lsb wrote:I just have a general question for all of you that have decided on Tulane: What made you choose Tulane? I would really like to hear more about this school. By the way, despite what people say about the location having a lot of crime, I think Louisiana would be an awesome place to live for a few years.
I think Louisiana would be an awesome place to live for a few years.
Question asked and answered.
Tulane is sort of a happy medium. Like the dean said, if you can get into Tulane you probably have other options. Schools that accept similar applicants to Tulane include Fordham, Boston U, Boston C, Cardozo, etc.
Like most schools in the 18-50 range, these schools are mostly regional. The problem is that the region they are in is by far the most competitive. This is a generalization, of course, but a graduate from Fordham is stuck in NY forever. Do I want to be stuck competing with every T14 graduate in the only region my JD is viable? Well, I decided "no."
Tulane feels like a bizarre anomaly. As a regional power, it seems to do well for itself. The competition for Louisiana jobs will be fierce, I'm sure, but I'm guessing that will be more of a Tulane/LSU/Loyola battle than anything. For the most part, I don't anticipate worrying about swarms of Columbia and UChicago grads flying down to snatch up jobs in the NOLA market. Tulane benefits from being a regional power in a fairly isolated region.
The school also has a semi-national reach that is completely out of place given its less-than-stellar ranking. I don't know why that is, but with only 30% of its students remaining in Louisiana it looks like it travels way better than most other JDs ranked 20-50. While I don't understand this, it
does give some of its graduates options. The lucky bastards (not me) who finish on law review will probably find alumni in NY that are able to place them just as well as the top kids from Fordham or Cardozo. And if they decide they don't want to go to the Mid-Atlantic? Well, they can try the alumni in Cali. Or Wash. Or Atlanta. Or they can just snatch up a NOLA job.
Between their position as the top school in a less competitive legal market and their widely dispersed alumni network, Tulane didn't seem like a bad option. Include the fact that it's located in one of the greatest cities on Earth and you've got yourself a pretty desirable school.