Unc

Graduate School Law School
1

<p>I'm fortunate enough to attend Emory (undergrad) more or less for free. I'm interested in academia and public service (e.g., Professor and member of a state board/commission, or full-time elected officer and adjunct) in NC and am exploring various possibilities.</p>

<p>I finished my first year at Emory with a ~3.5 and would expect a decent LSAT score if there's any correlation with SAT (1440/1600: 800 CR, 640 M).</p>

<p>I'm considering pursuing a JD or JD/MSW and then returning for a (MSW/)PhD program in Social Work, focusing on juvenile justice.</p>

<p>In terms of debt, the average debt at graduation is $60,000 and I am an instate resident. Also, UNC has a significant amount of scholarship money for public interest law and many scholarship are available only to instate residents (though I'm still trying to ascertain how much money this might look like).</p>

<p>If it's relevant, I come from a low-income family, but expect to inherit a decent amount from grandparents in the long term. Also, a UNC degree is the degree to have for NC and NC politics. </p>

<p>I still concerned, however, about the huge amount of debt and what would happen if I decided to move elsewhere--New York, for instance, where everyone who attends Emory is from.</p>

2

<p>Professor and politician are cool goals to have, but the fact of the matter is that the vast majority of people can’t manage either. If you can’t make it as a politician, and you don’t do well enough in law school to get you on the track to professorship (you have to do extremely well for this), what do you intend to do with your JD? If you can’t answer that question happily, you shouldn’t go.</p>

<p>Your worry about moving elsewhere is legitimate. Over half of UNC law grads are in North Carolina, and just under 10% are in the mid-atlantic (NJ NY PA) region. More importantly, there are huge numbers of people there who aren’t from UNC. Regionality is very important for legal employment, because networking is very important for legal employment; if you move to New York, it will be significantly harder for you to find a job. </p>

<p>tl;dr: If you would not be glad to practice in a region for the rest of your life, you shouldn’t go to a law school ranked below 25ish there. If you would not be willing to practice in the region for the rest of your life, you shouldn’t go to any law school ranked below maybe 6. If none of your ideas for what you’d like to do after law school involve practicing law, you shouldn’t go at all.</p>