Minnesota or Vanderbilt? --UPDATED SCENERIO (See 1st Post)--

[aggieJD]

Taking into account the following information, where would you go?

VANDERBILT WOULD BE ABOUT $30,000 - 50,000 MORE THAN MINNESOTA.
(That is if I keep my grades high enough to keep my scholarship at Minnesota)

Considering you wanted to work in a firm, but not necessarily BIG LAW, but still wanted to make 90K+ starting out, which would be the better school?

Slight preference towards Southwest/Mountain region after lawschool.

[tinytim]

Minnesota all the way! Vanderbilt has a snobby atmosphere and wouldn't give you that much more prospects than Minnesota. Plus Nashville is an old dump and the Twin Cities are amazing!

Don't believe all that crap you hear about Minnesota grads having a hard time finding jobs. Everyone I know has found the job they wanted.

Vanderbilt focuses mostly on the Southeast and NY/DC.

[Towlie]

Go to Vandy! Minnesota winters SUCK!

[jakeb1881]

Number of firms recruiting at each school per nalpdirectory.com:

Vandy 415
Minnesota 115

Oh, and in response to the earlier post, I went to one of the Vanderbilt admit days and it was one of the friendliest places I've ever been.  Do yourself a favor--come to Vandy.

[raging_achilles]

I think Vanderbilt is better, but I would seriously consider whether you wopuld prefer to live in Nashville or Minneapolis.

[tinytim]

Where you want to live shouldn't be a decider as to which law school you attend. That is unless you want to stay in a particular area and then a strong regional school could be your best bet.

The quality of life in Minnesota is so much better than in Nashville. All the buildings in Minn are smoke free so you don't have to feel like you are going to die from second hand smoke everytime you go out to eat. The restaurant I went to in Nashville had air so thick of smoke I could barely breathe, and that was in the nonsmoking section!

It may be cold during the winters in Minnesota, but Nashville gets bloody hot in the summer.

[raging_achilles]

Where you want to live shouldn't be a decider as to which law school you attend. That is unless you want to stay in a particular area and then a strong regional school could be your best bet.

The quality of life in Minnesota is so much better than in Nashville. All the buildings in Minn are smoke free so you don't have to feel like you are going to die from second hand smoke everytime you go out to eat. The restaurant I went to in Nashville had air so thick of smoke I could barely breathe, and that was in the nonsmoking section!

It may be cold during the winters in Minnesota, but Nashville gets bloody hot in the summer.

Yes it should.  If you are not happy where you are, you are less likely to succeed.

[bleedsblue]

Considering you wanted to work in a firm, but not necessarily BIG LAW, but still wanted to make 90K+ starting out, which would be the better school?

Slight preference towards Southwest/Mountain region after lawschool.

FWIW, placement studies show that vandy trounces minnesota pretty much everywhere outside of minnesota.  the list of firms that recruit at each school (someone gave the #s above) is also pretty telling.  i think that objectively, vandy is a better school unless you know you want to stay in minnesota.

that being said, go where you would be happier.  and contrary to what tinytim has been saying, most people -- even those not from the south -- tend to be pleasantly surprised by nashville.

[tinytim]

Yes it should.  If you are not happy where you are, you are less likely to succeed.
[/quote]

That may be a true statement, but honestly when you spend the majority of time at school either in class or studying, will the city you are in make that much of an impact? I think not. The building the school is in may have some effect, and in that case I would have to go with Vanderbilt--it has an awesome building!

[raging_achilles]

Yes it should.  If you are not happy where you are, you are less likely to succeed.

That may be a true statement, but honestly when you spend the majority of time at school either in class or studying, will the city you are in make that much of an impact? I think not. The building the school is in may have some effect, and in that case I would have to go with Vanderbilt--it has an awesome building!
[/quote]

Since the majority of your time will be spent like that anyway, shouldn't that mean that where you are is more important, because you should be comfortable when you want to de-stress? 

I agree with the above post that Vanderbilt places better elsewhere, but I think much of this is due to being a state school.  Do well there and doors will open in the mountain west.