After earning his B.S. at Georgia Tech, Raghav Gupta worked for two years as a test engineer, ensuring newly installed pharmaceutical manufacturing equipment worked properly, before starting law school at Vanderbilt. Raghav had decided to earn a J.D. during engineering school, motivated by how much he enjoyed a semester working as an intern in Washington, D.C., at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and in the office of Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-NV.

“At the U.S. Attorney’s Office, I helped attorneys prepare witness testimony and body camera footage for trials, and in Sen. Masto’s office I drafted policy memos and answered letters from constituents who had questions about policies we were looking to enact, like those around nuclear waste in Nevada and environmental standards,” he recalled. “I loved the work and realized I wanted to practice law.”

Raghav looked at law schools that met two personal priorities: academic rigor and a strong record of national job placement. “I wanted to be challenged academically, and I also wanted to attend a school where I knew I could get a job in lots of markets. As I went through the application process, financial aid also became an important factor,” he said.

Raghav realized that Vanderbilt would be a good academic fit while visiting the school after he’d been accepted. “I sat in on a class taught by Professor [J.B.] Ruhl and found it really interesting,” he said. His offer of a Chancellor’s Scholarship and the school’s national reach confirmed his decision to choose Vanderbilt.

Raghav found his engineering training and two years of work experience had prepared him for the academic intensity of his 1L year. “As an engineer, I was worried I would struggle with legal reading and writing, but I quickly found that wasn’t the case. I also had ample opportunities to work on my skills that weren’t as well-developed, and I felt more confident the harder I worked,” he recalled.

Raghav is interested in a career in litigation, and he interned with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey in Newark in summer 2022, where he prepared evidence to support an indictment in a bankruptcy case and researched federal evidentiary standards for other cases. In summer 2023, he worked at Davis Polk & Wardwell in New York, and he plans to join the firm after graduation. “I got to explore several areas of law—I helped attorneys prepare evidence for a patent defense, worked on a commercial arbitration case, and wrote sections of an asylum brief for a Rohingya Muslim activist,” he said.

Raghav chose extracurriculars based on his interests and to hone his skills. “Law Review allows you to exercise a bit of creativity, work as a team, and develop skills you’ll use as a lawyer. Moot Court was a really important experience because everyone is working with the same material, and your challenge is how to make your product stand out,” he said. “The student organizations I joined helped me network with important people in different legal fields to bring in speakers, and that’s a skill that will always be useful.”

Raghav also worked for two semesters as a research assistant for Professor Christopher Serkin, a renowned land use scholar. “The feedback he provided helped me become a better researcher and writer,” he said.

Raghav appreciates the guidance he received from his Career Services counselor. “She demystified the process by showing me what to look for in firms based on my career goals and what to expect from each interview, and I landed at a firm that matches my short- and long-term career goals,” he said.

He touts Vanderbilt’s supportive community as a major advantage he believes will benefit him throughout his career. “The Vanderbilt Law community is very supportive, and that has made all the difference. People are friendly because they want to be. Everyone works together, and there’s a great sense of camaraderie. The stress of a competitive law school environment just doesn’t exist here,” he said.

Raghav’s advice to incoming students: “Work on being the best student you can be. It’s tempting to compare yourself to others, but the best way to ensure you make steady progress is to focus on what you can control—yourself.”