W&L vs Vanderbilt Forum

[dubya1987]

I'm deposited at W&L Law, but got into Vanderbilt recently off the waitlist. Vanderbilt said they could not offer me any scholarship funds, whereas W&L has offered 37.5k/year. Assuming Vanderbilt will not negotiate, I will stick with W&L, but I'm wondering what scholarship amount would be needed for a switch to Vanderbilt to make sense. I'm thinking personally that if I could get Vanderbilt to give me 20k/year (I know it is unlikely...), I should consider it. What say everyone?

[SmokeytheBear]

Career goals?

[dubya1987]

Interested in corporate law, securities law, international business law track most likely. So would prefer BigLaw. However, I have always been heavily drawn towards public policy as well, so I could possibly go in that direction. I'm from the DC area originally. I would prefer the greater reach and better employment outcomes that Vanderbilt offers, but I find it hard to justify such a huge difference in COA. It would be roughly 75k/year at Vanderbilt as of right now versus 30k at Washington & Lee.

[deadpanic]

Neither. W&L will likely be 100k after origination fees and cost of living; not worth it. And a big hell no to Vanderbilt at sticker.

Re-negotiate with W&L for full (and re-adjust your goals for non-BigLaw) or retake. I know you said public policy, which is fine, but a lot of those gigs do not even require a law degree. You could just as well be an aide on Capitol Hill making about the same without the debt.

That being said, I would say some more public policy gurus could weigh in better regarding that.

[dubya1987]

Appreciate the input - I agree with you about Vanderbilt at sticker. Too much debt. But my question was at what price does it make sense? I can negotiate using my W&L scholarship offer (I am well aware that negotiating with Vanderbilt is not easy) and perhaps extract some kind of offer. I was thinking at 20k/year it would make sense vs W&L. That's what I was asking people.

Regarding W&L, I'm quite aware that BigLaw would be difficult. Would need to be Top 10% and I'm not stupid enough to bank on that. But I'm going to law school one way or another this year, and I'm not averse to attending a good regional law school where the tuition is about 48k and I'm getting 37.5k/year off. With how cheap cost of living is in Lexington, I think I could keep COA under 90k.

[AT9]

I had a similar dilemma to what you're hoping for (Vandy w/20k vs. SE regional w/$$$). I opted for the regional, despite loving the idea of Vandy, because even with 20k Vandy would still put me around $150k+ in the hole, which hell no.

With biglaw goals, your best option is to retake. If you won't do that or it's not possible, focus on getting W&L to pony up more money (if you can).

[guynourmin]

stats?

[Slippin' Jimmy]

stats?

Based off his post history he's a 2.98/168 so a super splitter.

[guynourmin]

stats?

Based off his post history he's a 2.98/168 so a super splitter.

I assumed they retook since those posts are from 2011 and there was a mention of possibly retaking, although I think October '11 would still be a valid score this past cycle. Anyway, will wait for OP to respond.