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I am a college junior gearing up to apply to law schools. I attend undergrad in Florida, and if I stay in Florida (which is likely) I want to practice in Miami. I'd prefer to move to Miami next year rather than going to Tallahassee (FSU) or Gainesville (UF) to attend one of Florida's other big law schools; the latter two cities are truly dreadful.

However, what's wrong with University of Miami's law school? Why are they ranked so low and never recommended on TLS? I was there last week to visit, and I love the location. Miami is great, and being where I want to practice, it would be convenient for internships / summer positions to be right there and not have to move to a new city to find work. I'd already be where I want to settle down.

Looking at Miami's NALP statistics versus University of Florida's NALP statistics, they look almost identical. Both had less than 20 students from their graduating class go into biglaw, but of those students who did, median salaries were both $135k. I'm interested in tax law. Biglaw would be ideal, but if it doesn't work out, I would have no complaints about starting at a smaller firm. What important piece of data am I missing?

So then I ask you: as a prospective student wanting to focus on tax law, why would I attend UF over Miami other than the tuition cost? Why is Miami ranked poorly in comparison if the employment outcomes of the two schools are so similar?

Have you looked at price at Miami vs. UF/FSU? It's stark. Further, if you're interested in tax, UF actually has one of the better tax LLMs in the country that could lead to the coveted FL Biglaw you want.

Are you willing to pay twice as much for an equal shot at your goal? That's what you're doing at Miami vs. UF/FSU generally.

In addition to the price, UF has about 16 points on Miami for their LST job score.

Also, make sure that you're being realistic about debt. If you'd like biglaw, neither of these schools are good options. But when you say that you'd be ok working in a smaller firm, how much money do you expect to be making there? And how much of your salary will you be putting towards repayment?

I strongly recommend taking time off between college and law school, because it will give you a much better sense of why things like this matter. Even if the job statistics were identical, the fact that you glossed over the difference in cost is troubling.

I'm not purposely glossing over the cost. I was asking a question assuming that, if all costs were equal, why would I go to UF? Obviously costs matter. However, if Miami gives substantial money (which they could since their LSAT is low and I'd potentially be a strong candidate), they could get the cost equal to or close to UF's.

I'm not dumb enough to pay full cost for Miami if I had been admitted to UF for half the cost... I'm just brainstorming in a vacuum here since I haven't gotten any official numbers from the schools yet since I haven't yet applied.

If you know for certain that you want to live/practice in Miami, and you don't want a big law job, and you can go to UM for very little cost or free, then there's nothing wrong with UM. That's just a pretty small pool of people, out of those who post here. It's not that people are actively not recommending UM, it's just that for a lot of people who post here there's no reason to go there.

fourwinds wrote:I'm not purposely glossing over the cost. I was asking a question assuming that, if all costs were equal, why would I go to UF? Obviously costs matter. However, if Miami gives substantial money (which they could since their LSAT is low and I'd potentially be a strong candidate), they could get the cost equal to or close to UF's.

I'm not dumb enough to pay full cost for Miami if I had been admitted to UF for half the cost... I'm just brainstorming in a vacuum here since I haven't gotten any official numbers from the schools yet since I haven't yet applied.

Assuming that the cost was truly equal, and assuming you exclusively wanted Miami over any other outcome (Biglaw, small law, government in the area, etc.), Miami is a reasonable choice over UF or FSU. The rankings don't mean anything, but cost and opportunity do. Miami on a full ride is a really good outcome for generic Miami legal work, it's just when you adjust goals or cost that it becomes a poor choice.