The Decision: Big Love Law
Elie here. For today’s installment of The Decision, in which we advise prospective law students about where to enroll, we head out west. We talk about the military. We talk about the LDS community. Put another way, I’m about to talk completely out of my ass about things I don’t know a whole lot about. Embrace the train wreck.
Here’s our reader’s situation:
I just finished my undergraduate degree at [an elite university] and was lucky enough to get into a lot of great law schools. Even though I’ve been accepted to, among others, both NYU and Georgetown (which was my dream school and offered me a $60k scholarship), I’ve narrowed down the options to a full ride at BYU or a $108,000 scholarship at UT Austin (a combination of a a $20k per year scholarship, contingent only on maintaining a 1.9 GPA and not failing any classes, plus a nonresident tuition exemption, which would save me an additional $48k over the three years). This is mostly since I already know I’ll give four years to the government as a military judge advocate and then move on to public interest. In other words, I don’t plan on being rich, and I’m very risk-averse and averse to debt. I’ve decided it’s not worth being beholden to PSLF and LRAP to go to NYU or Georgetown, even given what I’m interested in doing (feel free to correct me here). If I go to BYU, I have the added benefit of staying with family and saving even more money.
My main problem stems from wanting to do it all. Before I do my JAG time, I’d like to get a federal clerkship (another reason why I don’t feel the need to go to NYU or Georgetown — UT and BYU do just as well or better than them in that category). And as an aspiring public interest lawyer, clinics are important to me. BYU’s clinics are relatively new, while UT has awesome clinical programs, including one in legislative lawyering at the Texas Capitol. Further down the road, politics is also an interest of mine, where law school prestige may come into play.
In short, I’m wondering how much the name brand matters for any of these endeavors and, frankly, how much I should be weighing the USNWR rankings at all. I visited UT and BYU, loved both, and am very torn. If I had to choose today, I would go to BYU. Given what I want to do, is forking out $40k in tuition + ~$60k in living expenses for Texas justifiable in any way, or is this a no-brainer? I’m terrified of chasing prestige or falling into the trap of overvaluing discounts and undervaluing full rides.
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First of all, I applaud your rejection of published rankings that have nothing to do with the things that matter to you. U.S. News, and the soon-to-be-released ATL rankings, do not take into account religion, politics, or family concerns. Getting your ticket punched by one of the coastal powerhouses you’ve been accepted to wouldn’t do for you what they’d do for people with different career goals. You are right to largely disregard them.
I would carry the same thought right on through all of your choices and head straight for BYU. Do not pass Go, do not collect 200 rib platters.
While the Above the Law rankings generally rate UT-Austin higher than BYU Law (#14 versus #22 in the 2015 rankings), the gap is not as pronounced in our rankings as it is in U.S. News (#15 versus #38 in the 2017 rankings). That’s because our rankings, focused on employment outcomes, recognize that the LDS community sticks together. BYU graduates have an immediate foot in the door with other members of the community around the country. That includes judges who might hire you as a clerk. It allows BYU to punch above its weight when it comes to job placement.
Moreover, given that you might ultimately want to go into politics, that BYU branding will help you going forward. You say you are concerned that “prestige” might be something voters care about. I assure you they do not. If you want to run for office in Texas, then going to school in Texas will be important to Texans. But if you run anywhere else, nobody is going to say, “You know, he went to a top-15 law school, I’ll vote for him over the guy who went to a top-50 law school.” Like, I might think that, but regular Americans aren’t as snobby as I am.
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On the other hand, you’re going to be a Mormon military officer who went to BYU and clerked for a federal judge before building a career as a public interest lawyer? Yeah… I think you’ll wind up on a ballot somewhere.
Go to BYU. And remember the 47% of us here at ATL when you are wielding power.
DAVID LAT
Today’s choice, like the ones presented in the last two Decision columns (here and here), is also a fairly close call. Congrats to this reader on his acceptances, with scholarships, to two excellent law schools. Both are great choices.
Still, I’m going to go with Texas. The rankings gap between the two schools in both the ATL and U.S. News rankings, while not huge, is real. The difference in cost — about $40K extra in tuition over three years to go to UT, plus whatever extra amount it costs to live in Austin as opposed to Provo — is, in the grand scheme of things, pretty modest.
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What does that extra money get you? More open doors — which is, early in your legal career, what it’s all about. It’s good to keep enough doors open until you decide which one to walk through. As a higher-ranked school with a national reputation, UT opens more doors for you than BYU, which is still a bit more regional in its orientation.
In terms of job opportunities, I agree with Elie that the LDS community sticks together. But as you mentioned in response to our follow-up questions, you are an active member of the LDS Church — so you’re already in the club and can benefit from the networking, no matter where you go to school. In fact, you might benefit from expanding your network beyond the church. Prominent Mormon Mitt Romney went to Harvard for his business and law degrees, and his business and political careers turned out pretty spectacularly.
Which brings us to the politics point. The question here is, where might you want to go into politics? If you are dead set on Utah and regard serving in the House or Senate from Utah as your ultimate goal, then BYU might be the right pick. But if you think you might want to build a political or public-policy career anywhere else, such as D.C. or Texas or any other state, then UT has more to offer. It’s a national school with a national reputation. And again, because you are active in the LDS community, you don’t really lose much from not going to BYU (at least in professional terms; the dating scene in Provo might be better for you than in Austin, but Austin has a lot of other things going for it as a city, such as the aforementioned rib platters).
Legal careers take some surprising turns. You might think right now that you know what you want to do in your career, but you could go to law school and discover, either during or after school, that you want to do something entirely different. And if that happens, then you’re (marginally) better off with UT rather than BYU.
But again, both are great schools, and with a résumé listing (1) UT or BYU Law, (2) your very prestigious undergraduate school, and (3) several years of military service, you should do very, very well for yourself. Congrats and good luck!
ATL readers, time for you to cast your votes for this reader — in terms of where he should matriculate.
Where should this aspiring law student enroll?
Loading ...Earlier: The Decision: In Search Of An Upturned Collar
The Decision: Plunging Back In
