<p>Hi, all. I'm a freshman at Vanderbilt, 3.7 GPA for this year, double major in child psych and philosophy with a Russian minor. This summer, I'm going to visit three schools in Virginia: UVA, Washington and Lee, and William and Mary. I have some questions about specifics, and then I was just curious if y'all wanted to throw out any random info.</p>
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<li><p>How would you evaluate career prospects coming from these three? Obviously UVA will have the most name power, but will W&M and W&L be all that much worse?</p></li>
<li><p>Have you visited/gone to any of these schools? What are the campuses and surrounding areas like?</p></li>
<li><p>How would you evaluate quality of life at these three? I love Vanderbilt's mentality of work hard, play hard. I'm one of those students that is happiest studying hours and hours and writing and writing and basically busting my butt all week, and then having relaxing time for a day or two.</p></li>
<li><p>What is your impression of the schools on any or all of the following specialties: immigration law (specifically for my Russian minor), health law, sports/entertainment law, environmental law, and international law?</p></li>
<li><p>Generally, do you know anything about scholarships for MERIT at these three? I will in no way qualify for financial aid; I come from one of those families that looks so much better on paper than in reality.</p></li>
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<p>Thanks! And, like I said, any other info would be HUUUUGELY appreciated.</p>
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<li><p>I can’t forsee any of those schools giving you much of an advantage over the others.</p></li>
<li><p>I’ve heard really good things about UVA’s campus.</p></li>
<li><p>That’s the story of law school no matter where you go.</p></li>
<li><p>I know that UVA is strong in environmental law, health, and international law/national security law.</p></li>
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<p>Agc’s response to #1 makes no sense.</p>
<p>UVA is a T-14 school (USNews currently ranks it #10 in the nation), highly regarded and highly selective in its admissions. It has a very clear and large advantage over the other two (they are ranked #30 & #28). Though the schools are all located in Virginia, there are significant differences in both their locations and the kinds of opportunities available to their graduates. Have fun on your trip. They are three of the prettiest campuses I am familiar with.</p>
<p>All of these schools do offer generous merit scholarships to highly qualified applicants.</p>
<p>how can agc possibly claim to go to yale law school when he/she has no idea what he/she is talking about?</p>
<p>I stand by my first comment. Different schools have different career cultures, and, if the OP knows what s/he wants to do s/he should pick the one that suits that career path. UVA has a law firm culture - over 75% of graduates join a firm. W&M has a distinctly more public-service oriented culture, with about 40% of graduates electing to do clerkships, work for the government, or enter academia, although about half do choose to enter firms (and make about $135,000 per year starting salary doing so). Neither of the the schools has a rough time placing grads in desirable jobs, the major difference is simply what it is you desire to do. The OP asked for career prospects, not “law firm” prospects, and I gave the correct answer - no matter which you pick, you will find a job, and it will most likely be a good one.</p>
<p>Well, I really have no idea what I want to do. Some things I’m looking at include sports/entertainment law, international law (including int’l. corporate law), environmental law, health law, immigration law, and potentially family law. I really have no idea. I need to learn a lot more about the lifestyle and such before I pick. Also looking at things like the Foreign Service. No idea where I want to go.</p>
<p>One thing I’m pretty sure I would like is a decent variety of dual degree JD/MA options. I’d like to keep up my Russian (college minor), and Michigan actually has a dual degree JD/MA in Slavic/Eastern Euro studies. No idea if anything like this exists in the Southeast, but I really would like to stay down South if at all possible.</p>
<p>Duke offers a number of excellent 3-year JD/MA options, including International Development Policy and Environmental Science and Policy. You might want to give them a look.</p>
<p>[JD/MA</a> & JD/MS](<a href=“http://www.law.duke.edu/admis/degreeprograms/jd-ma]JD/MA”>http://www.law.duke.edu/admis/degreeprograms/jd-ma)</p>
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<li><p>UVa is going to give you better options at just about everything. I don’t think either of W&M or W&L has a real edge over the other.</p></li>
<li><p>I wouldn’t worry about any school’s alleged strength in any particular field at all. Though since UVa is a lot larger, they’ll probably offer a wider selection of classes (though you won’t get to choose your schedule until 2L year). The classes you take don’t have any bearing on the jobs you can get. </p></li>
<li><p>W&M seems to be the stingiest by far. According to LSAC’s official guide, they didn’t give any full scholarships last year, only about 28% of the students got any money and the median amount given was only $5K. Though they do have the lowest tuition of the three, especially if you’re a VA resident. Ultimately, the money you’re offered is going to depend on your GPA and LSAT.</p></li>
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<p>For the most part, they don’t really. At these three schools, a clear majority of students are hoping for firm jobs. It’s not at all apparent that more students take gov’t or public interest jobs because the want to, or because they struck out with firms. In absolute terms, UVa has more grads clerk or take gov’t/public interest positions than either of the other two. Whatever “career culture” you extrapolate from employment data doesn’t tell you anything about the number or quality of career options graduates have. </p>
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<p>Noticeably absent from W&M’s skimpy salary profile is any mention of how many students actually reported salary data. It’s safe to assume it’s less than all of them, but there’s no indication what the number might be.</p>
<p>The only difference in “career culture” between UVA and W&M is that, at the former, most do get a BigLaw job, and at the latter, most wish they could get a BigLaw job.</p>
<p>The only schools at which students can plausibly claim to self-select into clerkships, academia, or public interest are Harvard, Stanford, and Yale.</p>