Thread: Please help me select a law school.

Should I go to law school at George Washington on a full ride, Georgetown, or University of Virginia?

I say Georgetown

GW might be offering you a free ride but unless you plan on working in DC, Georgetown is held in higher regard, and will increase your earning potential greatly in comparison to GW. The financial package might sound nice now but here things are expensive, bureaucratic, and backwards. Good luck with what you decide.

Deciding a law school based on price is penny wise and pound foolish. Going to a law school with a better reputation will help you find better jobs, with better salaries. In general, your added earnings will more than make up for any extra you had to pay for the degree.

I say in general, because there are exceptions:
* If you already have a connection at a major law firm that assures you a job there
* The top students from the lower schools will get the same great jobs BUT it is foolish to gamble your career by assuming you will be one - it is often random

That being said, these are three very good law schools with very solid reputations. UVA and Georgetown are in what's called the "T14" - an elite group of schools which have consistently ranked among the top 14 in the US News Ranking. Many of their graduates have great employment prospects. That being said, GW is not too far behind (but if I were in your shoes I would take every advantage I could get)

And these are just the financial considerations - there obviously might be other reasons to pick between them. Georgetown's large size, top-rated clinical program, alternative "Curriculum B" and diversity of classes make it an attractive choice. Plus you have more access to DC politics and SCOTUS - the litigators practice their oral arguments right on campus

Georgetown would be my pick, based on where you want to practice. Its alumni network is spread into NYC better than UVA or GW. Both it and UVA's reputation for academia is good - I think that ambition would rule out GW. You will need a clerkship to get into law teaching, so pay careful attention to clerkship data!
(UVA seems to have the edge here based on the links below)

I suggest buying the US News Rankings. take them with the requisite grain of salt, but consider the strengths of each program and the more in-depth information it contains about career prospects.