Lowest you would go if you wanted BigLaw Forum

[lawyerwannabe]

Assuming that you would only have to take out 50k - 75k in loans, what is the lowest ranked law school you would go to if you wanted BigLaw? Would you go to Duke or Cornell if accepted? Vanderbilt or BU?

[dextermorgan]

Assuming that you would only have to take out 50k in loans, what is the lowest ranked law school you would go to if you wanted BigLaw? Would you go to Duke or Cornell if accepted? Vanderbilt or BU?

Georgetown.

[lawyerwannabe]

So, you are pretty much saying no lower than the t-14.

Some people have been saying that GC only send approx. 30% of their class into BigLaw. Any percentage below that is not worth it?

[Shooter]

Vanderbilt.

[dextermorgan]

So, you are pretty much saying no lower than the t-14.

Some people have been saying that GC only send approx. 30% of their class into BigLaw. Any percentage below that is not worth it?

Postulating like this is pointless, but if you were dead set on BigLaw then 1-14 give you a shot worth taking. UT for Texas BigLaw is a possibility. Vandy places alright, but by no means is a guarantee. If you want a guarantee then don't go below Harvard.

[Aqualibrium]

So, you are pretty much saying no lower than the t-14.

Some people have been saying that GC only send approx. 30% of their class into BigLaw. Any percentage below that is not worth it?

If your life's ambition is to work for a large firm and make anywhere close to 160k at graduation, I think it makes sense that the t14 schools in the country would give you the best opportunity to do that.

Of course the t14 schools aren't an option for everyone, but you're slightly deluded if you go into any other school knowing that your only goal is to work for fir one of the largest firms in the country at a salary at or near 160k. That doesn't mean kids from other schools don't make it, it just means the top 14 schools give you the best chance.

[CanadianWolf]

Depends upon the locations that you are targeting. If only NYC, then you probably need to stay in the Top 6 plus Penn. If you are looking at Los Angeles, Houston, Dallas, Chicago, then you should consider an expanded list of law schools.

[lawyerwannabe]

Ha. Ya. I wouldn't be asking a question like this if I had Harvard numbers. You're point is well taken though.

[Ragged]

So, you are pretty much saying no lower than the t-14.

Some people have been saying that GC only send approx. 30% of their class into BigLaw. Any percentage below that is not worth it?

Postulating like this is pointless, but if you were dead set on BigLaw then 1-14 give you a shot worth taking. UT for Texas BigLaw is a possibility. Vandy places alright, but by no means is a guarantee. If you want a guarantee then don't go below Yale.

ftfy


I wouldn't go below T-14 + UT. Tired of giving the same answer to the same question.

[lawyerwannabe]

So, you are pretty much saying no lower than the t-14.

Some people have been saying that GC only send approx. 30% of their class into BigLaw. Any percentage below that is not worth it?

Postulating like this is pointless, but if you were dead set on BigLaw then 1-14 give you a shot worth taking. UT for Texas BigLaw is a possibility. Vandy places alright, but by no means is a guarantee. If you want a guarantee then don't go below Yale.

ftfy


I wouldn't go below T-14 + UT. Tired of giving the same answer to the same question.

You do not need to post then. I am simply curious because I have numbers that may land lower t-14. Also, earlier today, found out that my ED to Chicago was unsuccessful.

[Patriot1208]

So, you are pretty much saying no lower than the t-14.

Some people have been saying that GC only send approx. 30% of their class into BigLaw. Any percentage below that is not worth it?

Postulating like this is pointless, but if you were dead set on BigLaw then 1-14 give you a shot worth taking. UT for Texas BigLaw is a possibility. Vandy places alright, but by no means is a guarantee. If you want a guarantee then don't go below Yale.

ftfy


I wouldn't go below T-14 + UT. Tired of giving the same answer to the same question.

+ vandy. 40%+ is at least as good as cornell, GT, and UT.

[bk1]

You do not need to post then. I am simply curious because I have numbers that may land lower t-14. Also, earlier today, found out that my ED to Chicago was unsuccessful.

I wouldn't go lower than NU. Having a sub-50% chance at biglaw seems meh in my mind.

If you're not at least getting something like T14 or Vandy/UT then the obvious advice is: retake/reapply if you want biglaw.

[smokeylarue]

USC/UCLA have nearly the same percentages as Georgetown in terms of BigLaw placement, I would look at these as well especially if you want to be in California.

[thexfactor]

t18....
USC UCLA Vandy UCLA all place pretty close to GULC. The big difference comes between USC and WUSTL.

[Big Shrimpin]

If, in addition to only 50-70k loans, you've got a technical background and want IP, then GW.

[utlaw2007]

I normally just read these posts for entertainment. But I had to jump in to correct a misconception. Texas places about 55-60% of it's students in a given class at BigLaw. That's a lot higher than 30 or 40%. I know because I went there. The simple fact is that a little more than half of my personally known classmates went BigLaw. Texas large firms aren't ranked as high in the Vault rankings so they don't carry with them as much prestige as a New York large firm does. However, they pay the same amount of money which comes out to equal more because of no income tax and the cost of living is vastly cheaper. I would say that the out of state markets we penetrated the most, at least when I was there, were the DC and California markets. Chicago, not so much. We actually faired much better in New York than we did in Chicago.

[utlaw2007]

Of course I'm not just using personal observations to come up with my percentages. I'm using law school gpa rank and what BigLaw found to be acceptable in their eyes. Many large firms would take people about 5 to 10 percentage points lower than the median.

[utlaw2007]

But I second the sentiment that has already been expressed on this thread. If you want a good opportunity to go BigLaw, you have to go to a top 17 or 18 school. After that, your chances of going BigLaw become very slim. The closer the school is to the bottom of that list, the more important it becomes that the law school has it's own large enough backyard of BigLaw.

[2011Law]

I'm not dead set on BigLaw but I will definitely do my best in law school to try for it, and am hoping to get into WUSTL/GW/BU

[DeeCee]

Maybe this list could help? It's Vault's top 25 law schools........not USNWR, obviously. But, perhaps they could offer more specifics if you explore the stats for the schools on this list?

\http://www.vault.com/wps/portal/usa/edu ... aw-ranking

[MrAnon]

It isn't as if you get to do it over if you don't make biglaw. Presumably you are interested in a corporate job whether that is biglaw or anything else. The smartest choice would be to focus on an industry you are good in. Law has high barriers for corporate entry.

[utlaw2007]

Sorry for talking so much. But I wanted to add one very important thing to consider. If you are fortunate enough to get into a top 8 law school. Choose it. Because a top 8 law school gives you the most national clout. If you go beyond that, you can place outside of your region if you have good enough grades, but you have to have good enough grades. At Texas, one had to be in the top 20 or 15 percent to penetrate the New York BigLaw market, I believe. However, one could just be top 55% to penetrate the California market. The toughest markets to crack where New York and Chicago. I don't recall hardly any Chicago firms visiting for OCI, whereas, there were many California, New York, and DC firms present.

The reason why Texas is far superior to Vanderbilt for BigLaw placement is that Texas has a huge BigLaw backyard, whereas Vandy's backyard is virtually non existent. Houston is the fourth largest city in the country. Dallas is the 6th largest city in the country. Austin is just as big as Nashville including the greater metropolitan area. I would choose Texas any day of the week over Vanderbilt. Unless you are going top 5, Texas is a sound choice. I chose Texas over Michigan for this very reason. Michigan is my undergrad, by the way, so it was a sentimental favorite going in.

[utlaw2007]

I meant to say "I don't recall MANY Chicago firms visiting for OCI."

[bk1]

@utlaw2007: I find it hard to believe that 55-60% of UT grads are currently getting biglaw. Heck those graduating in 2009, only about 37% managed the NLJ250. And even if we squeeze in some more firms who pay market but are not in the NLJ250, I don't see that getting anywhere near your rosy figure of 55-60%. And that was in 2009, for grads who did OCI prior to the recession. Things are looking a lot worse now.

You can get an exact list of which firms attend OCI at a given school directly from here: --LinkRemoved--

Maybe things were different for you, but now NY is the easiest market. You are correct that UT has having near exclusive access to TX as a huge plus, but the size of the cities don't necessarily correspond directly to the size of their legal market. They are decently sized, no doubt, but population isn't the best indicator of the number of SA spots in a given city.

UT is a great choice, but I don't see it being miles away better for an absolute shot at biglaw than Vandy. Slight edge? Maybe, but the difference is close to negligible. Choose UT because you want to work in TX, because right now at least it does not give you a huge edge over Vandy.

[bk1]

Maybe this list could help? It's Vault's top 25 law schools........not USNWR, obviously. But, perhaps they could offer more specifics if you explore the stats for the schools on this list?

http://www.vault.com/wps/portal/usa/edu ... aw-ranking

This is a meaningless list if you read how they actually compile it.