This is my own personal opinion from my law school experience on what to consider when making this decision. There are two main things to realize before reading anything I have to say.
1) Anything you read on the internet from an anonymous source including myself should be heavily scrutinized. I know nothing about you, your situation, your views, your likes or dislikes. In the end it will be you that lives with the decision for at least 3 years and likely the rest of your life, but I am going to fill in some things I did consider when choosing my school along with some things I wish I would have considered.
2) There is no right answer you your question. Many 0L’s think there is some answer out there that will tell them exactly what to do, but sadly there isn’t. I personally spent months talking to people, researching so and so on hoping to come to the conclusion of knowing exactly what to do, but that day never came. I had to choose a school and I ended up being happy with it although there are days I wonder what would have happened had I gone to X, Y, Z school. I will never know the answer and neither will you. A choice has to be made and there is no right or wrong answer.
I would personally choose Florida based on the facts you have presented and below is my reasoning, but these are factors that you should consider and plug in your personal situation to see if Florida is actually the right fit.
Financing: Law school is expensive and if you can save 100k on tuition that is a lot of money. I am still paying off my loans and remember this 100k is collecting interest usually between 6-8% depending on where your getting the money from. This means in a year you will accumulate 6,000-8,000 on interest alone. If you can save 100k then that is something to heavily consider. If Florida let you out debt free then that is a huge plus. I also looked at the cost of living for the three schools, which is another factor consider in regards to financing.
Emory: 24k per year living expenses .
http://www.lsac.org/LSACResources/Publications/2011OG/aba5187.pdf Florida: 12k per year living expenses
http://www.lsac.org/LSACResources/Publications/2011OG/aba5813.pdf Georgia:12-15k per year living expenses
http://www.lsac.org/LSACResources/Publications/2011OG/aba5813.pdf Based on that you will have 72k more living expenses tacked on at Emory with 120k in tuition payments over three years=200k total and remember it is accruing interest while in school and with that a big number 16k annually for not spending a dime.
Georgia & Florida seem about equal and if your getting a full ride at Florida that is great.
Location: This is probably the most important thing to consider when choosing a law school, yet so few 0L’s really think this through. Whatever school you end up at is where you will be for a minimum of three years. You are going to develop friends, go to parties, sporting events, concerts, and so on during these three years and your social life is important during law school. Just to set aside some fear you will have a life while in law school, and that is why location is something to consider.
On top of the social aspect law school does not exist in a vacuum. If you happen to love college football and the college town lifestyle then Florida & Georgia would provide you with welcome distractions. If you want more of a city life then Atlanta will provide you with that it is your own personal feeling, but that is a factor to consider three years is a long time. Law school years also go very slowly particularly 1L so be in an atmosphere you would enjoy.
Also remember wherever you go to school is likely where you will end up. I know there are exceptions, but you are going to have an apartment, friends, internships, and so on while in school and these will be hard to leave particularly with law school debt hanging over your head. You are probably going to hustle to find a job right out of school and few if any employers are going to come from out of area to recruit you, and as a newly minted J.D. you are not going to have the time or money to fly out to New York or Seattle for the first interview yet alone a series of interviews, which many attorney positions require. This is just the practical nature of geography, which should also play a role in your decision.
A pro to Emory is I imagine more internship opportunities would exist in Atlanta and you could probably find work easily while in school. I know Gainesville is more of a college town and I imagine Georgia is as well so finding internships during the school year might be difficult.
C) Prestige/Ranking: With these schools this might play a slight factor in your decision, but remember U.S. News is nothing more than a magazine offering an opinion, but some places care about ranking. Right now Emory is in a 4 way tie for 30th, Florida is in a 3 way tie for 47th, Georgia is in a 4 way tie for 35th. They seem to be pretty close and the way the rankings are any of these schools could be ahead of the other by the time you graduate. For some reason I thought Emory was in the Top 20, but I was wrong shows how fast the rankings move.
http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-law-schools/law-rankings/page+2 .
D) Reality of Legal Education: This is something many 0L’s don’t realize either and that is what you learn at Yale, Georgia, Emory, Cooley, etc is basically the same. At almost every ABA law school you take the following courses during your first year. 1) Torts 2) Contracts 3) Property 4) Civil Procedure 5) Criminal Law 6) Con Law 7) Legal Writing & Research. There are some variations to this, but at any ABA law school you will take those courses at some point whether it be first or second year.
Whatever school you take these courses at you will learn the same thing. In Torts you will read Palsgraf, Contracts Hadley v. Baxendale, Civil Procedure Pennoyer v. Neff, so and so on. These are Supreme Court cases and you read what the Supreme Court wrote then your professor will explain it to you. Law school unlike Med School or Engineering does not require any special equipment. All you need our books so if Emory is ranked higher than Florida it is not because you are learning anything different or have access to better equipment. You are going to get a textbook and the majority of schools use the same exact textbook so you get the same law, same textbook, same everything from school to school.
SPECIALTY PROGRAMS:
Although there is technically not much difference in what you learn at any school some schools do specialize in certain areas. If you truly know what area of law you want to get into then the clinics, courses, professor experience might be something to consider. However, few law students and practicing attorneys really know what area of law they want to practice, but some people do.
If you really want to be litigator South Texas Law School has all kinds of opportunities for mock trial competitions. They have built their school around that and give students access to a great courtroom, fund numerous competitions, and really emphasize that. Some other schools have a Tax Clinic they run or something of that nature, and if you happen to know exactly what you want to do then this should be a factor in your decision.
If on the other hand you are like the majority of law students and lawyers that really doesn’t specifically know what area you really want then it shouldn’t be a big factor in your decision.
I personally know nothing specific about these school or what specialties they might have, but it is something you can look into if you know where your interests lie.
D) Reality of Legal Education:
This is something many 0L’s don’t realize either and that is what you learn at Yale or Widener is basically the same. At almost every ABA law school you take the following courses during your first year. 1) Torts 2) Contracts 3) Property 4) Civil Procedure 5) Criminal Law 6) Con Law 7) Legal Writing & Research. There are some variations to this, but at any ABA law school you will take those courses at some point whether it be first or second year.
Whatever school you take these courses at you will learn the same thing. In Torts you will read Palsgraf, Contracts Hadley v. Baxendale, Civil Procedure Pennoyer v. Neff, so and so on. These are Supreme Court cases and you read what the Supreme Court wrote then your professor will explain it to you. Law school unlike Med School or Engineering does not require any special equipment. All you need our books so if Widener is ranked higher than New England it is not because you are learning anything different or have access to better equipment. You are going to get a textbook and the majority of schools use the same exact textbook so you get the same law, same textbook, same everything from school to school.
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