T15-25: School(s) with most recognition coast-to-coast Forum

[jbagelboy]

If you want a job, I'd pick Texas. But I wouldn't say necessarily it would get you either coast.

Also, the rankings are bullshit. A school ranked 20, like Minnesota, is naturally going to have worse prospects than a school ranked 20 or 30-whatever in some region where there are legal jobs.

It's the opposite. Minnesota and Alabama do really well in their local areas and thus are inflated in rankings which rely heavily upon hiring stats.

Both of you are right, and wrong in my estimation. Minnesota has among the lowest (objectively) employment numbers of any T30 school, and yet they've been sitting at 18-20 for the past few years in USNWR. They are dominant in their region, yes, which has given them a degree of prestige/local "reputation" metric, and a correspondingly higher LSAT median as students would attend with higher numbers who wanted to practice in the twin cities (prior to the big crash this year) while remaining behind schools like Fordham and GWU in AIII/biglaw because as cinephile noted, its located in a small market.

[mewalke1]

Name recognition and being able to move with a JD are two different things. That being said Notre Dame might have the most name recognition of any school in America.

[Void]

Name recognition and being able to move with a JD are two different things. That being said Notre Dame might have the most name recognition of any school in America.

More than Harvard? No.

[20141023]

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[Tom Joad]

Name recognition and being able to move with a JD are two different things. That being said Notre Dame might have the most name recognition of any school in America.

More than Harvard? No.

Yeah, nothing beats Harvard when it comes to lay recognition. However, speaking of Notre Dame, several months ago when one of my coworkers found out I was quitting to go to law school, he asked me where I was going. When I told him "the University of Chicago," he responded "did you not get into Notre Dame?" When I mentioned that I didn't even apply to Notre Dame, he said something along the lines of "yeah, you probably have to have pretty good grades to justify the cost of applying to someplace like Notre Dame."

I also remember a time while I was in college when I ran into one of my parents' friends at a store, and they made sure to tell me that their son had gotten into Notre Dame's law school. They talked to me for like 5 minutes about how hard he'd studied for the LSAT and all this other junk, and for a couple of years thereafter, I also had this skewed perception that Notre Dame was a "top" school.

Lots of people just fuck with people re: academic prestige. I recently gave a guy shit for going to Penn and not Florida.

[ManoftheHour]

Yeah, nothing beats Harvard when it comes to lay recognition. However, speaking of Notre Dame, several months ago when one of my coworkers found out I was quitting to go to law school, he asked me where I was going. When I told him "the University of Chicago," he responded "did you not get into Notre Dame?" When I mentioned that I didn't even apply to Notre Dame, he said something along the lines of "yeah, you probably have to have pretty good grades to justify the cost of applying to someplace like Notre Dame."

I also remember a time while I was in college when I ran into one of my parents' friends at a store, and they made sure to tell me that their son had gotten into Notre Dame's law school. They talked to me for like 5 minutes about how hard he'd studied for the LSAT and all this other junk, and for a couple of years thereafter, I also had this skewed perception that Notre Dame was a "top" school.

For what it's worth, I told one of my best friends that I was turning down Notre Dame for a retake and another year. He responded, "You're the only person I know that would turn down the Ivy League." One of my coworkers heard I got in law school and said to me, "Congrats on getting into Columbia. Or was it Cornell?" I said, "Notre Dame" and she responded, "Well, I knew it was one of the Ivy Leagues."

[20141023]

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[cannibal ox]

I know someone who applied and got into law schools, but didn't end up going anywhere, and when people ask if he got into anywhere good/if he did well on the LSAT/had a good uGPA he responds with "well, I got into Notre Dame..." and everyone is very impressed. Not to say it's unimpressive, but the name definitely leads people to think it's one of the best schools around.

[thelawyler]

I know someone who applied and got into law schools, but didn't end up going anywhere, and when people ask if he got into anywhere good/if he did well on the LSAT/had a good uGPA he responds with "well, I got into Notre Dame..." and everyone is very impressed. Not to say it's unimpressive, but the name definitely leads people to think it's one of the best schools around.

Having on experienced both the west and east coasts, I can confidently say that none of the people I've met on either coast would feel the same way. As in ND is respected, but it doesn't carry that elite shine.

[moonman157]

At least from my perspective (East Coast/Midwest), ND is extremely well-respected, and I would probably venture to say has the largest disparity in terms of UG prestige vs. Law School prestige (favoring UG)

[splitcity]

At least from my perspective (East Coast/Midwest), ND is extremely well-respected, and I would probably venture to say has the largest disparity in terms of UG prestige vs. Law School prestige (favoring UG)

I think it's pretty safe to say that Santa Clara University has the biggest drop off.

[mewalke1]

Name recognition and being able to move with a JD are two different things. That being said Notre Dame might have the most name recognition of any school in America.

More than Harvard? No.

Maybe. Not just with academic types. ND football has a huge following. I can't imagine someone living in America and never hearing of ND..... But I guess the same could be said about Harvard.

[WanderingPondering]

At least from my perspective (East Coast/Midwest), ND is extremely well-respected, and I would probably venture to say has the largest disparity in terms of UG prestige vs. Law School prestige (favoring UG)

Wustl has a fairly large drop off bewtween undergrad/med school prestige and law school prestige.

[hephaestus]

I know someone who applied and got into law schools, but didn't end up going anywhere, and when people ask if he got into anywhere good/if he did well on the LSAT/had a good uGPA he responds with "well, I got into Notre Dame..." and everyone is very impressed. Not to say it's unimpressive, but the name definitely leads people to think it's one of the best schools around.

Having on experienced both the west and east coasts, I can confidently say that none of the people I've met on either coast would feel the same way. As in ND is respected, but it doesn't carry that elite shine.

I agree. People definitely think ND is great, but not an elite school or an Ivy by any means. Either way, this is pretty irrelevant since lay people will not be the ones hiring you.

[Big Dog]

Wustl has a fairly large drop off bewtween ...med school prestige and law school prestige.

There I fixed it for you. While WashU is a wonderful undergrad -- and well regarded by academics -- few laypersons outside of the midwest have even heard of it. (Heck, the name itself was even officially changed to avoid confusion.)

Maybe. Not just with academic types. ND football has a huge following. I can't imagine someone living in America and never hearing of ND..... But I guess the same could be said about Harvard.

True, but Harvard College has the "WOW" factor. ND just has a "wow" factor.

[timmyd]

I'm going to vouch for Texas here. I know two people who transferred to UT from Notre Dame and WashU specifically. Maybe they just wanted to work in Texas, but it still goes to show how prestigious UT is compared to those schools. Also, I think its incorrect to say UT does not have national recognition. Its true that most graduates stay in Texas but you have to wonder how much of that is self-selection. Why would a student take NY biglaw over Texas when they get paid around the same and Texas has a much lower COL and no state income tax? Texas' employment numbers are hardly distinguishable from GULC and may even surpass them as Texas' economy continues to grow. It also bears mentioning that UT's clerkship program is probably better than a few T14 programs. Additionally, if you look at the reputation scores in recent years that factor into the U.S. News rankings, you will see that UT is often t14 in terms of reputation. I am biased because I attend UT, but it is a great school and I chose it over GULC because I wish to work in Texas, but don't be mistaken, if you do well at UT you can work wherever you want.

[BigZuck]

I'm going to vouch for Texas here. I know two people who transferred to UT from Notre Dame and WashU specifically. Maybe they just wanted to work in Texas, but it still goes to show how prestigious UT is compared to those schools. Also, I think its incorrect to say UT does not have national recognition. Its true that most graduates stay in Texas but you have to wonder how much of that is self-selection. Why would a student take NY biglaw over Texas when they get paid around the same and Texas has a much lower COL and no state income tax? Texas' employment numbers are hardly distinguishable from GULC and may even surpass them as Texas' economy continues to grow. It also bears mentioning that UT's clerkship program is probably better than a few T14 programs. Additionally, if you look at the reputation scores in recent years that factor into the U.S. News rankings, you will see that UT is often t14 in terms of reputation. I am biased because I attend UT, but it is a great school and I chose it over GULC because I wish to work in Texas, but don't be mistaken, if you do well at UT you can work wherever you want.

Bump notwithstanding- I go to UT too and I think you're overstating its awesomeness. Good school no doubt but there's also no doubt that T14s place significantly better. If they didn't then UT would be closer in terms of large firm employment.

[20141023]

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[timmyd]

My point was that UT is the best school out of those mentioned on OPs original post. I understand it isn't T14 but it still has national recognition. Those fed clerkships are impressive to me but the large firm placement is a little more disproportionate than I would have thought.

[20141023]

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[Void]

Why would a student take NY biglaw over Texas when they get paid around the same and Texas has a much lower COL and no state income tax?

1. NYC is awesome
2. Texas is way too hot and dry
3. Armadillos are fucking lame
4. Rattlesnakes are fucking scary
5. Some people just want to be allowed to get abortions

[john1990]

UCLA is well known. I live in NY and I've known about UCLA for a while.

[shifty_eyed]

Why would a student take NY biglaw over Texas when they get paid around the same and Texas has a much lower COL and no state income tax?

1. NYC is awesome
2. Texas is way too hot and dry
3. Armadillos are fucking lame
4. Rattlesnakes are fucking scary
5. Some people just want to be allowed to get abortions

Outed as never having been to Houston.

[Void]

Why would a student take NY biglaw over Texas when they get paid around the same and Texas has a much lower COL and no state income tax?

1. NYC is awesome
2. Texas is way too hot and dry
3. Armadillos are fucking lame
4. Rattlesnakes are fucking scary
5. Some people just want to be allowed to get abortions

Outed as never having been to Houston.

Got me there. I try to stay as fucking far away from Texas as possible. Enjoy your arid deserts, bible thumping, and global warming deniers. I'll be fine up here.

[MKC]

Why would a student take NY biglaw over Texas when they get paid around the same and Texas has a much lower COL and no state income tax?

1. NYC is awesome
2. Texas is way too hot and dry
3. Armadillos are fucking lame
4. Rattlesnakes are fucking scary
5. Some people just want to be allowed to get abortions

Outed as never having been to Houston.

Got me there. I try to stay as fucking far away from Texas as possible. Enjoy your arid deserts, bible thumping, and global warming deniers. I'll be fine up here.

Texas doesn't give a fuck about global warming because who cares if it's 115 or 119? You're really splitting hairs when you're already in a desert.