UVA vs. UT Forum

(Rankings, Profiles, Tuition, Student Life, . . . )

UVA vs. UT

UVA (COA: $126,000 over three years)
2
5%
UT (COA: $0)
37
95%
 
Total votes: 39

TXgal

New
Posts: 36
Joined: Fri Jun 12, 2015 10:09 am

Re: UVA vs. UT

Post by TXgal » Wed Jun 17, 2015 10:35 am

envisciguy wrote:
TXgal wrote:
Other misc. info:
1. Employment concerns: I’m concerned about getting back to TX from UVA. Can anyone speak to the OGI process at UVA for people trying to get jobs in TX? Are callbacks more stressful coming from VA to TX? It seems like trying to fly back and forth from TX to VA would eat up a TON of time (as opposed to simply driving from Austin to Houston). Is Texas biglaw pretty much dominated by UT, or do UVA students do well here? Do employers dig deeper into UVA’s graduating class, or are UVA students viewed pretty much the same as UT students? Would a UVA student be at a disadvantage for networking purposes since they didn’t go to school here in TX?
2. General quality of life: I toured both schools this spring; I LOVED UVA and felt so-so about UT. I personally think UVA would be a much better fit for me. It seemed much friendlier than UT.
3. Based on my GPA/LSAT score I feel like UVA lowballed me a bit with the $90K offer; I’ve tried to negotiate with them but they won’t budge. Should that be a factor in my decision?
I can comment on 1 and 2 based on personal experience as a recent UVA grad going to work in Houston.

1. It's fairly easy to get to TX from UVA. There are people at UVA who get jobs there with absolutely no ties to TX, so the fact that you've got solid ties would make it even easier. It doesn't take up all that much time with interviews - you do all the screeners at UVA and then fly out for callbacks, but you can arrange those strategically to reduce lost time. For example, I spent 3 straight days in Houston doing callbacks, so there was no flying back and forth. Texas biglaw has proportionally a much larger number of UT students, but UVA is pretty well represented and they absolutely go deeper into the class. My summer class at one of the big 3 Houston firms had a huge number of UT students, but all of them were on law review. There were a couple of us from UVA and none were on law review. Anecdotally, one of my friends who went to UT undergrad and came to UVA for law school told me the reason she came to UVA was because a number of TX attorneys told her that they would go much deeper into the class. And I know a number of Texans who were probably around median in the UVA class and are now working at biglaw firms in Houston and Dallas.

2. Can't comment on the UT culture, but everyone I've met from UT law seems pretty cool. From what I've heard the cultures seem a similar. I loved UVA though and think it's a great place to be.

3. Things have probably changed since I was applying to law school, but I had virtually the same stats and was offered the same amount of money from UVA.

$126k is a lot of money and you really can't go wrong with UT for free, but I do think that UVA offers more opportunities. If your parents are paying for it and it wouldn't burden them economically to do so, I'd go UVA.

If you have any questions, you can feel free to PM me.

Edit: Well, I guess I was just a few minutes too late. Enjoy UT!
I wish I'd seen this earlier! This is good info. Hopefully it will help someone else down the road with the same questions as I had!

dallinpackard

New
Posts: 92
Joined: Sun Oct 15, 2017 11:27 pm

Re: UVA vs. UT

Post by dallinpackard » Fri Nov 10, 2017 7:11 pm

TXgal wrote:
envisciguy wrote:
TXgal wrote:
Other misc. info:
1. Employment concerns: I’m concerned about getting back to TX from UVA. Can anyone speak to the OGI process at UVA for people trying to get jobs in TX? Are callbacks more stressful coming from VA to TX? It seems like trying to fly back and forth from TX to VA would eat up a TON of time (as opposed to simply driving from Austin to Houston). Is Texas biglaw pretty much dominated by UT, or do UVA students do well here? Do employers dig deeper into UVA’s graduating class, or are UVA students viewed pretty much the same as UT students? Would a UVA student be at a disadvantage for networking purposes since they didn’t go to school here in TX?
2. General quality of life: I toured both schools this spring; I LOVED UVA and felt so-so about UT. I personally think UVA would be a much better fit for me. It seemed much friendlier than UT.
3. Based on my GPA/LSAT score I feel like UVA lowballed me a bit with the $90K offer; I’ve tried to negotiate with them but they won’t budge. Should that be a factor in my decision?
I can comment on 1 and 2 based on personal experience as a recent UVA grad going to work in Houston.

1. It's fairly easy to get to TX from UVA. There are people at UVA who get jobs there with absolutely no ties to TX, so the fact that you've got solid ties would make it even easier. It doesn't take up all that much time with interviews - you do all the screeners at UVA and then fly out for callbacks, but you can arrange those strategically to reduce lost time. For example, I spent 3 straight days in Houston doing callbacks, so there was no flying back and forth. Texas biglaw has proportionally a much larger number of UT students, but UVA is pretty well represented and they absolutely go deeper into the class. My summer class at one of the big 3 Houston firms had a huge number of UT students, but all of them were on law review. There were a couple of us from UVA and none were on law review. Anecdotally, one of my friends who went to UT undergrad and came to UVA for law school told me the reason she came to UVA was because a number of TX attorneys told her that they would go much deeper into the class. And I know a number of Texans who were probably around median in the UVA class and are now working at biglaw firms in Houston and Dallas.

2. Can't comment on the UT culture, but everyone I've met from UT law seems pretty cool. From what I've heard the cultures seem a similar. I loved UVA though and think it's a great place to be.

3. Things have probably changed since I was applying to law school, but I had virtually the same stats and was offered the same amount of money from UVA.

$126k is a lot of money and you really can't go wrong with UT for free, but I do think that UVA offers more opportunities. If your parents are paying for it and it wouldn't burden them economically to do so, I'd go UVA.

If you have any questions, you can feel free to PM me.

Edit: Well, I guess I was just a few minutes too late. Enjoy UT!
I wish I'd seen this earlier! This is good info. Hopefully it will help someone else down the road with the same questions as I had!
This will absolutely help me!!! I'm in a similar boat, or at least I anticipate I will be. I'll get in contact once I have offers, but I am dead-set on Houston, pretty set on biglaw, and anticipate scholarships from UT and possibly UVA.

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