Advice From a 3L on Choosing a Law School Forum

[eav1277]

T9 does exist. straight from wikipedia "T-9, which stands for Text on 9 keys, is a patented[1] predictive text technology for mobile phones (specifically those that contain a 3x4 numeric keypad), originally developed by Tegic Communications, now part of Nuance Communications."

[Mr. Frodo]

T9 does exist. straight from wikipedia "T-9, which stands for Text on 9 keys, is a patented[1] predictive text technology for mobile phones (specifically those that contain a 3x4 numeric keypad), originally developed by Tegic Communications, now part of Nuance Communications."

burned.

[holmesboy]

Credentials: graduating top 25% from a T9, respected by my peers and professors, employed doing what I want to do. Also, still glad I went to law school, which is more than can be said for many of my classmates. I waited till my late 20s to start law school, so my wing-spreading days were well behind me.

No matter how brilliant you are, or how good your school's job stats are (hint: within ranking bands, they're pretty much the same), if you're miserable, you won't succeed.

If this is true, then why is there a T9?

[swc27]

Misery loves company, ya'll. Have fun hating your lives for the next three years while you get that JD, then the 30+ years after that when you're trapped in a big firm job with a prick boss, a mortgage you can barely afford and a gold digger wife you can't stand all b/c you didn't think carefully about choosing your law school based on fit. Unhappy now, unhappy later.

Seems like most of you are well on your way. And we wonder why people hate lawyers.

[eav1277]

But I'm not burning him, he goes to a top school by all accounts. He can call it watever the heck he wants. I'd have done horrible, unforgivable things to get into berk lol

[eav1277]

Swc...I'm not hating. i actually agree with you if you read earlier posts. TLS just has a narrow mindset on a lot of things. I totally agree with your happiness affecting motivation (def true for me). I'm considering the east coast but hate cold weather

[EvilClinton]

Misery loves company, ya'll. Have fun hating your lives for the next three years while you get that JD, then the 30+ years after that when you're trapped in a big firm job with a prick boss, a mortgage you can barely afford and a gold digger wife you can't stand all b/c you didn't think carefully about choosing your law school based on fit. Unhappy now, unhappy later.

Seems like most of you are well on your way. And we wonder why people hate lawyers.

Cool story bro.

[swc27]

Misery loves company, ya'll. Have fun hating your lives for the next three years while you get that JD, then the 30+ years after that when you're trapped in a big firm job with a prick boss, a mortgage you can barely afford and a gold digger wife you can't stand all b/c you didn't think carefully about choosing your law school based on fit. Unhappy now, unhappy later.

Seems like most of you are well on your way. And we wonder why people hate lawyers.

Cool story bro.

Bra, bro.

[star fox]

The advice about being happy seems credited. TLS gave me a lot of ish because I created a thread seeking to avoid the most conservative T-14 schools. Based on that thread, I definitely know I do not want to attend Virginia and probably neither U of Chicago. Why should I pay $200K to be in an environment where I will be miserable?

This is a stupid reason to choose any school. There are other factors that will matter much more in the long run.

There are still about 10-12 other schools to choose from in the T-14. Being surrounded by intolerant peeps in undergrad probably cost me a few A's. I cannot afford that type of environment in LS. Almost everyone that applies to the T-14 does not apply to some of the T-14.

You're the most intolerant person ever. I hope you're not gunning for big law.

[timbs4339]

This thread has all kinds of fail.

[megagnarley]

Misery loves company, ya'll. Have fun hating your lives for the next three years while you get that JD, then the 30+ years after that when you're trapped in a big firm job with a prick boss, a mortgage you can barely afford and a gold digger wife you can't stand all b/c you didn't think carefully about choosing your law school based on fit. Unhappy now, unhappy later.

Seems like most of you are well on your way. And we wonder why people hate lawyers.

[eav1277]

Misery loves company, ya'll. Have fun hating your lives for the next three years while you get that JD, then the 30+ years after that when you're trapped in a big firm job with a prick boss, a mortgage you can barely afford and a gold digger wife you can't stand all b/c you didn't think carefully about choosing your law school based on fit. Unhappy now, unhappy later.

Seems like most of you are well on your way. And we wonder why people hate lawyers.

This def made me

[rad lulz]

Misery loves company, ya'll. Have fun hating your lives for the next three years while you get that JD, then the 30+ years after that when you're trapped in a big firm job with a prick boss, a mortgage you can barely afford and a gold digger wife you can't stand all b/c you didn't think carefully about choosing your law school based on fit. Unhappy now, unhappy later.

Seems like most of you are well on your way. And we wonder why people hate lawyers.

I'm just gonna get the house and wife which make me happiest regardless of cost or location and as long as both my house and wife are objectively T9

[Dr. Dre]

I bet OP would support one to matriculate to UCI and live in california

[bizzybone1313]

Misery loves company, ya'll. Have fun hating your lives for the next three years while you get that JD, then the 30+ years after that when you're trapped in a big firm job with a prick boss, a mortgage you can barely afford and a gold digger wife you can't stand all b/c you didn't think carefully about choosing your law school based on fit. Unhappy now, unhappy later.

Seems like most of you are well on your way. And we wonder why people hate lawyers.

I'm just gonna get the house and wife which make me happiest regardless of cost or location and as long as both my house and wife are objectively T9

I think I am going to marry a foreign born girl to have more of a chance of getting a "T-14" quality girl. Most American women are like many of the T-30 schools: They look real good with a cursory inspection, but upon a closer look they are "trap like" in nature and will ruin you.

[052220151]

gold digger wife

Sign me up!

[rickgrimes69]

Has to be Michigan.

+1 most def

And?

it's hilarious how you made this thread just to make yourself feel better about picking a school with TTT employment stats

[beachbum]

Honestly, I think OP's general point about emphasizing personal fit is a great one, and a point that too often gets lost on TLS (or, at least, pushed to very back of the pack, after all other considerations). There's a lot to be said for being happy with your school decision. And I think personal fit should play a much larger role than it does (or seems to) when choosing between similar schools, even if the money is different.

[star fox]

Honestly, I think OP's general point about emphasizing personal fit is a great one, and a point that too often gets lost on TLS (or, at least, pushed to very back of the pack, after all other considerations). There's a lot to be said for being happy with your school decision. And I think personal fit should play a much larger role than it does (or seems to) when choosing between similar schools, even if the money is different.

He swears off picking a school based on rankings, then makes up a completely BS "T9". Yeah, going to Michigan is so much better than Northwestern. Ok.

[A. Nony Mouse]

Honestly, I think OP's general point about emphasizing personal fit is a great one, and a point that too often gets lost on TLS (or, at least, pushed to very back of the pack, after all other considerations). There's a lot to be said for being happy with your school decision. And I think personal fit should play a much larger role than it does (or seems to) when choosing between similar schools, even if the money is different.

But the thing is, the advice isn't about choosing based on personal fit. The advice is about choosing based on personal fit once you've already narrowed the choices down based on rankings and money. So I don't get quite why this is insightful - of course after you've figured out the rankings and money options, you choose based on personal fit. The OP is hardly advising people to wander the earth, visiting random law schools until they find one that "feels" right. For instance, personally I think I'd be very comfortable and happy at Yale, but that's completely irrelevant given I didn't remotely have the numbers for Yale.

[TheZoid]

Happiness is important and may impact performance but that was some pretty dumb shit for someone with good credentials. You paint a woefully incomplete picture that could be horribly misapplied by ignorant 0Ls.

[beachbum]

Honestly, I think OP's general point about emphasizing personal fit is a great one, and a point that too often gets lost on TLS (or, at least, pushed to very back of the pack, after all other considerations). There's a lot to be said for being happy with your school decision. And I think personal fit should play a much larger role than it does (or seems to) when choosing between similar schools, even if the money is different.

But the thing is, the advice isn't about choosing based on personal fit. The advice is about choosing based on personal fit once you've already narrowed the choices down based on rankings and money. So I don't get quite why this is insightful - of course after you've figured out the rankings and money options, you choose based on personal fit. The OP is hardly advising people to wander the earth, visiting random law schools until they find one that "feels" right. For instance, personally I think I'd be very comfortable and happy at Yale, but that's completely irrelevant given I didn't remotely have the numbers for Yale.

You're misunderstanding my point. I'm simply talking about relative weight: personal fit tends to be given little or no weight relative to other considerations, and I think that's a poor way of doing business.

So, for example, say you're deciding between T14 schools (as many on TLS are). I think it would absolutely be rational to choose, say, UVA over Michigan with a $30k scholarship if UVA offers a much better personal fit. Location is also given too much weight amongst T14 schools - Duke is just as unlikely to open up the south as Michigan is the midwest. So I guess what I'm saying is that, at least for most T14 schools, personal fit should be a major (if not dominant) factor - which is much different than what the TLS echo chamber tends to believe.

The calculus would certainly be different for lower-ranked schools. But it seems to me that most TLS users are not choosing between Rutgers and SMU.

[A. Nony Mouse]

Honestly, I think OP's general point about emphasizing personal fit is a great one, and a point that too often gets lost on TLS (or, at least, pushed to very back of the pack, after all other considerations). There's a lot to be said for being happy with your school decision. And I think personal fit should play a much larger role than it does (or seems to) when choosing between similar schools, even if the money is different.

But the thing is, the advice isn't about choosing based on personal fit. The advice is about choosing based on personal fit once you've already narrowed the choices down based on rankings and money. So I don't get quite why this is insightful - of course after you've figured out the rankings and money options, you choose based on personal fit. The OP is hardly advising people to wander the earth, visiting random law schools until they find one that "feels" right. For instance, personally I think I'd be very comfortable and happy at Yale, but that's completely irrelevant given I didn't remotely have the numbers for Yale.

You're misunderstanding my point. I'm simply talking about relative weight: personal fit tends to be given little or no weight relative to other considerations, and I think that's a poor way of doing business.

So, for example, say you're deciding between T14 schools (as many on TLS are). I think it would absolutely be rational to choose, say, UVA over Michigan with a $30k scholarship if UVA offers a much better personal fit. Location is also given too much weight amongst T14 schools - Duke is just as unlikely to open up the south as Michigan is the midwest. So I guess what I'm saying is that, at least for most T14 schools, personal fit should be a major (if not dominant) factor - which is much different than what the TLS echo chamber tends to believe.

The calculus would certainly be different for lower-ranked schools. But it seems to me that most TLS users are not choosing between Rutgers and SMU.

I was actually referring to the OP's argument, which expressly took rankings and money into consideration. But no, I don't think personal fit really should outweigh money, or considering where a school has stronger placement. When all else is equal, sure; if you're fine with either the south or the midwest, and you're choosing between Duke and Michigan, sure, go with which one feels better. But if you know you want the south, I don't think you can say Michigan is going to give you the same opportunities as Duke. That doesn't mean you can't get to the south from Michigan, just that it's tougher. And I think personal fit has to encompass confidence in your future placement in the region where you want to work, and your comfort with the amount of debt you're taking on, as much as liking the place you're going to be for 3 years. The conversation here makes personal fit sound like aesthetics - I like this town better, I like the "feel" of this school better.

But then, I see law school as an entirely instrumental thing, and I turned down the place that "felt" better for the place that better served my long-term goals, and don't regret it at all (I liked where I went to school fine; I just liked the feel of the other school more. But it wasn't going to get me where I wanted to go).

[Dr. Dre]

"It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied; better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied. And if the fool, or the pig, are a different opinion, it is because they only know their own side of the question."
John Stuart Mill, Utilitarianism (1863)

[beachbum]

But no, I don't think personal fit really should outweigh money, or considering where a school has stronger placement. When all else is equal, sure; if you're fine with either the south or the midwest, and you're choosing between Duke and Michigan, sure, go with which one feels better. But if you know you want the south, I don't think you can say Michigan is going to give you the same opportunities as Duke. That doesn't mean you can't get to the south from Michigan, just that it's tougher.

Making that distinction between Duke and Michigan (or similar schools) is like parsing AIII placement, though. Unless you do incredibly well, Duke is probably not going to open up markets that Michigan couldn't open, and vice versa. If you're indifferent between Duke and Michigan and think you may want to work in the south then, sure, go to Duke - it can't hurt. But if you have a real intention of working in the south, then don't attend Duke over Michigan for the purpose of fulfilling that desire - because it probably ain't gonna happen. Which is why I think fit should take precedence over geography within the T14. (Of course, this is all on a sliding scale. The less strongly you feel about fit, the more emphasis you can put on geography. But if one school seems like a great personal fit, then go ahead and attend that school.)

And I think personal fit has to encompass confidence in your future placement in the region where you want to work, and your comfort with the amount of debt you're taking on, as much as liking the place you're going to be for 3 years. The conversation here makes personal fit sound like aesthetics - I like this town better, I like the "feel" of this school better.

Again, within the T14, geography takes on a far less significant role. Regardless, "fit" does encompass more than what you assume here. It's everything physical and immediate: campus, weather, location, surrounding community, student culture, etc. (And we shouldn't underplay this: I certainly put a premium on being happy and comfortable during three of the more intense - and determinative - years of one's life.) But, for many of us (including myself), it's more than that. You will, after all, always be an alum of that school. And this goes to many different things - from future connections through the alumni network, to something as mundane as following your school's sports teams. And, for all of this, if we're talking a difference of, say $30k - I think it can be well worth it.