Possibly moving from MI to Nashville for law school (apartments, rentals)

[neversol]

Hey everyone!

I'm seriously considering Belmont for law school in the fall and would love a little advice about a few things.

I am a 24 female coming from a suburb about 35 minutes outside of Detroit where I've lived my entire life. I'll likely be bringing three cats with me so I'm not really looking for a roommate situation. I would like to stay in the $600 range for rent but could possibly go up to $700 or $750.

Ideally, I would like to rent a place that's within walking distance of some shops, bars, restaurants, and the like. Right now, I have to drive everywhere for everything and I hate that. I don't mind driving a little, but I would at least like the option to walk SOMEWHERE.

I've looked into East Nashville a little and seems like it might be a good fit. How is the commute from East Nashville to the Belmont area? Are there any other areas similar or that you would recommend? I'm planning to visit sometime in February and would like to drive through a few neighborhoods to check them out.

This will be my first apartment so any advice you can give about apartment hunting and renting in general would be great. One major question is how early I should start seriously looking for a place? I'm thinking about trying to move down in August but I would definitely have to be there by September for school.

I have also considered renting a house rather than an apartment. Any opinions on that? Would the utilities be about the same? The only way I would rent a house is if the maintenance for the home and lawn were included (I realize this is not very common, but I'm not exactly "handy" and definitely don't want to spend time mowing the lawn.)

Like I said, I've never rented before, so any advice, general or specific to my situation, is really appreciated. Thanks for any help you can give!!

Natasha

[septimus]

My first piece of advice is don't go to law school unless it is in the Top 50 of the USNews rankings. Jobs aren't plentiful and they aren't coming back anytime soon for baby attorneys.

I would look long and hard at a school charging $30K for an unaccredited program. I know Belmont says they will get ABA provisional approval, but another start up law school in TN (Licoln Memorial) was just denied provisional ABA approval last month. Without ABA approval you can only sit for the TN bar. $90k for a law degree that may not be portable an expensive risk you'd be better off going to Nashvill School of Law and paying $20k.

[BirdieBelle]

This is great advice. Nashville School of Law has a great reputation. Belmont's program is basically brand new, and you don't need any roadblocks in the way of getting a job these days. Any reason you chose Belmont?

As for the lifestyle questions, I can get started on a couple. Your budget for safe and walkable could be difficult without a roommate. Having pets also will limit your apt. search. If you've never ever rented before, I would just go for an apartment rather than messing with a house. It's also difficult to find rentals online here.

These are recent threads that are similar to your situation and may give you ideas of neighborhoods and apartments to research:

//www.city-data.com/forum/nashv...nt-single.html

//www.city-data.com/forum/nashv...le-female.html

//www.city-data.com/forum/nashv...lp-please.html

//www.city-data.com/forum/nashv...nashville.html

[southernsmoke]

Originally Posted by septimus

My first piece of advice is don't go to law school unless it is in the Top 50 of the USNews rankings. Jobs aren't plentiful and they aren't coming back anytime soon for baby attorneys.

I would look long and hard at a school charging $30K for an unaccredited program. I know Belmont says they will get ABA provisional approval, but another start up law school in TN (Licoln Memorial) was just denied provisional ABA approval last month. Without ABA approval you can only sit for the TN bar. $90k for a law degree that may not be portable an expensive risk you'd be better off going to Nashvill School of Law and paying $20k.

I kind of hate to rain on the parade, but honestly I agree with this (at least unless you are getting a substantial scholarship at Belmont). Also, I should just add the caveat that everybody's situation is different, but I can't in good conscience recommend paying anywhere near full price for a Belmont law degree.

[neversol]

The big part of my decision to enroll in Belmont will be the amount of scholarships they can offer me. If I don't get a scholarship for a decent chunk of my tuition, I'm probably going to have to rethink this whole thing. I'm also looking at Belmont because they have an entertainment law program that I am interested in. It's really the only school I've found that's in a location that will hopefully give me some internship opportunities without being too far away from where I am now and that doesn't have sky high admissions standards.

Belmont's lack of accreditation is definitely a concern to me and it's something I'm going to look into more and discuss with the school when I go for a visit.

This all is very far from a "sure thing" so I appreciate you guys voicing your concerns.

[septimus]

Originally Posted by neversol

The big part of my decision to enroll in Belmont will be the amount of scholarships they can offer me. If I don't get a scholarship for a decent chunk of my tuition, I'm probably going to have to rethink this whole thing. I'm also looking at Belmont because they have an entertainment law program that I am interested in. It's really the only school I've found that's in a location that will hopefully give me some internship opportunities without being too far away from where I am now and that doesn't have sky high admissions standards.

Belmont's lack of accreditation is definitely a concern to me and it's something I'm going to look into more and discuss with the school when I go for a visit.

This all is very far from a "sure thing" so I appreciate you guys voicing your concerns.

One would think that Nashville would be a hot bed of entertainment law, but surpringly it isn't. Most of the entertianment law is done in NYC and LA. Healthcare law is probably the biggest legal speciality in Nashville.

I would suggest reading Above the Law: A Legal Web Site to get a general feel of the legal market. It tends to focus on large law, but those are the firms that pay 6 figures to 1st year associates. 1st year associates working at small firms are frequently lucky to break 50k and there have been ads looking for associates willing to pay $32k.

[ariesjow]

I agree 100% with the above posters' excellent advice. Definitely check out the Above the Law blog.

Although I am sure Belmont will eventually have a decent program, I would be a bit leery of it right now since it is new. The legal profession can be very prestige-driven especially when you're looking for your first position. The entry-level attorney positions are indeed drying up. The ones that are available are very competitive. You need to make sure your degree is portable right now.

Many firms and in-house legal departments have become more selective and are now looking for attorneys with at least three solid years of experience right. This is forcing many young attorneys into e-discovery/document review work as a contract attorney. Even these positions have become increasingly competitive and they do not always pay as well as they used to. I've heard horror stories of folks with six figure student loan debt trying to survive in places like LA or DC on $20/hr temporary doc review projects.

Unless it's something you feel passionately about, my advice would be to reconsider law school altogether. If you are passionate about becoming an attorney, then you may want to consider attending law school near where you plan to live and work. As septimus pointed out, there are less entertainment law jobs here than one would expect. Best of luck on whatever path you ultimately choose.

[N.Cal]

This is forcing many young attorneys into e-discovery/document review work as a contract attorney

And once you land here, you are very likely to never get out of that box.

To the OP: Really, really reconsider going to law school. Lawyers from great law schools are a dime a dozen and the jobs are no longer out there.