The Decision: SEC/ACC Law Signing Day
Oh wait, we’re not talking about football? We’re talking about a person who wants to go to law school at one of these NFL factories?
Elie here. I expect Georgia to improve under new head coach Kirby Smart, but if I’m a top recruit, I’ve gotta go with Georgia’s former coach, Mark Richt, and his new school, THE U-niversity of Miami, over UGA or even Florida because the path to the playoffs is so much easier in the ACC.
Oh wait, we’re not talking about football? We’re talking about a person who wants to go to law school at one of these NFL factories? Okay…
Here’s our latest fact pattern for The Decision:
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Heading to law school right out of undergrad. Am a native Floridian but went to undergrad out of state. Ultimately want to live and work in the Southeast. Want Big law. Here are the choices:
University of Georgia: Offered in-state tuition plus a $5,000/ year scholarship.
Washington & Lee: $90,000 total scholarship.
University of Florida: 60% off of in-state tuition, which equals about a total scholarship of $40,100.
Florida State: 75% off of in state tuition, which equals about a total scholarship of $46,400.
University of Miami: $120,000 scholarship.
The best options for Biglaw seem to be UGA and UF. Am I better off paying a little more (about $15,000 total) to go to UGA for their ranking and their perception and reputation in Atlanta, a major Southern city? Do any of these schools jump out as the most obvious choice? Which school would have the most national recognition should I decide to move to another area of the country?
Jokes about studying law at a football school aside, I’m not wild about your options here. Students in the mid-tier school, middling scholarship range are taking the biggest risks in this market. None of these schools are going to come close to guaranteeing a job, much less a “Biglaw” job, outside of the top 20 percent of those classes. None of these schools have much “national” pull outside their area of the country.
That said, I’m surprised that you didn’t add Washington & Lee to your “best options” list. W&L is ranked higher than UF in the Above the Law rankings (new ones out as SOON as the ABA gets its job statistics together), and U.S. News (which doesn’t wait for the updated statistics). And they’re giving you more money. (W&L is #30 in the ATL rankings and #40 in U.S. News; UF is #35 in the ATL rankings and #48 in U.S. News.)
But if you are committed to returning to Florida, I’d take the money at Miami, which I think is the lowest-ranked school on your list. As I said, you are going to need to be in the top 20 percent or so of your class to have a good shot at a high-paying job regardless of which of these schools you go to. You are going to be screwed if you fall out of the top 50 percent at any of these schools.
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At least at Miami Law, you’ll have the least amount of debt while you are restarting your career by practicing law out of the Publix.
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You shouldn’t be a slave to rankings — but, that said, they are a useful starting point for law school choices. Given your interest in a Biglaw or other high-paying job, you should focus on the ATL rankings, which are based almost entirely on employment outcomes (as opposed to LSAT scores or volumes in the library).
- University of Georgia: #27 in ATL, #33 in U.S. News.
- Washington & Lee: #30 in ATL, #40 in U.S. News.
- University of Florida: #35 in ATL, #48 in U.S. News.
- Florida State: unranked by ATL (limited to top 50), #50 in U.S. News.
- University of Miami: unranked by ATL (limited to top 50), #60 in U.S. News.
“Am I better off paying a little more (about $15,000 total) to go to UGA for their ranking and their perception and reputation in Atlanta, a major Southern city?” Yes.
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I agree with Elie that these aren’t fantastic choices, especially if your heart is set on Biglaw (rather than, say, working at a small firm in Georgia or as a state prosecutor in Florida). So I think that’s why it’s important for you to maximize your “edge” here — which means going to the best-ranked school. Fifteen thousand dollars — given the high cost of law school, and the higher cost of unemployment — is not a lot to pay to reduce your chances of a bad outcome.
Let’s take a look at the University of Georgia Law’s employment statistics. For the class of 2015, 26 out of 191 graduates, or just under 14 percent, wound up with full-time, long-term jobs at law firms with 100 or more lawyers. That’s not a super-high number. Even if you toss in the additional 12 grads (6 percent) who landed federal clerkships, which often lead into Biglaw jobs, you still need to be in the 20 percent of the class, as Elie noted. That’s easier said than done — going into 1L year, everyone thinks they’ll wind up in the top 20 percent, but that ends up being true only for… 20 percent.
So go with Georgia. There’s just not enough room for error here.
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Where should this aspiring law student enroll?
Loading ...Elie Mystal is an editor of danger and mystery at Above the Law. Follow him on Twitter @ElieNYC or Facebook for drunken shouting matches. And like our podcast: Thinking Like A Lawyer. Like it NOW so I can one day breathe free.
David Lat is the founder and managing editor of Above the Law and the author of Supreme Ambitions: A Novel. You can connect with David on Twitter (@DavidLat), LinkedIn, and Facebook, and you can reach him by email at [email protected].
