Top Law Schools

Your chances for Chicago are pretty good coming from Illinois but, and I'm an Illinois 3L saying this, we don't have anywhere near the placement of UChicago.

cheetagirl wrote: look like UIUC is the second largest schools from which Chicago firms recruit, behind Northwestern ahead of Uchicago. ... But I dunno -- my chances for law in Chicago seem pretty promising.

Yeah, with blurbz in that I'm not exactly sure where you got this from. Two possible factors that might make this statement, somehow, technically true, but not actually meaningful, would be:
1. Prestigious non-firm jobs/academia/clerkships probably account for an enormous percentage of Chicago's graduates, comparatively, or 2. There might be fewer grads in Chicago Biglawl than you'd expect, but that's not because firms aren't recruiting them, it's because they're in biglawl jobs in NYC or LA or wherever the hell they want to be. So, don't let your research fool you out of context; probably 80+% of Chicago grads can get Chicago Biglaw if they want it, whereas that percentage is around 20% at UIUC.

All of that being said, the thread's not a choice between Chicago and UIUC, it's a choice between Indiana and UIUC, right? If so, unless you have specific reasons already detailed, go to UIUC.

togepi wrote:If there's no scholarship stipulations, take UIUC. Although they took a big hit in the rankings (due to gaming the ranking systems or some bullshit) it's not like their quality of student body has decreased. Regardless, Maurer has pretty minimal job placements as far as biglaw is concerned. UIUC is probably around top 25% for biglaw while Maurer is around 10. Check the ABA placement data for a better outlook. With UIUC you'll be looking at Chicago biglaw. You'll probably have to get some good years under your belt to make it back over to California.

http://placementsummary.abaquestionnaire.org/home.aspx

That's not... exactly true. About the quality of student body.

Look at law school admission number from them this year. Now look at last year. Now look at the year before.

While I don't think the numbers define a student, but to say that the quality of student body hasn't suffered at all would be... presumptuous.

cheetagirl wrote: . . . look like UIUC is the second largest schools from which Chicago firms recruit, behind Northwestern ahead of Uchicago. That seemed weird to me so I looked into it and apparently Uchicago is more famous for producing intellectuals, and less hardworking partner material graduates, unlike UIUC. Again this is just my research. But I dunno -- my chances for law in Chicago seem pretty promising.

This is painfully, painfully uninformed

cheetagirl wrote:The compelling reason being I've taken the lsat three times already. So I'm not trying to wait another 5 years. Besides I've done my research -- look like UIUC is the second largest schools from which Chicago firms recruit, behind Northwestern ahead of Uchicago. That seemed weird to me so I looked into it and apparently Uchicago is more famous for producing intellectuals, and less hardworking partner material graduates, unlike UIUC. Again this is just my research. But I dunno -- my chances for law in Chicago seem pretty promising.

LOL less hard working. Virtually every Chicago grad that wants a job you'd be applying for probably will have an edge if you're coming from UIUC. Illinois isn't an awful choice if you want Chicago and get some money from them or aren't paying for yourself, but not for the reasons you're providing. NU and Chicago easily will have a hiring edge, as will much of the top 14 schools. And then you're in competition with peer schools like ND and WUSTL. And then there's the lower Chicago schools like Loyola, Depaul, Kent. Don't kid yourself into thinking this is a sure shot, man.