Miami vs. FSU, please respond

[billymahogany]

NALP Placement Data:

                          FSU            UM              UF
New England               0%             1.3             0
Middle Atlantic           0.8%           6.0             2.5
East North Central        0.4%           1.7             0
West North Central        0.8%           0.4             0.3
South Atlantic            90.7%          79.2            94
East South Central        2.3%           0.9             1.2
West South Central        0.4%           2.1             0.9
Mountain                  2.3%           3.0             0.3
Pacific                   1.2%           5.5             0.6
Non-US                    1.2%           0.0             0

New England= CT, ME, MA, NH, RI, VT
Middle Atlantic= NJ, NY, PA
East North Central= IL, IN, MI, OH, WI
West North Central= IA, KS, MN, MO, NE, ND, SD
South Atlantic= DE, DC, FL, GA, MD, NC, SC, VA, WV
East South Atlantic= AL, KY, MS, TN
West South Central= AR, LA, OK, TX
Mountain= AZ, CO, ID, MT, NV, NM, UT, WY
Pacific= AK, CA, HI, OR, WA
Non-US= Other

[led]

limegreen and Unbiased Observer, I have lived in Gainesville my whole life, and I went to UF for Undergrad.  The apt complex I work at has quite a few law students living there.  If you have any questions about the town itself or the campus feel free to PM me.  I have been to the law campus and been inside, but if you have more specific questions, I'd be happy to ask one of my residents if I can't help with school specifics.

[led]

etmerian, I have no idea what perks, like I said it was an assumption that appears to be wrong, but would have been nice.  I guess I came to this conclusion from the fact that at UF(nothing to do with the law school), Grad students get special access to the sixth floor of the library with their ID cards. The sixth floor is super quiet and doesn't have 1000 undergrads yapping on their cell phones.  It's just something small, but something that is a "perk" of being a grad student.  Plus everywhere I look law schools are boasting about their librarys.  It just seemed slightly odd that the undergrad library would be so nice and the law one be so...not nice? I actually totally understand the whole AC thing though b/c I kinda believe it is just a Florida thing.  It sucks because in the heat of the summer you want to wear as little clothes as possible, but the minute you step indoors you need a winter coat.  I really think that if facilities weren't an issue for me, and if I had went on a tour with someone that wasn't in some attempt to make the school appear "cool", then I would have a more respectful veiw of UM.  Honestly had I had a better person give me a tour, the facilities probably wouldn't have bothered me as much as they did.

[vjm]

gator/ 'cane tag

[CoupDeGlace]

etmerian, I have no idea what perks, like I said it was an assumption that appears to be wrong, but would have been nice.  I guess I came to this conclusion from the fact that at UF(nothing to do with the law school), Grad students get special access to the sixth floor of the library with their ID cards. The sixth floor is super quiet and doesn't have 1000 undergrads yapping on their cell phones.  It's just something small, but something that is a "perk" of being a grad student.  Plus everywhere I look law schools are boasting about their librarys.  It just seemed slightly odd that the undergrad library would be so nice and the law one be so...not nice? I actually totally understand the whole AC thing though b/c I kinda believe it is just a Florida thing.  It sucks because in the heat of the summer you want to wear as little clothes as possible, but the minute you step indoors you need a winter coat.  I really think that if facilities weren't an issue for me, and if I had went on a tour with someone that wasn't in some attempt to make the school appear "cool", then I would have a more respectful veiw of UM.  Honestly had I had a better person give me a tour, the facilities probably wouldn't have bothered me as much as they did.

Not to rip on UM here, but bottom line is that your opinion of a school is bound to be influenced by the people from that institution with whom you come into contact. UM should care more about its image than to send such carefree people to give tours of their law school. As I've said, I've been really unimpressed with the people from UM that I've dealt with from day one and this was a major factor in my decision to put them in the "pass" pile. I nearly didn't even bother applying there, but the thought of Miami was appealing and I figured I might as well go for a Floridan trifecta.

Had they had a better person giving the tour, I'm sure you would have overlooked the shape of the facilities somewhat. But psychologically, when you're unhappy with one aspect, you usually search out other things to nitpick, and so that didn't help at all with your impression of the place, I'm certain.

[Prize Fight Promoter]

Don't let a ditzy little tour guide deter you from attending a school that places much better than UF and FSU nationally.

[jalex519]

Don't let a ditzy little tour guide deter you from attending a school that places much better than UF and FSU nationally.

Don't let a ditzy little statistic about national placement deter you from attending two schools that place much better than UM within the state of Florida if you have no plans to practice outside of Florida 

[thejacker112]

That's not entirely true.  It depends on where in Florida you want to practice.  If it's Southern Florida, UMiami will place much better than FSU and comparably if not better than UF.  However if you want to work in Northern Florida, UF is probably your safest bet.

[rouge23]

I went to UM undergrad so if anyone has any questions feel free to ask.

Also, I agree with the comment about the head of student recruiting -- I was accepted and asked for scholarship money comparing a full ride another school has offered and was turned down -- flat out "we don't have any more money" -- and um is very expensive...

[jalex519]

That's not entirely true.  It depends on where in Florida you want to practice.  If it's Southern Florida, UMiami will place much better than FSU and comparably if not better than UF.  However if you want to work in Northern Florida, UF is probably your safest bet.

You have to bear in mind the additional 66k in tuition over three years for going to UM over UF & FSU though, as well as the higher COL in Miami. In that regard, I would still pick either of those schools over UM. If UM were to provide a good amount of scholarship money and one had an interest in practicing in South Florida however, I agree, UM should definitely be given some due consideration and might be the better choice.