Vanderbilt / Southern Schools Forum

[wjz3by]

Current Student at a top 4 public university. Current GPA 3.8x Diagnostic LSAT 162 and for what its worth I scored a 1520 SAT so hopefully I would be able to increase my LSAT score if I studied as hard for it as I did for the SAT. I have a question about Southern schools such as UT, Emory, and especially Vanderbilt seeing as it place as well as a t14. As someone of an East Asian ethnicity and one who has never lived in the South I am wondering if going to such schools would disadvantage myself given the mainly Southern placement of those respective schools that might impair someone of my background. To what degree do southern schools and by extension southern firms discriminate / open to hiring non- white individuals?

[Wubbles]

Those schools don't place as well as the T14. Also, is there is a reason you want to go to the south if you don't feel comfortable there? If you're capable of a 1520 SAT and 3.8 goa from a good school, with a 162 diagnostic you should end up significantly improving and getting into better schools with scholarships, and those schools won't tie you to the south.

[wjz3by]

My parents are planning to retire to Florida in a few years and I want to be there to support them as they both have physical ailments. I ran through the calculators for financial aid and I wouldn’t qualify for a penny at the T14. So I will be looking at attending t14 schools either on sticker or small merit scholarships. Therefore a potential full ride at some of the Southern schools might warrant consideration for the Southern/Florida market.

[crazywafflez]

Hey, I'm a west Asian minority student in the south and from here and the southwest. There's no real racism here, certainly not anymore than in the rest of the country. The south is a more insular market though than NYC- so make sure to make some connections if you want to stay and you go to school there. Do you want to be in the south? Emory places predominantly in the south and then NYC. Vandy is the same but has a broader reach. These are regional/super regional schools. A 162 won't get you into Vandy; it may get you into Emory, however, you won't get a scholarship. With a 162, and if you wanna get in the south, look at UNC, Tulane, UGA, and a couple others- but these schools will keep you for the most part in the south. Go to school where you want to live. The T14 schools are the only real portable degrees. Best of luck.

[Wubbles]

My parents are planning to retire to Florida in a few years and I want to be there to support them as they both have physical ailments. I ran through the calculators for financial aid and I wouldn’t qualify for a penny at the T14. So I will be looking at attending t14 schools either on sticker or small merit scholarships. Therefore a potential full ride at some of the Southern schools might warrant consideration for the Southern/Florida market.

Outside of Harvard, Yale, and Stanford need based aid is virtually nonexistent for law schools anyways. The large scholarships that the other t14 schools award are merit scholarships. Why do you say you can only get a small scholarship?

Anyways, Florida is a completely different market than the South generally. Not sure what type of job you're looking for, but I would say best bets for you would be one of the t13 (because I think you're capable of getting in with a large scholarship), then one of UF/FSU.

[crazywafflez]

Sorry, I did not see the FL post. FL market is different from the South- even Northern FL, which is southern, still pulls heavily from FSU/UF. Emory, UGA, Bama, Tulane, Vandy, etc., may all have some pull in FL but you're better off going to a T13 or one of those two FL schools for free. I'd only suggest FSU/UF though if you plan on staying in FL and it is for a good price. However, attending one of these two does limit your ability to secure biglaw compared to say Vandy.

[QContinuum]

As someone who grew up in the South - the metropolises are fine and very diverse. And as a T14/T20 grad, you'd most likely be looking for a job in one of those cities.

Obviously rural Alabama, for instance, is going to be a different story, but there wouldn't really be entry-level legal jobs out there either, aside from hanging your own shingle (which I definitely would NOT recommend as a non-AL native) or becoming a local public defender.

(Obligatory reminder that Louisiana is its own thing with its civil law system, and even more insular as a result. NOLA also - perhaps in part due to Louisiana's unique civil law system - has a surprisingly limited legal market for the size of the city.)

[LA-NY-DC]

You need to look at GPA and LSAT medians at each of the schools you're looking at to know what to aim for. Vanderbilt's median GPA I believe is a 3.8 and their median LSAT is 167 or 168.

Also, the VAST majority of law schools give MERIT BASED scholarships, not need based! If you finish undergrad with a 3.9 or 3.8 and get 171+ on the LSAT, you will end up with potentially HUGE scholarships at the bottom T-14 and maybe even a full ride to Vanderbilt. The whole name of the game for law school is merit based scholarships. It's not super hard to get merit based scholarships in law school admissions, you don't even have to fill out a separate application most of the time... they'll just let you know in your acceptance letter.