Nyu vs. Vandy vs. University of Texas?

[Should I choose Vandy or Texas or NYU?]

Should I choose Vandy or Texas or NYU?

NYU

 16 (64%)

Vandy

 4 (16%)

Texas

 5 (20%)

Total Members Voted: 25

[goaliechica]

Texas sounds like the right combination of price and opportunities to me, particularly given the difference in cost of living between Manhattan and Austin. NYU will have the strongest placement, but neither Vandy nor Texas would definitely limit you to the South, especially not Texas. Texas will have stronger national placement than Vandy, and it sounds like the price is better, although you could try to get some scholarship money out of Vandy given your other options. I can't speak to how important it is to you to have family nearby, but I can certainly understand why that is a consideration with a 1-year-old daughter.

I'm not sure the bolded is right, but I'd also lean toward Texas.  With COL I'm guessing it's at least an 80K difference.  And the scholarship negotiating is definitely a good idea.

My impression about which school has better placement is probably too west-coast-centric. It sounds like they are close enough in terms of placement that cost and personal preference should come into play.

[dashrashi]

Can you visit?

[CTL]

You gotta compare COL with QOL.  I would personally live in a box in NYC over a mansion in the midwest.  That's just me.  NY has so many intangible qualities that make it outstanding.  I also know plenty of people who hate it.

This is wrong.

Ummm...ok?

Sorry, I am right.

Oh...you're one of those posters..

[JeNeSaisLaw]

I'm sure you'll receive a scholarship from Vandy soon (if not next week). If not (hell, even if they give you $$$), definitely tell them about your UT scholarship, as I know that they will consider it.

Though Bosco already corrected Goalie, I just want to emphasize that I think she's mistaken about Vandy's placement nationally as compared to Texas.

[Canuck996]

Hello all.

Given the job prospects for NYU compared to Vandy and Texas, should I choose Vandy or Texas or NYU?

I have been accepted to NYU, Duke, Cornell, Georgetown, Vanderbilt, and the University of Texas. With the exception of UT I have not heard anything yet regarding any money, but I am trying to decide between the bunch. Texas has offered me $68k.

I like NYU for its BigLaw and clerkship placement statistics, but Vanderbilt is the only school with family nearby, and paying 17k per year at Texas vs. 40k anywhere else is very appealing.

I am from the midwest. I am married and have a 1 year old daughter. My wife works in accounting earning close to $40k a year. My wife and daughter would be coming with me to either location.

In choosing which law school to attend I don't want to close any doors (both in terms of job prospects and job location). I know that Vandy and Texas are great schools, but my concern is that they is more highly regarded in the Southern states, and I am not sure I would want to stay in the South after law school.

Any thoughts?

P.S. I have posted a similar post on the TLS discussion board.

I am obviously biased, but I have 2 young children and the thought of living in NY on student loans with a family seems like a terrifying proposition. I did not apply to NYC schools for exactly this reason. NYU definitely provides the best career prospects, but you will probably receive significant scholarship opps from numerous schools.

Nashville is a FANTASTIC place to raise a family, but so is Austin. The career prospects are better at NYU, but for me, the livability tradeoffs would not make it worthwhile. In any event, there is not a wrong choice among the prospects you have.

[TheIllogicalReasoner]

So you will have to pay more in NYC with your family.  But a degree from NYU Law will allow you to make 40,000 more per year than those other schools.  I don't have a family, but I will be choosing between top-school debt and T-20 close to free.

Bottom line:

The stress and debt will stay with you for a while, but a degree from the 5th ranked school in the country will stay with you for the rest of your life.

If you can find a way to make NYC work (and you like Manhattan lets not forget) I say do it.

Good luck with your decision.

[Canuck996]

So you will have to pay more in NYC with your family.  But a degree from NYU Law will allow you to make 40,000 more per year than those other schools.  I don't have a family, but I will be choosing between top-school debt and T-20 close to free.

Bottom line:

The stress and debt will stay with you for a while, but a degree from the 5th ranked school in the country will stay with you for the rest of your life.

If you can find a way to make NYC work (and you like Manhattan lets not forget) I say do it.

Good luck with your decision.

Huh??? How do you figure that NYU gets you 40K/year more than Vandy and Texas??? Vandy's median starting salary is 145K. Even if NYU's is 160, that is only 15K. Vandy's is also lower b/c a lot of grads self-select smaller markets that don't pay 160.

[NYCFed]

So you will have to pay more in NYC with your family.  But a degree from NYU Law will allow you to make 40,000 more per year than those other schools.  I don't have a family, but I will be choosing between top-school debt and T-20 close to free.

Bottom line:

The stress and debt will stay with you for a while, but a degree from the 5th ranked school in the country will stay with you for the rest of your life.

If you can find a way to make NYC work (and you like Manhattan lets not forget) I say do it.

Good luck with your decision.

Huh??? How do you figure that NYU gets you 40K/year more than Vandy and Texas??? Vandy's median starting salary is 145K. Even if NYU's is 160, that is only 15K. Vandy's is also lower b/c a lot of grads self-select smaller markets that don't pay 160.

What he said.  According to salary.com's cost of living wizard http://swz.salary.com/CostOfLivingWizard/layouthtmls/coll_start.html first hand experience and other sources 160k/year in NYC is like making 90k/year in somewhere like Nashville (not that the Vandy graduates earning higher incomes are working there).
Don't get awestruck over high salaries, especially if you don't understand how big a chunk of that pay is going to get eaten up by the high taxes and cost of living in NYC.  I was happier in NY before I was married, and the OP has other considerations.

[scwlod]

So I had to face a similar decision on similar facts. My wife also works in accounting, makes a similar amount, and we had to make some tough choices as well. We wound up choosing Vandy because the cost of living in Nashville is so much less than a lot of other cities, and because the accounting/finance community down here has been largely unaffected by the current downturn. Nashville's economy is powered by the music industry, and people still listen to the radio when times are tough financially, hence, the recession isn't quite as bad here if you don't work in construction or manufacturing. We found that salaries for accountants here were about the same as they were back home on the west coast despite the markedly cheaper cost of living.

The other thing that really influenced our choice was the way the school treats families. Vandy is really welcoming of spouses and children, and there are actually a lot of married couples here. Spouses and kids are invited to everything, and there's actually a group called Law Partners that organizes child care and date night periodically for students with families. The professors are also very flexible when it comes to kids--we've had children in class several times when childcare arrangements fell through for people. Law school is tough enough as is, having some support from the school is awesome.

As for salaries, well, the numbers speak for themselves. Median private practice salary out of Vandy was 145K last year. I think NYU was 155K, but the difference in debt loads as a result of living in NY vs. Nashville make that pretty much a wash. The career services department here at Vandy is widely reputed as being one of the best in the business. They helped me land a paying job at a firm here in Nashville for my upcoming 1L summer.

Degree transportability out of Vandy seems pretty solid. About a quarter of the class heads to NY, a little less than 20% go to the west coast, and about 35% stay in the southeast. The only place you'd have a problem going would be the Pacific Northwest (unless you have prior connections there).

One last thing: the vast majority of the class at Vandy turned down a higher ranked school to go to Vandy. My group of friends collectively turned down Harvard, Columbia, NYU, Chicago, Michigan, Cornell, Duke, UVA, and Georgetown (not to mention all the schools ranked below us). Each of us has got our reasons (financial aid, debt, family, etc.), and a lot of people who have yet to go to law school would probably think we're nuts for having done that. However, it does mean that you'll be around people who are just as smart as you would see at any other top law school, and be taught by faculty who are just as distinguished. That said, I encourage you to come down and check it out and see what you think for yourself.

[JeNeSaisLaw]

Now to figure out who you are...