UIUC/ND to Vanderbilt? Forum

[treseme]

I spent the last four years in Nashville before law school, though I didn't grow up there, and I'd like to return there when I graduate. Many friends, significant other, etc.

After fall semester, I'm hovering around the top 15%. I have a scholarship that's about 1/3 of tuition.

I've read on here that Nashville is a rather insular as far as legal hiring goes (which seems a bit strange to me, given how many transplants there seemed to be when I was there.)

I'm debating whether it'd be worth it to transfer, be in Nashville for 2 years, have access to those firms during OCI, show a commitment to the area, etc., for 40k or so (scholly + COL bump?), or rather stick it out here, and flood firms with my resume and cover letter.

Any thoughts?

[benburns214]

I spent the last four years in Nashville before law school, though I didn't grow up there, and I'd like to return there when I graduate. Many friends, significant other, etc.

After fall semester, I'm hovering around the top 15%. I have a scholarship that's about 1/3 of tuition.

I've read on here that Nashville is a rather insular as far as legal hiring goes (which seems a bit strange to me, given how many transplants there seemed to be when I was there.)

I'm debating whether it'd be worth it to transfer, be in Nashville for 2 years, have access to those firms during OCI, show a commitment to the area, etc., for 40k or so (scholly + COL bump?), or rather stick it out here, and flood firms with my resume and cover letter.

Any thoughts?

If you want to live/practice in Nashville... then yes, it'll be worth it. Assuming you can keep trucking that the level of academic excellence you currently are.

[treseme]

Thanks. Bump. Any other thoughts?

[Coolgrnmen]

Thanks. Bump. Any other thoughts?

I think it goes without saying that improving to top 10% would help a lot...but top 15% at UIUC should be fine.

But I think if you managed top 10%, you'd be able to transfer much higher than Vandy...though I guess that doesn't matter much to you since you want the Nashville market.

Good luck.

[flcath]

ND student here, working 2L biglaw in Nashville. Despite being an ND student, I am a well-documented Vanderbilt troll (in a positive way), generally.

Transferring will make little to no difference. You will be highly competitive for a Nashville job either way, given your grades, school, and ties to the area. With all due respect to other posters, they are just wrong on this one.

If you're only getting 1/3 tuition, it might still be worth it to transfer, but (1) don't do it if you make LR at your current school, and (2) you'd be doing it as much for the enjoyment of spending 2 years in Nashville as for the (very marginal) prestige bump of UIUC (w/o LR) versus Vandy (w/o LR). Given where UIUC and ND are located, this is not unreasonable.

Yes, the Nashville firms come to Vandy's OCI, but do not overestimate the impact this has on your getting hired. Because these firms come to OCIs, Vandy kids who aren't actually interested in staying in Nashville interview at them, and the firms have trouble sorting the wheat from the chaff in this regard. Analogously, I got 2 callbacks from the 4 firms I applied to in Nashville, while I probably went 0 for 7 with "local" (Chicago, South Bend, and Indy) firms that came to ND's OCI.

Edit: Also, as the poster above me mentioned, top 10% should be sufficient to get into a T10. UVa (but, strangely, not Duke) has a very strong presence in the city. And if you can get into a T6, go there.