Does prestige really matter after T-6? Forum

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romothesavior

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Re: Does prestige really matter after T-6?

Post by romothesavior » Sat Aug 28, 2010 10:54 am

Rand M. wrote: That's the dumbest thing I have seen said since some of the stuff I saw posted earlier in this thread.

I hate this thread.
He was joking.

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vanwinkle

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Re: Does prestige really matter after T-6?

Post by vanwinkle » Sat Aug 28, 2010 11:43 am

PDaddy wrote:Forgive me, I was answering the question as I interpreted it. Silly me, I tend to answer questions like these from a performance perspective, naively believing that one's work ethic, desire and commitment matter more than anything else. Just don't take my response too literally, because there are limits to that argument. there are some qualitative differences between the elite schools. I just don't believe they are significant enough that individual drive can't compensate for them.
This response really ignores the main point, which is: Prestige does matter, and the "performance perspective" is a separate and irrelevant argument.

Of course a hard work ethic matters in the law, and someone with a hard work ethic from Chicago will be able to go farther than someone with no real work ethic from Harvard. That's not the point. The point is that if you take the same person with the same work ethic and discuss where they should go, there's no denying that it matters whether they choose Chicago or Harvard, because even with their strong work ethic they will find opportunities from Harvard that they would not have coming from Chicago.

So, yes, prestige does really matter.
thrillhouse wrote:You have to keep in mind that some of where a person goes to school is pretty self-selecting. That is to say, no one who wants to have any real shot at legal academia goes to Columbia if they could go to Yale or Harvard. And, the same is probably true for a person who desperately wants to clerk for the Supreme Court.
But that self-selection is based on the additional opportunities that being a Harvard or Yale grad offers. Just saying to "keep in mind that self-selection plays a part" glosses over why, which is because of the additional prestige that those schools offer. It's the H/Y name that opens those doors for them in academia, clerkships, etc.

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BruceWayne

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Re: Does prestige really matter after T-6?

Post by BruceWayne » Sat Aug 28, 2010 12:43 pm

NU_Jet55 wrote:
BruceWayne wrote:I really do not know where this top 6 thing came from. Harvard and Yale are significantly stronger than Columbia and Chicago, and NYU really isn't any stronger than Michigan, UVA, or Penn. Still, this top 6 thing seems to be all the rage on here.
Criticism of argument that oversimplificates law school prestige by oversimplifying law school prestige FTW!
This post makes absolutely no sense. Besides that, I hate to break it to you, but there's really nothing complicated about law school prestige. Some schools are stronger than the one's below them in simply every regard (basically Harvard and Yale) while others are only stronger in one area than the schools ranked below them (ie NYU with regards to NY firm placement in comparison to schools ranked 7-10).

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