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I received an email today from the Duke wait list offering me the opportunity to be considered for the class of 2014. If I respond by July 9, I will hear back by July 16; if accepted, I must withdraw from my other WLs and current school of choice (GULC) and attend Duke a year from now.

My questions are:

#1: Is this a back-door acceptance into Duke?
#2: Duke was my #1 choice back when I first applied; I loved Raleigh-Durham, I loved the campus feel, I loved the size of the school, I loved some of the clinical and journal specialities (namely the Guantanamo Defense Clinic and Duke's homeland security program) and of course, I loved the reputation. However, I am not interested in big law; in fact, I see myself most likely working in public interest. As such, when I was WL at Duke but accepted at GULC, I gladly put my deposit down at GULC. I've lived in DC before and had kind of wanted to try a new place, but the combination of the public interest program with GULC's reputation and LRAP made it a great option; this leads to my other question:

If you had the choice between GULC in a month, or Duke in a year, which would you choose, and why? In terms of my personal life, both have ups and downs. I am already working (mid-20s; been out of college for 2 years) so I would not be simply "filling" in the year.

Thoughts?

Got the same letter today, same 2 schools for me. I like GULC but the fact that you have to get better grades than at least 300 other students to be competitive for biglaw is making me lean towards Duke and its smaller class size. How okay are you with postponing your legal career another 12 months?

First, I'll give you my selfish answer lol but honest answer nonetheless. I am in the same boat as you and I've seen others today in the same situation. Of all the people I have seen you are the only one currently in at a T14. Meaning you would most likely turn down scholly money at a T14 to go to another T14 only ranked a few spots higher with less scholly money or maybe none at all. Now I do hope and believe that this is a backdoor acceptance(1 week turnaround) so if you fill out that form and are accepted, you have yet another year to wait to go a school only ranked a few spots higher that goes against your current T14's market. Many potential negatives to this situation OP. GULC is a dream school, bask in it.

Are there any schollys on the table at either school?

I voted Duke.

I'm not sure what the difference is between each school's respective employment prospects (they are probably similar), but as a member of the class of 2013, I wish I could find a reason to defer for a year and allow the economy some extra time to recover..

Duke and hopefully the economy does better. But seriously, I doubt it would be that hard to get top third at GULC if you work hard. (rising 2L here...)

Since you're interested in PI, go to Duke's website and look at their LRAP; it's good, but not nearly as good as GULC's.
But ITE those jobs are very competitive and, again, the large GULC class (MANY of whom are gunning for those same PI jobs) might make PI tougher to get.

I really appreciate all of the responses. In answer to some of the questions above, money is not a major factor here in terms of schollys. I didn't get much of anything from GULC, so I'm not turning down a huge scholarship to switch to Duke. I would really prefer to go to law school this August, but, as I previously mentioned, Duke was the school I dreamed about. When I went to take the LSAT, I kept telling myself that Duke was the big goal. I LOVE the class size and since I went to a city school for undergrad, I really like the intimate "campus" environment that Duke offers. From the minute I stepped on campus, Duke was my #1.

On the other hand, GULC is a FANTASTIC school with incredible opportunities, especially for my field of interest (public interest). I love DC and have a lot of connections there. The clinical offerings are wonderful and the professors rock. But, GULC is a city school, it definitely doesn't have the "campus" vibe, and it's huge.

Any more thoughts on whether this is a moot point? i.e. is Duke basically offering me a backdoor acceptance, or am I being overly optimistic?

Thanks again!

Georgetown is a great school and being in DC will open up many opportunities for you. There are so many non profits, PI, NGO's and government organizations in DC and no doubt youll be able to find something. Dont let the negative people on here tell you that there are no jobs and that everything is doom and gloom. Its not. Things will improve and in 2-3 years the economy will be very strong.

Both Georgetown and Duke are great, but Duke being "ranked higher" means nothing. Georgetown is the best school in DC and with that comes many advantages. Either way things work out for you. If you want to wait a year and go to Duke, thats a great decision. If you want to go to Georgetown now, thats also a great decision. Dont let the negative people on here scare you into thinking that Georgetown is a bad decision and that you wont find a job etc etc. You'll be fine.

Good luck!

I say go to Georgetown. If the school in question were Columbia instead of Duke, I'd say otherwise. But the difference in ranking, opportunity, and prestige is not significant enough.

Thanks again for the advice. Yeah, to those mentioning rank, I honestly couldn't care less about the difference between 11 and 14. I would never pick Duke purely for that purpose. Right now, I'm trying to figure out which one is more me, since aesthetically and (in terms of school culture) the schools are very different.

Anyone at Duke for public interest and if so, do you wish you went to Gtown?

misspippers wrote: but, as I previously mentioned, Duke was the school I dreamed about. When I went to take the LSAT, I kept telling myself that Duke was the big goal. I LOVE the class size and since I went to a city school for undergrad, I really like the intimate "campus" environment that Duke offers. From the minute I stepped on campus, Duke was my #1.

Go to Duke! It's your dream school.

KeepitKind wrote: as a member of the class of 2013, I wish I could find a reason to defer for a year and allow the economy some extra time to recover..

definitely go to Duke....and take the one year deferral...

Not sure it matters, but if you postpone a year, you'll have to start paying back any undergrad loans you have, if any.

So if it's a close decision and you're on the fence, keep in mind the costs associated with waiting a year.

AdamatUCF wrote:Not sure it matters, but if you postpone a year, you'll have to start paying back any undergrad loans you have, if any.

So if it's a close decision and you're on the fence, keep in mind the costs associated with waiting a year.

The cost of having less debt? Look, if Duke is your dream school then go for it. What do you have to lose?

I made up my mind to go to law school late in this cycle, so I had to choose between doing a rushed application late in the cycle, or waiting a year. I chose to wait, and I've been very happy with my decision.

Six months from now, you'll be halfway there, the time will have flown by, and you'll be amazed you even thought twice. Go to Duke. And while you're there, go to at least one basketball game--Cameron Indoor won't be around forever.

Congratulations (knock on wood)!