Regional vs. national law schools Forum

[Lying Lawyer]

Where in Florida do you want to work? In South Florida most large firms and judges graduated from the University of Miami. We also have a strong University of Florida presence down here. Central Florida is heavy with University of Florida alumni. I am not too sure but I believe Florida State has a strong presence in Georgia, especially Atlanta.

[baal hadad]

Where in Florida do you want to work? In South Florida most large firms and judges graduated from the University of Miami. We also have a strong University of Florida presence down here. Central Florida is heavy with University of Florida alumni. I am not too sure but I believe Florida State has a strong presence in Georgia, especially Atlanta.

Lol @ FSU having a large presence in atlanta

[AT9]

Go to the best school you can in the region you want to practice for the lowest possible cost. Don't attend any TTT (unless it's the lone state flagship or something for cheap like North/South Dakota). I've seen southern markets tossed around here...want Florida? T14 w/ties, UF, FSU, or Miami. Georgia? T14 with ties, Vandy, Emory, or UGA. Texas? T14 w/ties, UT, SMU, or Houston. Don't go into tons of debt, especially for the strictly regional schools like FSU/UGA/SMU/etc.

It's really not that complicated. The complicated, more personal question eventually comes down to better school with more debt or lesser school with less debt.

[misanthrope]

Vandy kid here.

For smaller markets like FL, ties and grades matter more than what school you went to. Other than HYS, the best schools for getting you to FL without risking unemployment will probably be Duke, UVA, and Vandy.

Georgia (read: ATL) is different because those firms are prestige whores and want HYS and/or top grades more than anything. GL

I happen to think that the lower T14 is more regional than people make it out to be, but definitely not as regional as T15-20. I know people who have gone to UMich and ended up practicing back home in Mississippi, but that's definitely not the norm.

The T14's main power is that it seems to be the cutoff at which large firms in major markets will take you seriously by default. Neither Vandy, UMich, or Cornell place many people in Cali, but all things being equal, a Cornell or UMich student will have an advantage over a Vandy student in getting to Cali. If you go to a T14, people tend to think that you just went to the best school you got into, scholarships considered. At a T15-20, people tend to assume you want to end up in that school's region. This is probably why NYC firms will go lower into the class at Georgetown than at Vandy, when the entering admission statistics are basically identical. NYC firms assume that you want to end up in the South if you go to Vandy, while they know not everyone at Georgetown wants to stay in DC.

Idk, while vandy is a good school, I don't think that most major firms have wished up to the fact that its admissions medians are higher than its most identical peer: UT. That said, vandy's admissions stats are almost always lower than georgetown's and these days barely equal Cornell's.

[arklaw13]

Vandy kid here.

For smaller markets like FL, ties and grades matter more than what school you went to. Other than HYS, the best schools for getting you to FL without risking unemployment will probably be Duke, UVA, and Vandy.

Georgia (read: ATL) is different because those firms are prestige whores and want HYS and/or top grades more than anything. GL

I happen to think that the lower T14 is more regional than people make it out to be, but definitely not as regional as T15-20. I know people who have gone to UMich and ended up practicing back home in Mississippi, but that's definitely not the norm.

The T14's main power is that it seems to be the cutoff at which large firms in major markets will take you seriously by default. Neither Vandy, UMich, or Cornell place many people in Cali, but all things being equal, a Cornell or UMich student will have an advantage over a Vandy student in getting to Cali. If you go to a T14, people tend to think that you just went to the best school you got into, scholarships considered. At a T15-20, people tend to assume you want to end up in that school's region. This is probably why NYC firms will go lower into the class at Georgetown than at Vandy, when the entering admission statistics are basically identical. NYC firms assume that you want to end up in the South if you go to Vandy, while they know not everyone at Georgetown wants to stay in DC.

Idk, while vandy is a good school, I don't think that most major firms have wished up to the fact that its admissions medians are higher than its most identical peer: UT. That said, vandy's admissions stats are almost always lower than georgetown's and these days barely equal Cornell's.

Well UT also has the large class size going for it. That's one reason it's OCI participation is much higher than Vandy's. It isn't as economical for a lot of firms to come to Vandy because the class size is about half of what UT's usually is.

[timmyd]

UT actually does better in terms of fed clerks than some of the T14 (like Georgetown and maybe a few others). I think there is something to be said for being a big fish in the circuit. I mean all of those other schools are generally speaking pretty close together, but UT is the best school in its large vicinity.
That being said, if you want to clerk, you should aim for HYS. Out of every other school, its kind of a crap shoot.

[arklaw13]

UT actually does better in terms of fed clerks than some of the T14 (like Georgetown and maybe a few others). I think there is something to be said for being a big fish in the circuit. I mean all of those other schools are generally speaking pretty close together, but UT is the best school in its large vicinity.
That being said, if you want to clerk, you should aim for HYS. Out of every other school, its kind of a crap shoot.

Alumni preference probably has a lot to do with that as well. A large number of judges in the 5th Circuit are UT alums.

[timmyd]

Right, I think thats still attributable to the big fish in the pond thing I was attempting to demonstrate. UT basically rules the Fifth.

[Moneytrees]

T13 schools place significantly better in biglaw+clerkships than non-t13 schools, OP. It's as simple as that. It doesn't matter if Vandy and UT are only a couple ranks away from Cornell- rankings don't create prestige; prestige creates the rankings.

Georgetown, UT, Vandy, UCLA, Wash Stl and USC are all great schools, but they just don't place as well as t13 schools.

[sublime]

..