee is obviously the highest rank so it seems to be a question of Geography/ rank/ Debt with the Marshall program being the wild card. I think they're all great options and I'm having a really tough time deciding.


Washington and lee
Pro
-Highest Rank
-Decent Scholarship
-Broadest placement

Cons
-Small isolated town
{edit}-Worried about 3L year in such a small town limiting elective and course options

Richmond
Pro
- $$$
-Loved the people and the location, programs and clinics available due to this, as well as generally being a city guy.
-Interested in gov't after so the location could be a huge boost
-John Marshall Scholars program sounds great

Cons
-Options after school as far as transport of degree, being limited to VA for the most part
-Still not a full ride, probably looking at 25k a year including COL

Brooklyn
Pros
-I get to stay in NY
-Great clinics
-Decent Schol (50%)
-Access to NY market, particularly if I do as well as I hope

Cons
-Still expensive and ranked 61
-Going to be tough to focus on law school with all of my non-schooling friends, roomates and a million other things in NYC
-Limited to NY market, which is very saturated
-Pretty much locked in to another 10 years at least in NY
-Stipulations on money and not a lot of options if I dont do as well as I hope

EDIT: Just in case anyone was confused those amounts in the quiz were tuition after scholarship, not scholarship amounts.

Not even close. W&L for sure. The costs are roughly comparable and the con of being in a small town is hardly worth dropping 30-50 spots.

That's my main train of thought. However, the major market in VA is Richmond, where UR is strong. So I'm wondering if that closes the gap to a certain extent

It does not.

W&L > richmond all the way

Bump

Subject line made me do a double take, but since I'm here, I'll try to help. I also advise W&L. It is by far the best school out of these, and they gave you a decent scholarship. You should know the Brooklyn is infamous for yanking scholarship funding if you should fall below the stipulated GPA cutoff, and though students at the very top of the class got biglaw even this past year, many members of the class of 2009 who lacked stellar grades were still looking for jobs six months after graduation. The market is saturated, and I don't think BLS is a good risk, absent a guaranteed full ride.

It might be worth negotiating with Richmond and asking for a full ride if you really like the school, but I still think Washington & Lee is your strongest option by far. Inexpensive CoL clinches the deal, though I know how you must feel about giving up affordable housing in NYC. I wish I had affordable housing in NYC.

OperaSoprano wrote:Subject line made me do a double take, but since I'm here, I'll try to help. I also advise W&L. It is by far the best school out of these, and they gave you a decent scholarship. You should know the Brooklyn is infamous for yanking scholarship funding if you should fall below the stipulated GPA cutoff, and though students at the very top of the class got biglaw even this past year, many members of the class of 2009 who lacked stellar grades were still looking for jobs six months after graduation. The market is saturated, and I don't think BLS is a good risk, absent a guaranteed full ride.

It might be worth negotiating with Richmond and asking for a full ride if you really like the school, but I still think Washington & Lee is your strongest option by far. Inexpensive CoL clinches the deal, though I know how you must feel about giving up affordable housing in NYC. I wish I had affordable housing in NYC.

Stuyvesant Town. Biggest residential real estate deal... and flop in history. Moved in to a newly renovated apt right before the class action suit was ruled in favor of the tenants. Score of the century, I'm gonna miss it.

I agree about BK. There were a lot of stipulations and I think the market is too rough among other things. It's just so hard to leave here and when I got the offer this week it was suddenly a realistic option, but I loved the small classes at W & L and Rich so it looks like it'll be one of those.

As I mentioned before I'm interested in Gov't even at a state or city level and I was wondering if the Supreme Court Justice contact and externship opportunities in Richmond could be a factor, but everyone seems to think otherwise. Thank you everyone for your input

GordonBombay wrote:

OperaSoprano wrote:Subject line made me do a double take, but since I'm here, I'll try to help. I also advise W&L. It is by far the best school out of these, and they gave you a decent scholarship. You should know the Brooklyn is infamous for yanking scholarship funding if you should fall below the stipulated GPA cutoff, and though students at the very top of the class got biglaw even this past year, many members of the class of 2009 who lacked stellar grades were still looking for jobs six months after graduation. The market is saturated, and I don't think BLS is a good risk, absent a guaranteed full ride.

It might be worth negotiating with Richmond and asking for a full ride if you really like the school, but I still think Washington & Lee is your strongest option by far. Inexpensive CoL clinches the deal, though I know how you must feel about giving up affordable housing in NYC. I wish I had affordable housing in NYC.

Stuyvesant Town. Biggest residential real estate deal... and flop in history. Moved in to a newly renovated apt right before the class action suit was ruled in favor of the tenants. Score of the century, I'm gonna miss it.

I agree about BK. There were a lot of stipulations and I think the market is too rough among other things. It's just so hard to leave here and when I got the offer this week it was suddenly a realistic option, but I loved the small classes at W & L and Rich so it looks like it'll be one of those.

As I mentioned before I'm interested in Gov't even at a state or city level and I was wondering if the Supreme Court Justice contact and externship opportunities in Richmond could be a factor, but everyone seems to think otherwise. Thank you everyone for your input

Can you not sublet your apt in NY instead of breaking the lease?

W&L /thread

digitalcntrl wrote:

GordonBombay wrote:

OperaSoprano wrote:Subject line made me do a double take, but since I'm here, I'll try to help. I also advise W&L. It is by far the best school out of these, and they gave you a decent scholarship. You should know the Brooklyn is infamous for yanking scholarship funding if you should fall below the stipulated GPA cutoff, and though students at the very top of the class got biglaw even this past year, many members of the class of 2009 who lacked stellar grades were still looking for jobs six months after graduation. The market is saturated, and I don't think BLS is a good risk, absent a guaranteed full ride.

It might be worth negotiating with Richmond and asking for a full ride if you really like the school, but I still think Washington & Lee is your strongest option by far. Inexpensive CoL clinches the deal, though I know how you must feel about giving up affordable housing in NYC. I wish I had affordable housing in NYC.

Stuyvesant Town. Biggest residential real estate deal... and flop in history. Moved in to a newly renovated apt right before the class action suit was ruled in favor of the tenants. Score of the century, I'm gonna miss it.

I agree about BK. There were a lot of stipulations and I think the market is too rough among other things. It's just so hard to leave here and when I got the offer this week it was suddenly a realistic option, but I loved the small classes at W & L and Rich so it looks like it'll be one of those.

As I mentioned before I'm interested in Gov't even at a state or city level and I was wondering if the Supreme Court Justice contact and externship opportunities in Richmond could be a factor, but everyone seems to think otherwise. Thank you everyone for your input

Can you not sublet your apt in NY instead of breaking the lease?

I might have to actually. I'm not sure. If possible I definitely will.

At least in Lexington you'll have nothing to do but study and fish while studying. Richmond and Virginia in general is a shittastic market, and I'm not sure that UR places in DC or Charlotte. Another thing to consider is that UR is not in the walkable part of Richmond.

I'm sure if you sublet your apartment you won't have a problem finding tenants if its affordable.

erniesto wrote:At least in Lexington you'll have nothing to do but study and fish while studying. Richmond and Virginia in general is a shittastic market, and I'm not sure that UR places in DC or Charlotte. Another thing to consider is that UR is not in the walkable part of Richmond.

I'm sure if you sublet your apartment you won't have a problem finding tenants if its affordable.

Interesting. VA has 2 smaller markets, mid-majors if you will, in Richmond and Hampton Roads, in addition to NOVA. That being said I dont want to go home yet. (Virginia Beach) It just seems odd to me that everyone on here is quick to back the likes of Lewis and Clark etc, but not Richmond when it has a similar presence in a market. Is this because of the quality and quantity of surrounding law schools and limited VA market?

The opinion here seems clear. As far as nothing to do but study and fish, that's a blessing and a curse as I said the idea of leaving NYC is brutal, let alone for Lex Vegas. However, I'm pretty sure with my attention span it will be a blessing in the big picture.

Would it affect anything if I was getting help with living expenses, or if UR was a full ride?

GordonBombay wrote:

erniesto wrote:At least in Lexington you'll have nothing to do but study and fish while studying. Richmond and Virginia in general is a shittastic market, and I'm not sure that UR places in DC or Charlotte. Another thing to consider is that UR is not in the walkable part of Richmond.

I'm sure if you sublet your apartment you won't have a problem finding tenants if its affordable.

Interesting. VA has 2 smaller markets, mid-majors if you will, in Richmond and Hampton Roads, in addition to NOVA. That being said I dont want to go home yet. (Virginia Beach) It just seems odd to me that everyone on here is quick to back the likes of Lewis and Clark etc, but not Richmond when it has a similar presence in a market. Is this because of the quality and quantity of surrounding law schools and limited VA market?

The opinion here seems clear. As far as nothing to do but study and fish, that's a blessing and a curse as I said the idea of leaving NYC is brutal, let alone for Lex Vegas. However, I'm pretty sure with my attention span it will be a blessing in the big picture.

Would it affect anything if I was getting help with living expenses, or if UR was a full ride?

Free is free. NoVA is more DC than anything else. I'm sure there are some offices around Tyson's but most people commute into the city. Hampton Roads is iffy at best. Having lived there for 4 years, industry was definitely taking a hit and small businesses were failing left and right. If you focused on IP you could do well with the tech sector there. That is of course ignoring that the area isn't exactly a great place.

Virginia is crowded though, with UVA, Georgetown, GW, W&M, W&L, GMU, and American all in front of UR for DC and somewhat Richmond. You'll also be (shockingly) competing against Regent grads for the relatively small market in the Hampton Roads area.

One note, last I checked VA government didn't exactly pay well.