GW v. Vanderbilt

[bailey5656]

Just wondering if anyone had any opinions on comparing the two schools. I don't
know where I want to eventually end up working, so I kind of want to go to the school
that will give me the most options/opportunities. However, I am doing an internship in dc right now so i
like dc and am contemplating trying to be in NYC for next summer. Does anyone think it would
be better to go to Vandy being ranked 15 for trying to get a NYC summer associate job. Also
I was thinking since Vandy sends a lot of their grads/summers to atlanta and more
southern firms would coming from Vandy into the north east be an advantage. I have also heard
great things about Vandy's OCI and career services while this site has been kind of
hard on GW's OCI.

Any advice or opinions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

[juliemccoy]

Have you been accepted to both schools?

[bailey5656]

I've been accepted to GW but I'm still waiting to hear from Vandy.  I did go to Vandy for undergrad so hopefully that will help.  I'm hoping to hear from vandy in the next couple of days because my $500 deposit is due July 15 for GW.  So I'm trying to weigh my options now because I know I will have to make a quick decision and I want it to be well thought out and informed.  If i don't get in then the decision will be really easy though.

[deedeeleigh]

Did you apply to Fordham? That seems like the best bet for NYC.

I'd say if you're unsure about where you want to practice, Vandy might be the better bet.  Hard to say though. GW places well in DC, NY and areas around DC (Baltimore, NOVA). But if you're interested in the south, Vandy's a no brainer. If you're 100 percent set on NY, GW might make that a little easier.

Anecdotally, I know a Vandy alum (he graduated in 99) who advised me to take Fordham with 10k  over GW with a full ride, because he really felt that having the alumni base of the school was most important, because he had a hard time making Vandy travel to NY. I don't know how much has changed since then, or if it was the bad economy or what.

[big - fat - box]

One thing Vandy has going for it that GW does not is that it is a smaller school. Placement is going to be better overall partly because of the class size. I would lean toward Vandy for this reason.

You may want to take a look at this link - it covers NLJ250 placement, which appears to be about the same for both schools. However, non-NLJ250 firms are not covered, some of which would still be classified as biglaw. Note that many of the NLJ 250 are in NY.

http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticleNLJ.jsp?id=1207904889529

Overall, I would try to buy more time before making a decision so that you can try to talk to students who transferred into both schools and get a sense of their experiences.

[big - fat - box]

One more thing:

If you are thinking about trying to get biglaw in DC, do some research. Lots of people will say things like "GW places well in DC" without really knowing what they're talking about. The truth is DC biglaw firms are among the most selective in the country and that also goes for DC offices of non-DC firms. GW will only "place well" in DC biglaw if you had grades that still put you within the window for DC biglaw hiring after taking into account the informal discount firms will give to your gpa because you transferred in from a lower ranked school.

I do not know how things will play out in GW OCI as a transfer because I did not transfer there. I do know that law firms at my T14 treated transfers who were top 10% at their old schools like top 1/3 or top 1/2 students if you came from a tier 2/3 school. Your best bet again, is to talk to students who transferred in the previous year and see what they say.