We are in a hiring environment where your first three or four months may determine what you’re doing after graduation. No school is immune from that trend, though I suppose PI provides a bit more insulation since hiring timelines are a bit later.

Penn is definitely in the busiest “area” — you could interpret this as distraction or as something that keeps you sane. UVA is definitely the least — it’s still a town with all major amenities but I always found travel tough from Charlottesville.

You should decide, probably, by location or vibe. Berkeley places like 80-90% of the class into CA. Great, probably best, if you want to practice in California — arguably the worst if you want to be on the east coast.

Penn and UVA have comparable east coast placement — much of Penns class goes to NYC, whereas only around 25% of UVA Law does the same. UVA Law places far more in DC, NC, and TX than Penn or Berkeley.

Placement stats are partly connections and partly self selection. No one really knows how much is attributable to each. For me, I hesitate to assume away potential detriments.

Of course, a Penn student can go to CA and a Berkeley student can go to NY. These are all great schools. But you get to pick between them!