Can anyone tell me about George Mason? Forum

[mges]

Please tell me thoughts about George Mason as a law school? Specifically student life, but I'm interested in all comments and aspects about George Mason. Thanks!

[crossingforHYS]

tag--and bump.
would also like to know more, what I do know is that they require 3 years of brief writing.

[St.Remy]

According to today's New York Times one of the clerks for Justice Thomas went to George Mason. That is all I know.

[sundance95]

Word is that it's like Pepperdine but without the beautiful campus & Pacific Ocean. (i.e., conservative)

[flyingpanda]

Conservative. Decent school in terms of price and ranking, but in a saturated market. A very saturated market. A very very saturated market.

[Aqualibrium]

I've heard in the past that it's a commuter school, which tends to create a feeling that the student body isn't very cohesive.

They also have a good rep. with regards to law and econ.

[Patriot1208]

It is very much a commuter school. And the campus is very cohesive and nice. But this doesn't matter for you because the law school is in Arlington, not in fairfax with the main campus. You won't really be around undergraduate students at all. I can't comment to the cohesiveness and student life of the law school students themselves though. And yes, it is again, in an extremely saturated market.

[2009 Prospective]

If you use the search function, there's a whole bunch of old threads discussing GMU.

[MrAnon]

Difficult to find a job after the student life ends.

[lawschool2014]

Its a conservative school in a market that is penetrated with higher ranked law schools (Gtown, UVA, and GW). Not to mention the fact that many t14 graduates want to work in Washington DC, thus penetrating the market further with more intelligent and more desirable candidates. I would only consider attending if you have at least 3/4 a scholarship without ridiculous stipulations. George Mason is on the same line of schools as Brooklyn, New York Law, Suffolk--schools that people settled for because they could not get into anywhere better. Its not a great place to be career wise.

Its pretty much a toilet law school and unless you want to gamble your student loans for that 20% chance you will be top of your class, I would not recommend it at all.

I dont know your stats, but I think you should try to enhance your candidacy for a t14 by either retaking your lsat or gaining more work experience.

Good luck

[HeavenWood]

Its a conservative school in a market that is penetrated with higher ranked law schools (Gtown, UVA, and GW). Not to mention the fact that many t14 graduates want to work in Washington DC, thus penetrating the market further with more intelligent and more desirable candidates. I would only consider attending if you have at least 3/4 a scholarship without ridiculous stipulations. George Mason is on the same line of schools as Brooklyn, New York Law, Suffolk--schools that people settled for because they could not get into anywhere better. Its not a great place to be career wise.

Brooklyn perhaps, but New York Law and Suffolk? T3/T4 schools? George Mason certainly isn't a top of the line school, but if I'm not mistaken, it still beats out UMD, American, Catholic, UDC, and Richmond in the DC market. I ask, because I plan on applying to GMU (if things go accordingly on the LSAT, I should have about a 50/50 shot at GW, and be a near shoe-in at George Mason).

[Patriot1208]

Its a conservative school in a market that is penetrated with higher ranked law schools (Gtown, UVA, and GW). Not to mention the fact that many t14 graduates want to work in Washington DC, thus penetrating the market further with more intelligent and more desirable candidates. I would only consider attending if you have at least 3/4 a scholarship without ridiculous stipulations. George Mason is on the same line of schools as Brooklyn, New York Law, Suffolk--schools that people settled for because they could not get into anywhere better. Its not a great place to be career wise.

Brooklyn perhaps, but New York Law and Suffolk? T3/T4 schools? George Mason certainly isn't a top of the line school, but if I'm not mistaken, it still beats out UMD, American, Catholic, UDC, and Richmond in the DC market. I ask, because I plan on applying to GMU (if things go accordingly on the LSAT, I should have about a 50/50 shot at GW, and be a near shoe-in at George Mason).

He does not know what he's talking about as far as that goes. GMU is around the same as Maryland and American in the DC area. So again not very good prospects, and it would probably be better to attend the same type of school in a regional market. But it of course is not Cooley or NYLS or Suffolk.

[gdane]

I say we all ignore what this lawschoolidiot2014 says. Most of his comments border on hyperbole and he definitely seems to be one of those "Top 14 or youre a failure" types of people. In this case, he has no idea what he's talking about.

George Mason is by no means comparable to Brooklyn, NYLS or Suffolk. Their GPA and LSAT medians prove this. Im not one to point out rank because I think they create stupid mentalities such as "top 14 or dont go to law school", but in this case its wise to point out that GMU is ranked #41 and its ranked there for a reason. Its not completely dismissed and looked down upon. Definitely not as much as the schools that it was compared to.

Being close to DC, GMU has a lot of competition, but its a bargain. Its one of those schools that is worth the price and that has a lot of upside. Sure, youre competing with people from Georgetown, UVA, GW, AU, but GMU graduates can hold their own.

[Patriot1208]

I say we all ignore what this lawschoolidiot2014 says. Most of his comments border on hyperbole and he definitely seems to be one of those "Top 14 or youre a failure" types of people. In this case, he has no idea what he's talking about.

George Mason is by no means comparable to Brooklyn, NYLS or Suffolk. Their GPA and LSAT medians prove this. Im not one to point out rank because I think they create stupid mentalities such as "top 14 or dont go to law school", but in this case its wise to point out that GMU is ranked #41 and its ranked there for a reason. Its not completely dismissed and looked down upon. Definitely not as much as the schools that it was compared to.

Being close to DC, GMU has a lot of competition, but its a bargain. Its one of those schools that is worth the price and that has a lot of upside. Sure, youre competing with people from Georgetown, UVA, GW, AU, but GMU graduates can hold their own.

This whole post is stupid, and filled with falsehood.

[pjo]

to gdane5-- I don't think he was comparing them as far as "ranking" but moreso by job prospects. All those schools, along with UMD and AU are non-top-tier schools in saturated markets (DC and NY). Admittedly though, GMU is more of a NoVA school, and I'm guessing that grads not looking for employment in the DC metropolitan area, but more just VA region do decently.


--I can speak minimally about anecdotale evidence to answer the OP's question. I went and visited GMU over the summer and I was really impressed with the facilities. They're actually making a major addition/expansion to the law school. Downside is that there really is no campus at all and I'd have to guess parking would be hard to find and probably pricey (although they do have parking under the school but its temporarily out of commision as they build the addition). The assistant dean of admissions, Mrs. Zufal was really nice. Unlike most school admins I talked with, she didn't just give me a pitch. She actually said I should definitely look at GWU and other "top" schools. Still, she seemed like she would work with you to help you out if she could, or at least that was my impression.

--Also, I have a close colleague who has been working at a boutique lobbying firm (all lawyers though) in DC for quite sometime. He seemed to think that the concensus in the city was that GMU is still considered a T3 school (it only recently moved into the T50 btw and the undergrad I guess was really messed up for a while). As far as "DC prestige" he said American is seen as a better school. Whether ppl on here want to agree with that or not, I always err on the side of practicing atty's rather than anonymous ppl on msg boards who usually have no work experience

[OrdinarilySkilled]

GMU's best quality is its in-state price (~22000) which compared to American/Catholic and even GW at full price has to be considered a major advantage. Also since its a commuter school (easily accessible my metro) and in NoVA not DC, you can find some pretty decent COL options.

[thexfactor]

it s like a "poor mans" wustl. Moved a lot in ranking but doesnt have as much to show career wise. I def think GM ( not to be confused with Generous Motors) is a better investment than American U.

[hithere]

It's in a very saturated market and has to compete against schools with a better/longer established rep in the area (GULC, GW, UVA,American, etc.)

[Aberzombie1892]

Well private schools are generally seen as being superior to public schools (at any given rank).

GMU is a pretty good school, but it suffers from not having a major foothold in any market and career segment (aside from government).

It's ranked low for VA and DC (4th best in both). Most practitioners will say American is superior to GMU. Does that make American a good deal? No, not really. But it is still considered to be a better school.

The main problem that the school faces is that it does not have a safe back.

I'm not saying it shouldn't be considered. I'm saying it should be considered in context with the other schools you are applying to.