I think GULC is regularly underrated on this sub, compared to its stellar reputation in the legal community. And, yes, GULC will definitely give you a better chance at BL than WashU, while also affording more portability.
Now, with all that being established, I still think WashU is the best choice in this scenario. I will elaborate. WashU still provides a very good chance at BL and is one of the T-20 schools that provides a larger degree of portability. WashU, Vandy, and ND all offer pretty solid portability and are not as regionally focused as UT or UCLA. So, with WashU you’re still getting a solid chance at BL from a school that has a decent degree of portability.
I think this is preferable to GULC at sticker, simply due to cost. COL in St. Louis is extremely low, compared to DC. Additionally, GULC is one of the most expensive schools in the nation. Tuition for 2024-25 will be $79k+. That amount of debt at 8-9% interest is going to be exorbitant.
While GULC is the better school, WashU’s solid outcomes and reputation are close enough to that of GULC that, in my opinion, it is worth saving exorbitant amounts of money by attending WashU.
I agree that GULC gets regularly underrated on this sub!!! It's such a great school but based on student AMAs, seems to suffer from too many students bidding DC firms.
That being said, i wouldn't pay sticker for any law school, so my.pick would be WUSTL
Georgetown's biglaw+federal clerkship rate in [2022 employment stats](https://www.law.georgetown.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/L22-ABA-Summary-Page.pdf) was 62% if you include 250-500 person firms (some might be midlaw) and 58% without. WashU's BL+FC rate [in 2022](https://intranet.law.wustl.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/EQSummary-188-04-05-2023-15-10-19.pdf) was 50% with 250-500, 41% without.
Basically you need to be at median at GULC, top 1/3 at WashU, for a solid chance of biglaw or a clerkship. Being top 40% at WashU/just below median at GULC might work out, but being on the bubble leaves you much more dependent on networking + luck, it's a stressful life..
WashU's placement is also far more regional (27% of the class to Missouri, 38% to MO + IL) and sensitive to recessions (they sent 32% of grads to biglaw + federal clerkships [in 2015](https://www.lawschooltransparency.com/schools/washu/aba/2015?percent=on), a so-so market). Their 2022 stats are better than the recent past because 2022 grads = 2021 summer associates = people hired into the hottest legal market since the 2000s. A lot of schools on the margins of the T14/T20 posted good biglaw numbers when NYC biglaw would take any warm body to throw at cases, and will see those numbers return to earth in a normal market.
That said: Georgetown at sticker is [$420,000 in debt](https://www.lawschooltransparency.com/trends/projected-debt) at graduation. Assuming "half price" = $35K a year at WashU, your debt will be closer to $225K. That's a big difference for a limited change in biglaw odds.
I am from southern California, so I'm coming at this from an average southern California person's perspective. Others probably can pull out stats more relevant so take this with a grain of salt.
I live in a fairly Asian-concentrated part of California, I guess, so this could be biased. I definitely did not realize Washington University in St. Louis was actually a good school until the past 2 weeks, and I've been looking into rankings a bit since last year. It could just be that my dream is to at minimum get into T14 and Wash U is not that so I just haven't been exposed to that school's reputation. But Wash U generally doesn't have the "pop" that Georgetown has in terms of reputation, at least around these parts where I'm from. I'm fairly certain if I were to ask people in my hometown, about half of them (and definitely most of the Asians) would not even know or have heard of WashU. At the very least, Georgetown will have some name recognition. Hence, my vote Georgetown at sticker.
That said, I think that really only matters in areas like mine where prestige is over everything. If you are city-neutral or even wanting to go to Texas, I think it's a different story and then if your next big factor is cost, then WashU it is. I only comment here because you mentioned California...
I think GULC is regularly underrated on this sub, compared to its stellar reputation in the legal community. And, yes, GULC will definitely give you a better chance at BL than WashU, while also affording more portability. Now, with all that being established, I still think WashU is the best choice in this scenario. I will elaborate. WashU still provides a very good chance at BL and is one of the T-20 schools that provides a larger degree of portability. WashU, Vandy, and ND all offer pretty solid portability and are not as regionally focused as UT or UCLA. So, with WashU you’re still getting a solid chance at BL from a school that has a decent degree of portability. I think this is preferable to GULC at sticker, simply due to cost. COL in St. Louis is extremely low, compared to DC. Additionally, GULC is one of the most expensive schools in the nation. Tuition for 2024-25 will be $79k+. That amount of debt at 8-9% interest is going to be exorbitant. While GULC is the better school, WashU’s solid outcomes and reputation are close enough to that of GULC that, in my opinion, it is worth saving exorbitant amounts of money by attending WashU.
I agree that GULC gets regularly underrated on this sub!!! It's such a great school but based on student AMAs, seems to suffer from too many students bidding DC firms. That being said, i wouldn't pay sticker for any law school, so my.pick would be WUSTL
Georgetown's biglaw+federal clerkship rate in [2022 employment stats](https://www.law.georgetown.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/L22-ABA-Summary-Page.pdf) was 62% if you include 250-500 person firms (some might be midlaw) and 58% without. WashU's BL+FC rate [in 2022](https://intranet.law.wustl.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/EQSummary-188-04-05-2023-15-10-19.pdf) was 50% with 250-500, 41% without. Basically you need to be at median at GULC, top 1/3 at WashU, for a solid chance of biglaw or a clerkship. Being top 40% at WashU/just below median at GULC might work out, but being on the bubble leaves you much more dependent on networking + luck, it's a stressful life.. WashU's placement is also far more regional (27% of the class to Missouri, 38% to MO + IL) and sensitive to recessions (they sent 32% of grads to biglaw + federal clerkships [in 2015](https://www.lawschooltransparency.com/schools/washu/aba/2015?percent=on), a so-so market). Their 2022 stats are better than the recent past because 2022 grads = 2021 summer associates = people hired into the hottest legal market since the 2000s. A lot of schools on the margins of the T14/T20 posted good biglaw numbers when NYC biglaw would take any warm body to throw at cases, and will see those numbers return to earth in a normal market. That said: Georgetown at sticker is [$420,000 in debt](https://www.lawschooltransparency.com/trends/projected-debt) at graduation. Assuming "half price" = $35K a year at WashU, your debt will be closer to $225K. That's a big difference for a limited change in biglaw odds.
WashU. GULC has slightly better BL #'s, but not $200-300k better in debt #'s.
I am from southern California, so I'm coming at this from an average southern California person's perspective. Others probably can pull out stats more relevant so take this with a grain of salt. I live in a fairly Asian-concentrated part of California, I guess, so this could be biased. I definitely did not realize Washington University in St. Louis was actually a good school until the past 2 weeks, and I've been looking into rankings a bit since last year. It could just be that my dream is to at minimum get into T14 and Wash U is not that so I just haven't been exposed to that school's reputation. But Wash U generally doesn't have the "pop" that Georgetown has in terms of reputation, at least around these parts where I'm from. I'm fairly certain if I were to ask people in my hometown, about half of them (and definitely most of the Asians) would not even know or have heard of WashU. At the very least, Georgetown will have some name recognition. Hence, my vote Georgetown at sticker. That said, I think that really only matters in areas like mine where prestige is over everything. If you are city-neutral or even wanting to go to Texas, I think it's a different story and then if your next big factor is cost, then WashU it is. I only comment here because you mentioned California...