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Hi guys, I am admitted by both Duke and GULC. I can participate OCI for both, but write-on for GULC only. I ultimately want to do transactional job in biglaw, hopefully internationally. Any thoughts? Thanks!

I mean, Duke has much better biglaw numbers, so I don't really see this as being much of a question unless you have some special circumstances.

chuckbass wrote:I mean, Duke has much better biglaw numbers, so I don't really see this as being much of a question unless you have some special circumstances.

You mean Duke has a much better number of biglaw participated in its OCI or the higher % of graduates hired by biglaw? I don't know if the better location of GULC matters.

There is really no question that Duke is the better fit for you. Also, the name goes a long way overseas. While GULC is ranked higher for "international law," Duke will probably be a better fit for a transfer looking to work overseas. If you want to work overseas, it's easiest to go from a big firm. And if you want to get into a big firm, Duke is the better candidate. GULC only places over 40% in Big Law and I'd guess that few of those are transfers. True, there's some self selection for GULC because many students are interested in government work, but still...

Anonymous User wrote:Hi guys, I am admitted by both Duke and GULC. I can participate OCI for both, but write-on for GULC only. I ultimately want to do transactional job in biglaw, hopefully internationally. Any thoughts? Thanks!

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celtslaw wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:Hi guys, I am admitted by both Duke and GULC. I can participate OCI for both, but write-on for GULC only. I ultimately want to do transactional job in biglaw, hopefully internationally. Any thoughts? Thanks!

How can you participate in OCI for GULC at this point? Doesn't OCI officially end today?

EIW hasn't started. I'm thinking you meant to say write-on?

Clearly Duke -- clearly.

chuckbass wrote:

celtslaw wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:Hi guys, I am admitted by both Duke and GULC. I can participate OCI for both, but write-on for GULC only. I ultimately want to do transactional job in biglaw, hopefully internationally. Any thoughts? Thanks!

How can you participate in OCI for GULC at this point? Doesn't OCI officially end today?

EIW hasn't started. I'm thinking you meant to say write-on?

Oops, you're right.

.

I think that the OP is concerned that he or she only has the opportunity to write-on to Georgetown's law review/journal.
OP: Are you asking if Georgetown with law review is better than Duke without law review for employment purposes ?

Regardless, I agree with the posters above that Duke is the better choice. Additionally, there should be secondary journals at Duke that are available to transfer students. (Alaska Law Review ?)

P.S. It appears that Duke has 9 law journals, including the Alaska Law Review. There should a position for a transfer student who wants to participate on a journal.

CanadianWolf wrote:I think that the OP is concerned that he or she only has the opportunity to write-on to Georgetown's law review/journal.
OP: Are you asking if Georgetown with law review is better than Duke without law review for employment purposes ?

Regardless, I agree with the posters above that Duke is the better choice. Additionally, there should be secondary journals at Duke that are available to transfer students. (Alaska Law Review ?)

P.S. It appears that Duke has 9 law journals, including the Alaska Law Review. There should a position for a transfer student who wants to participate on a journal.

Yes. I was admitted much earlier by GULC than Duke. I already participated in write-on to GULC. Assume I couldn't get in a journal of Duke, is Georgetown + a journal better than Duke without a journal? Thank you!

I asked one of my profs. He said Duke and GULC are pretty even academically, but socially they couldn't be more different, although both are excellent places. He said GULC is much larger and more impersonal than Duke and very few people describe the atmosphere in GULC as friendly or supportive (I heard a GULC transfer student saying the same thing). On the other hand, he thinks Duke is conservative and not as diverse as GULC. He thinks, given my interests, GULC would be marginally better for career purposes, but it wouldn't be as much fun.

Anonymous User wrote:I asked one of my profs. He said Duke and GULC are pretty even academically, but socially they couldn't be more different, although both are excellent places. He said GULC is much larger and more impersonal than Duke and very few people describe the atmosphere in GULC as friendly or supportive (I heard a GULC transfer student saying the same thing). On the other hand, he thinks Duke is conservative and not as diverse as GULC. He thinks, given my interests, GULC would be marginally better for career purposes, but it wouldn't be as much fun.

What are your career interests?

On this point, poster Chuck Bass should be more helpful because he is a current transfer student at GULC. All I can offer is my opinion as whether or not Duke without law review is better than Georgetown with law review. As noted in the post above, it probably comes down to your career objectives & preferred location (Duke is stronger in the Southeastern US).
Duke w/o law review versus Georgetown with law review = no wrong choice. Congratulations !

Anonymous User wrote:On the other hand, he thinks Duke is conservative and not as diverse as GULC.

I can't comment on the accuracy of his characterization of GULC, but this is a pretty empty stereotype of Duke Law. For the Class of 2017, a slightly higher proportion of Duke Law students than GULC students identify as ethnic/racial minorities (although Duke has fewer women, for whatever reason; not sure if that's a one-year anomaly or always true). As far as conservatism, I don't know why it'd be more conservative than any other T14 school. There's nothing in the water. Only 12% of the class comes from the South, while a full ~50% comes from the NE and West. It trends left overall, as one expects of grad students, professors, and millennials, on average.

CanadianWolf wrote:On this point, poster Chuck Bass should be more helpful because he is a current transfer student at GULC. All I can offer is my opinion as whether or not Duke without law review is better than Georgetown with law review. As noted in the post above, it probably comes down to your career objectives & preferred location (Duke is stronger in the Southeastern US).
Duke w/o law review versus Georgetown with law review = no wrong choice. Congratulations !

THANK YOU!!!

chuckbass wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:I asked one of my profs. He said Duke and GULC are pretty even academically, but socially they couldn't be more different, although both are excellent places. He said GULC is much larger and more impersonal than Duke and very few people describe the atmosphere in GULC as friendly or supportive (I heard a GULC transfer student saying the same thing). On the other hand, he thinks Duke is conservative and not as diverse as GULC. He thinks, given my interests, GULC would be marginally better for career purposes, but it wouldn't be as much fun.

What are your career interests?

I'd like to do transactional work about international finance/investment laws. I prefer work in oversea offices ultimately, but it's also fine if not.

Anonymous User wrote:

chuckbass wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:I asked one of my profs. He said Duke and GULC are pretty even academically, but socially they couldn't be more different, although both are excellent places. He said GULC is much larger and more impersonal than Duke and very few people describe the atmosphere in GULC as friendly or supportive (I heard a GULC transfer student saying the same thing). On the other hand, he thinks Duke is conservative and not as diverse as GULC. He thinks, given my interests, GULC would be marginally better for career purposes, but it wouldn't be as much fun.

What are your career interests?

I'd like to do transactional work about international finance/investment laws. I prefer work in oversea offices ultimately, but it's also fine if not.

So, what you're saying is you want biglaw. The numbers greatly favor Duke then, so I really don't see how this is a question.

I think you're under the impression that GULC will boost you with foreign offices? It probably won't. Duke has far more lay prestige, especially in Asia. There's no meaningful advantage going to DC would give you if you want to have the chance to go abroad.