Best law schools in the South?

[jgruber]

Best law school in the South.  Well, it's Nashville School of Law, of course, ever since last Thursday when they accepted me!   

[Anti_Ivy]

Hold up, do some of you actually consider UVA, Washington and Lee, William and Mary, all of which are in the Virginia area to be in the SOUTH???

Technically, they are in the Mid-Atlantic, and from what I hear, more grads go to the Northeast for jobs than to the South.  So whoever made that comment, I'm not trying to attack, I'm just asking for you to clarify.  (It's because I have a vested interest in this, with my getting into Virginia schools.)

To most Americans, the state of Virginia is considered to be located in the South.  Most people consider states that seceded in the 1860s to be 'Southern.'  After all, Mid-Atlantic States are generally considered to be Delaware, Maryland, and, sometimes New Jersey.  I am from Florida/Texas and I consider Virginia to be a southern state. PR does not consider Virginia to be southern, because PR thinks only deep-south states like 'Bama are 'southern.'

[bf3george]

actually, while georgia state has a night program, it is primarily a full-time day program.  while it doesn't have the prestige of uga or emory, it provides some pretty great opportunities by virtue of it's location.  great externship program, etc. 

if i were to list the top southern schools, virginia would be at the top.  unc & uga are great state schools, and duke, vandy, and emory if you want to spend the $$$$$$$$.

[planejane]

Georgia State University is a great value all the way around, especially if you stay in state to practice.  Costs are under $5000 per year (in state tuition), they have a full time and part time program, and their location is great.  Right across the street is every kind of law firm you can imagine.  It is located in the heart of Atlanta right off the interstate and connector.  There are great suburbs to live in nearby.  I plan to apply to GSU even though I will be paying out of state tuition for the first year.  I moved to Alabama from Atlanta last year.  I lived in Atlanta for nearly 7 years, gone for 1 year, now I have to pay out of state tuition.  Go figure!   

Christie

[planejane]

One more thing . . .

I understand UGA is one of the tops just like Emory; however, Georgia State University's bar passage rate is 1% lower than UGA's (last year's rates).  It is like 92% for UGA and 91% for GSU.

Christie

[lawschoolafterdark]

The February edition of Nation Jurist ranked schools based on value.  Georgia State was one of their top 20 values for public schools. The University of Alabama was listed as the best Value for public schools and Wake Forest was the best private school value.  Both are  southern schools.

www.nationaljurist.com

You can link directly to the story through my site.  http://www.lawschoolafterdark.com

[rcjackson]

Hold up, do some of you actually consider UVA, Washington and Lee, William and Mary, all of which are in the Virginia area to be in the SOUTH???

Technically, they are in the Mid-Atlantic, and from what I hear, more grads go to the Northeast for jobs than to the South.  So whoever made that comment, I'm not trying to attack, I'm just asking for you to clarify.  (It's because I have a vested interest in this, with my getting into Virginia schools.)

Oh it's the south all right. 

Virginia is made up of two very differnt regions.

1)Northern and coastal- might as well be in Maryland.

2)South/southwestern- No doubt this is the south.  Go there and tell people they are not from the south, and see how long it takes you to be hanging from a noose.  When you can drive down a perfectly normal street and see "KKK Rally Tonite", it's the south.  Richmond was the capital of the confederacy.  There are more confederate flags than US, even after 9/11.  The mullet is still king.  Hell, one of the most popular NASCAR tracks is in Bristol (we'll see how many Nascar fans we have trying to correct me on this point). 

[jbshane]

New England is Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island & Connecticut.

The Mid-Atlantic is New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware & Maryland.

The South is Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Kentucky & Tennessee.

Calling "Northern VA" part of the North and the rest of VA part of the South isn't right, even if there are two very different areas of the state.  Many would refer to Western PA as the Midwest, but since it stretches all the way to NJ, it's still a Mid-Atlantic state.  Let's not get picky - W&L, UVA, William & Mary, etc. are all southern schools.

The North/South line pretty much the old Mason-Dixon line.  There's a reason Washington, DC is where it is.

[jbshane]

One more thing: despite my labeling of UVA, W&L and William & Mary as "southern schools," they are all of an echelon that allows them to send grads out-of-region.  Harvard and Yale are "northern schools" and Berekeley and Stanford are California schools - that doesn't mean that their grads don't work elsewhere.  Other southern schools that allow you to work elsewhere (or at least give you a great shot at working elsewhere) are UNC-Chapel Hill & Vandy.  I wouldn't classify G'town & GW as southern schools, despite being in DC (which is more southern than northern despite its location on the dividing line between the two regions), but they obviously give you the same advantage.  Don't know about many others, but as native New Englander, these are the "upper echelon" southern schools that we hear about up here.

[rcjackson]

I agree all of VA is southern, but trying to explain the reason for confusion to some people who obviously have no idea about it.  All the time, I meet NOVA people who can't believe there is a part of Virginia that is not a suburb of DC or where Democrats don't even bother running candidates.

I second the DC as southern city.  It totally is.  Until you cross the VA border.  Those VA suburbs can be very New Jersey in places.

Summary- VA is a state of many cultures, but the prevailing one is Southern, and any others are imports due to the capital.