Need Some Considerate and Thoughtful Advice Forum

[dddhhh]

Find out how the Duke culture is. There should be some boards here that discuss the experiences of Duke 1Ls, 2Ls, and 3Ls.


Durham is not a very exciting city. If you are looking for a comparable night life/restaurants/bars I highly doubt you will find it in Durham. I did undergrad in Chapel Hill and Durham is very close but other than Duke there is not much there. I would definitely recommend a campus visit and talking to current Duke students before making your decision.

Perhaps you should apply to a NY school so you can maintain some of the things that are important to you in your life.

[dannyde7]

Find out how the Duke culture is. There should be some boards here that discuss the experiences of Duke 1Ls, 2Ls, and 3Ls.


Durham is not a very exciting city. If you are looking for a comparable night life/restaurants/bars I highly doubt you will find it in Durham. I did undergrad in Chapel Hill and Durham is very close but other than Duke there is not much there. I would definitely recommend a campus visit and talking to current Duke students before making your decision.

Perhaps you should apply to a NY school so you can maintain some of the things that are important to you in your life.

Thanks. Originally, my plan was to go to NYU, but with my LSAT score, I didn't even bother applying. I did apply, however, to Fordham and Cardozo, but withdrew my applications after my ED acceptance. Frankly, I'm kind of relieved that Duke is in Durham. I know that it's a slow town, but it might be my only chance for many years to live in a slow part of the country. Furthermore, I do not come from a rich family. I will be paying for law school myself, and I like the fact that Durham's COL is lower than NYC.

[Malcolm8X]

The OP has a mindset SOMEWHAT like my own. BTW, JOHNNYUTAH, I feel you on the 'needing work that's challenging' bit. You're my hero for that one. Working at Target as a cashier while studying for the LSAT was my biggest motivator. (I plan to substitute teach next semester while I wait for law school to start in the fall of 2011).

Well, you're either going to Duke or no law school at all, EVER, with that ED contract. Find out how the Duke culture is. There should be some boards here that discuss the experiences of Duke 1Ls, 2Ls, and 3Ls. Law school is challenging but from what I read, at least from t14 schools, is that it's not as hellish and competitive as people make it out to be.

Aside from that, the debt load is another factor. You have to know what type of law you want to do though. Biglaw? PI? If you go for Biglaw, will there be a job waiting for you is the second question? Personally, the economy is cyclical. Things will bubble up again in about 4-5 years and there should be an economic boom by the time we graduate. I predict that by the time we're 5 to 7 yrs into paying our loans, there'll be another recession.

But you can always fall back and do PI work and pay off all your loans in 10 yrs. I doubt that the work is as stressful and with the IBR and LRAPs (check out Duke's LRAP btw), you're still making a good handful of money. You can find something you truly like to do with a good work/life balance. It just sucks that it's usually a 10 year commitment. That's what you have to research. Your school's culture, LRAP, and what YOU see yourself doing..

Um, I'm reasonably sure that he just can't go to another school in the same application year as his ED. If he just waits another year, he can apply somewhere else and go there.

Thanks for the correction!