Top Law Schools

I have come down between GULC and Duke (and UCLA). The decision keeps me up at night and I'm going to go crazy so it's time to ask for input.

UCLA has of course offered me a 75% tuition scholarship. That's awesome, but how smart would it be to turn t14 schools down for that.

My goal is to specialize in international law. I'm not sure what kind yet... national security? International business? Real estate? I don't know- but I picked two schools that had great programs.

GULC is renowned for its international law, and they are likely to give me a better scholarship. However, the downside is its size. The 1L incoming class is huge, which makes it hard to get into clinics and it's also so competitive.

I got into Duke's JD/LLM in international and comparative law, which adds two summers. One will be in Geneva. It has an extremely small class size made smaller by the combined degree, but it's also the most expensive and least likely to give a ton of scholarship money if any.

My question is- what are your experiences with either school if you are a student there? What would you choose? Any input that is positive and constructive is much appreciated.

I would probably take UCLA (assuming that you mean you 75% is covered by the scholly), and many people here would probably tell you that. Of course, this depends on where you want to practice.

I attended one of the other two, and I have a shit ton of debt and mediocre job prospects made terrible by the debt. UCLA is a good enough school where if you do well, you have the same opportunities to get prestigious shit as the other two. If you don't do well, then of course you have more of a cushion at one of the others. As for Duke and GULC, I haven't seen the numbers recently, but I suspect the real the difference is more about where you want to be and the type of culture you want to be in.

You are comparing apples to oranges. Each one places more strongly in their specific market (Duke's strangely being NYC).

The good news -- congrats by the way -- is that all three are terrific schools located in urban markets with very strong externship programs.

If you are truly ambivalent about geography, you might consider class size: Georgetown 500+ per year, Duke < 100 and UCLA< 300.

The scholarship offer alone, however, makes UCLA far more attractive. Duke would be the best academic environment for your goals -- although overall reputation in international law is questionable -- but the cost is overwhelming unless you can retake LSAT and get $$$.

InChrist1616 wrote:I have come down between GULC and Duke (and UCLA). The decision keeps me up at night and I'm going to go crazy so it's time to ask for input.

UCLA has of course offered me a 75% tuition scholarship. That's awesome, but how smart would it be to turn t14 schools down for that.

My goal is to specialize in international law. I'm not sure what kind yet... national security? International business? Real estate? I don't know- but I picked two schools that had great programs.

GULC is renowned for its international law, and they are likely to give me a better scholarship. However, the downside is its size. The 1L incoming class is huge, which makes it hard to get into clinics and it's also so competitive.

I got into Duke's JD/LLM in international and comparative law, which adds two summers. One will be in Geneva. It has an extremely small class size made smaller by the combined degree, but it's also the most expensive and least likely to give a ton of scholarship money if any.

My question is- what are your experiences with either school if you are a student there? What would you choose? Any input that is positive and constructive is much appreciated.

I'm an incoming Duke student, though not in law. They have a great faculty for national security/IR both in the law school and outside it (you can take courses outside the law school). The faculty is dotted with folks who have been chief consuls for senators, or top foreign policy advisers for presidential candidates, etc. I hear the law schools is quite tight knit due to it's low class sizes.

But what sort of debt are you looking at? People here seem to take on obscene amounts of debt; IMO carrying $100, $150, or even $200K in debt is likely to have a long run impact on your career. Your options on where you can work, and if you can take low paying jobs, or volunteer positions to "get yourself in the door," are very limited if you have a massive debt burden. I don't know if the premium for "name brand schools," is really worth the price. Just personal experience, I know someone who got their JD at American who is a federal judge now, which kind of flies in the face of things I've seen about it being a "shitlaw school," and my mom graduated from an unranked school and has made a career as a law professor. Careers last 30+ years, law school lasts 3, but $200k in debt at 5.6% interest can also last 30 years

A ug bro did the J.D./M.A. (PoliSci) program at Duke. I think it took 3.5 years? He's at an NYC vault firm right now. I'm not sure of his specifics, but I presume no debt. I don't think he had trouble finding employment, but he was social enough/raised in the system. I applied to Georgetown and didn't bother with Duke, but I had some NY family pressure favoring certain schools. I think the Duke atmosphere is much, much smaller/small town if you're into it. TLSers go by employment stats only, so Duke has the edge in terms raw numbers! Good luck.

Your chances of getting a job in international law are minimal with these options. You either need to get yourself into HYS or start thinking about alternative careers. The Duke LLM thing is a total scam. Georgetown's reputation for international law only means it has professors that are renowned in that field; it doesn't mean their students get to work in international law.

I'm not sure what kind of international law you are interested in exactly, but if you are interested in international trade law GULC is a very good place to go. To be clear, that probably means a lot of CVD/AD type work after graduation. I don't know how good Duke is in that area, but I suspect it is not as good a place to get into international trade practice as GULC.