- PowerScore Staff
- Posts: 8980
- Joined: Feb 02, 2011
- Fri Apr 22, 2022 1:49 pm
#94910
Below, PowerScore admissions expert Dave Killoran advises an accepted law school student on where to attend law school.
Carl: "I have really been struggling in making a decision on where to attend school next year. I was fortunate enough to do very well on the LSAT (in no small part thanks to the powerscore books) and have gotten some great offers. I have pretty much narrowed my choices down to the following three schools:
Michigan (#10 USNWR) – 40k/year scholarship, $80,000 total COA
WashU (#16) – Full tuition scholarship
Wisconsin (#43) – Full tuition scholarship
I am an older applicant who is from Madison, Wisconsin, have a lot of roots here. I know that Madison is where I will be returning to no matter what school I attend. With that being said, I would definitely prefer to keep living in Madison, but it would not be impossible or especially burdensome for me to move for three years at this point in my life. Having this strong connection to Madison and Wisconsin has made this decision all the more difficult, especially after seeing Wisconsin drop to 43 in the rankings. I come to find that my heart is telling me to go to Wisconsin, but my brain is telling me to go to Michigan or WashU considering the aid I have received from those schools. The largest pull for Wisconsin is the fact that I love living here and really don’t want to leave.
I am not super interested in biglaw as a career mainly because of the hours and stories of poor work life balance. I have learned after working all these years that time off outside of work is something that I value a lot. Despite not being interested in biglaw, I think I want to keep my options open to work at a respected/prestigious firm in Madison after law school for a couple of reasons. Reason 1- I don’t think that biglaw in Madison, WI is as brutal as NYC or even Chicago, and Reason 2- I think I could put up with a couple years of working at a top firm in Madison to get the training and connections that would enable me to switch into a solid state government or possibly federal government role in the area.
Right now, my dream career trajectory would be obtaining a federal clerkship after graduation, working for the WI state attorney general’s office for a couple years, and then after getting enough experience, working for the US Attorney’s office for the Western District of WI, located in Madison. I think I would also be happy landing a higher level position with a state agency back in WI.
Pros/Cons of the schools in my mind:
Michigan pros: Best ranked school, extensive alumni network, a Michigan degree will likely stand out from the crowd of Wisconsin degrees when I make my way back home after school, great career services office, will easily let me go somewhere else such as Chicago if I change my mind and decide I don’t want to move back to Wisconsin
Michigan cons: not a full ride, might be harder to make connections in the market I am shooting for after graduation, delay purchasing a house/putting down roots in Madison
WashU pros: full ride at #16 school, solid career services office, might be fun to live in new city
WashU cons: again may be harder to make connections back in Madison, WashU seems pretty focused on biglaw, I’d probably rather stay in Madison and I don’t know if WashU will really give me a leg up with my specific goals
Wisconsin pros: I know for certain I will be happy living in Madison, full ride, can make connections easily in my target market
Wisconsin cons: I would be passing up the same exact offer at a much higher ranked school, Wisconsin dropped 14 spots in rankings this year, if I wanted to do a federal clerkship or work in biglaw chances seem very low at WI, Wisconsin might have less services available to students than WashU and Michigan
If finding a good job in Madison is my goal, am I better served by:
Staying put and doing well at Wisconsin?
Attending Michigan and coming back with a degree that will stand out from the crowd?
Or taking the full ride to WashU which is the #16 rank school?
One main problem I have been having is that the difference between Wisconsin and Michigan is clear to me and I think I can see how my life could be different from attending one school or the other. I think attending Michigan would truly help me have a leg up returning to the Wisconsin market after graduation. However, difference between Wisconsin and WashU is less clear. I can’t determine if attending WashU will actually help me get a leg up securing employment in Wisconsin and worry that I’d be essentially making everything harder for myself (moving, having to take the bar, not buying a home) by going to WashU.
Sorry for the long post- but I would greatly appreciate any advice you have!"
Dave Killoran: "Hey Carl,
Thanks for the question! This is a really interesting scenario and one that took me some thought. Here’s what I ended up focusing on from what you said above:
“Despite not being interested in biglaw, I think I want to keep my options open to work at a respected/prestigious firm in Madison after law school for a couple of reasons.”
This is important since it’s your long-term life goal, whereas where you live for law school is a just a three-year decision (and less with summers back in Madison, if it works out that way). So, to keep your options open, that means deciding on WashU or Michigan. I know Madison is a great town, but the law school doesn’t compare to either of the others, and with WashU being free, it’s hard to say no. Plus, both St. Louis and Ann arbor are great towns, albeit of different sizes. If that isn’t convincing, compare all three: https://www.lawschooltransparency.com/s ... u/michigan. when you look at employment outcomes, no matter where you go, the WashU or Michigan grad will triumph over the Wisconsin grad almost every time. That means when you come back to Madison after graduating, you get that advantage over all the other Wisconsin grads looking at the same jobs.
As far as WashU vs Michigan, is Michigan worth 80K more? I think if you were looking into Chicago or biglaw elsewhere, then maybe so. But if Madtown is your goal, then probably not. That said, it’s always tough to turn down a school as good as Michigan so if you went that way I could certainly understand it.
Thanks!"
Carl: "I have really been struggling in making a decision on where to attend school next year. I was fortunate enough to do very well on the LSAT (in no small part thanks to the powerscore books) and have gotten some great offers. I have pretty much narrowed my choices down to the following three schools:
Michigan (#10 USNWR) – 40k/year scholarship, $80,000 total COA
WashU (#16) – Full tuition scholarship
Wisconsin (#43) – Full tuition scholarship
I am an older applicant who is from Madison, Wisconsin, have a lot of roots here. I know that Madison is where I will be returning to no matter what school I attend. With that being said, I would definitely prefer to keep living in Madison, but it would not be impossible or especially burdensome for me to move for three years at this point in my life. Having this strong connection to Madison and Wisconsin has made this decision all the more difficult, especially after seeing Wisconsin drop to 43 in the rankings. I come to find that my heart is telling me to go to Wisconsin, but my brain is telling me to go to Michigan or WashU considering the aid I have received from those schools. The largest pull for Wisconsin is the fact that I love living here and really don’t want to leave.
I am not super interested in biglaw as a career mainly because of the hours and stories of poor work life balance. I have learned after working all these years that time off outside of work is something that I value a lot. Despite not being interested in biglaw, I think I want to keep my options open to work at a respected/prestigious firm in Madison after law school for a couple of reasons. Reason 1- I don’t think that biglaw in Madison, WI is as brutal as NYC or even Chicago, and Reason 2- I think I could put up with a couple years of working at a top firm in Madison to get the training and connections that would enable me to switch into a solid state government or possibly federal government role in the area.
Right now, my dream career trajectory would be obtaining a federal clerkship after graduation, working for the WI state attorney general’s office for a couple years, and then after getting enough experience, working for the US Attorney’s office for the Western District of WI, located in Madison. I think I would also be happy landing a higher level position with a state agency back in WI.
Pros/Cons of the schools in my mind:
Michigan pros: Best ranked school, extensive alumni network, a Michigan degree will likely stand out from the crowd of Wisconsin degrees when I make my way back home after school, great career services office, will easily let me go somewhere else such as Chicago if I change my mind and decide I don’t want to move back to Wisconsin
Michigan cons: not a full ride, might be harder to make connections in the market I am shooting for after graduation, delay purchasing a house/putting down roots in Madison
WashU pros: full ride at #16 school, solid career services office, might be fun to live in new city
WashU cons: again may be harder to make connections back in Madison, WashU seems pretty focused on biglaw, I’d probably rather stay in Madison and I don’t know if WashU will really give me a leg up with my specific goals
Wisconsin pros: I know for certain I will be happy living in Madison, full ride, can make connections easily in my target market
Wisconsin cons: I would be passing up the same exact offer at a much higher ranked school, Wisconsin dropped 14 spots in rankings this year, if I wanted to do a federal clerkship or work in biglaw chances seem very low at WI, Wisconsin might have less services available to students than WashU and Michigan
If finding a good job in Madison is my goal, am I better served by:
Staying put and doing well at Wisconsin?
Attending Michigan and coming back with a degree that will stand out from the crowd?
Or taking the full ride to WashU which is the #16 rank school?
One main problem I have been having is that the difference between Wisconsin and Michigan is clear to me and I think I can see how my life could be different from attending one school or the other. I think attending Michigan would truly help me have a leg up returning to the Wisconsin market after graduation. However, difference between Wisconsin and WashU is less clear. I can’t determine if attending WashU will actually help me get a leg up securing employment in Wisconsin and worry that I’d be essentially making everything harder for myself (moving, having to take the bar, not buying a home) by going to WashU.
Sorry for the long post- but I would greatly appreciate any advice you have!"
Dave Killoran: "Hey Carl,
Thanks for the question! This is a really interesting scenario and one that took me some thought. Here’s what I ended up focusing on from what you said above:
“Despite not being interested in biglaw, I think I want to keep my options open to work at a respected/prestigious firm in Madison after law school for a couple of reasons.”
This is important since it’s your long-term life goal, whereas where you live for law school is a just a three-year decision (and less with summers back in Madison, if it works out that way). So, to keep your options open, that means deciding on WashU or Michigan. I know Madison is a great town, but the law school doesn’t compare to either of the others, and with WashU being free, it’s hard to say no. Plus, both St. Louis and Ann arbor are great towns, albeit of different sizes. If that isn’t convincing, compare all three: https://www.lawschooltransparency.com/s ... u/michigan. when you look at employment outcomes, no matter where you go, the WashU or Michigan grad will triumph over the Wisconsin grad almost every time. That means when you come back to Madison after graduating, you get that advantage over all the other Wisconsin grads looking at the same jobs.
As far as WashU vs Michigan, is Michigan worth 80K more? I think if you were looking into Chicago or biglaw elsewhere, then maybe so. But if Madtown is your goal, then probably not. That said, it’s always tough to turn down a school as good as Michigan so if you went that way I could certainly understand it.
Thanks!"