How important is a ranking? Forum

[arism87]

Is it worth it to go to a higher ranked school (think: Columba, Chicago) over a lower ranked one (UVA, Duke) for which you have a personal preference? Assuming it isn't for a specific program, just geographic reasons, etc.

[whymeohgodno]

I think it matters up to a certain point. Within the T14 the rankings probably matter. But if you are talking about a school ranked 80th compared to one ranked 90th, I don't think that matters.

[ResolutePear]

YHS>CCN>Rest of T14>T1>...>Cooley>Non-ABA-Law-schools seems to be the general feeling.

Outside of T14, it really depends where you plan to work; which city, region, market, etc.

EDIT: To add onto the question: ITE, it makes sense to go T14 if you can... though not always good to go at sticker unless you have money to blow.

Personally, the only schools I'd pay sticker for are YHSCCN... and with CCN I'd have to think it over a bit. Otherwise, UF(T50)'s JD would cost me around 40k which is a lot easier to swallow than 150k. Will I get Big Law? Probably not unless I'm top of my class and economy picks up.

So many criteria to this question.

[2ofspades]

Are you deciding where to apply? If so, what are your numbers?

just geographic reasons

Where do you want to live after school?

[arism87]

Are you deciding where to apply? If so, what are your numbers?

just geographic reasons

Where do you want to live after school?

Eh sort of, but I'll likely apply to all and see what happens (3.8, 172). May be jumping the gun anyway, but just have law school on the mind tonight. Probably wanna end up in Virginia/Maryland, but who knows..

[The Real Jack McCoy]

Are you deciding where to apply? If so, what are your numbers?

just geographic reasons

Where do you want to live after school?

Eh sort of, but I'll likely apply to all and see what happens (3.8, 172). May be jumping the gun anyway, but just have law school on the mind tonight. Probably wanna end up in Virginia/Maryland, but who knows..

Apply to all, see what happens, and then go to Virginia/Duke on a scholarship (leveraging any CCN acceptances for Virginia/Duke scholarship money). Let Virginia/Duke know how much you love them + the area, it'll help your cause.

This is all especially true if you'll enjoy school more at UVA/Duke than Chicago/NYC.

[2ofspades]

ED to CCN unless you want to leverage for money at MVP or Duke.

[Frank]

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[solidsnake]

The current economic situation may or may not affect you 0L and -1L kiddies legal hiring-wise, but if you follow each school's respective OCI thread, well, *I* wouldn't want to be anywhere aside from HYS, Columbia, or NYU, period. UChi and MVPB on down appears to be getting slaughtered.

[arism87]

The current economic situation may or may not affect you 0L and -1L kiddies legal hiring-wise, but if you follow each school's respective OCI thread, well, *I* wouldn't want to be anywhere aside from HYS, Columbia, or NYU, period. UChi and MVPB on down appears to be getting slaughtered.

Thanks, this is exactly what I was wondering about-- I'm new to the site, where do I need to look to find this info?

I don't WANT to ED but if I'm going to have $200k in loans I damn well want to be sure I can pay them off!

[bk1]

The current economic situation may or may not affect you 0L and -1L kiddies legal hiring-wise, but if you follow each school's respective OCI thread, well, *I* wouldn't want to be anywhere aside from HYS, Columbia, or NYU, period. UChi and MVPB on down appears to be getting slaughtered.

Egregious UChi trolling.

And lol at thinking ITE has even a blizzard's chance in hell of not affecting current 1L's and 0L's. It's all NY to 190 for OCI 2011 and 2012, amirite?

[solidsnake]

The current economic situation may or may not affect you 0L and -1L kiddies legal hiring-wise, but if you follow each school's respective OCI thread, well, *I* wouldn't want to be anywhere aside from HYS, Columbia, or NYU, period. UChi and MVPB on down appears to be getting slaughtered.

Egregious UChi trolling.

And lol at thinking ITE has even a blizzard's chance in hell of not affecting current 1L's and 0L's. It's all NY to 190 for OCI 2011 and 2012, amirite?

What? I wrote that it appears from the OCI threads on tls that UCHI is included in the bloodbath. How is that trolling for them? Unless you are implying they never belonged in the CCN category to begin with, and i'm not going to go there.

[bk1]

What? I wrote that it appears from the OCI threads on tls that UCHI is included in the bloodbath. How is that trolling for them? Unless you are implying they never belonged in the CCN category to begin with, and i'm not going to go there.

I wasn't really serious about the UChi comment actually being trolling. Side note: I don't see anything wrong with CCN being a tier/category/whatever.

IMO it seems a bit premature to call OCI out as a bloodbath yet, but maybe that's just me.

[arism87]

So where can I see this info?

[solidsnake]

What? I wrote that it appears from the OCI threads on tls that UCHI is included in the bloodbath. How is that trolling for them? Unless you are implying they never belonged in the CCN category to begin with, and i'm not going to go there.

I wasn't really serious about the UChi comment actually being trolling. Side note: I don't see anything wrong with CCN being a tier/category/whatever.

IMO it seems a bit premature to call OCI out as a bloodbath yet, but maybe that's just me.

like i said, it isn't "OCI 2010"; it's "OCI 2010 at X school." X appearing to be almost every school aside from HYSCN. As far as ripeness, OCI has finished almost everywhere (penn is still going, i think). Having been an OCI veteran, I can attest that the 48hr rule, with rare exception (1 of my CBs), applies.

To the guy who wants to know where to look for these threads: go to the "Legal Employment" forum and start browsing the relevant threads.

[Frank]

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[Frank]

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[solidsnake]

The current economic situation may or may not affect you 0L and -1L kiddies legal hiring-wise, but if you follow each school's respective OCI thread, well, *I* wouldn't want to be anywhere aside from HYS, Columbia, or NYU, period. UChi and MVPB on down appears to be getting slaughtered.

Egregious UChi trolling.

And lol at thinking ITE has even a blizzard's chance in hell of not affecting current 1L's and 0L's. It's all NY to 190 for OCI 2011 and 2012, amirite?

What? I wrote that it appears from the OCI threads on tls that UCHI is included in the bloodbath. How is that trolling for them? Unless you are implying they never belonged in the CCN category to begin with, and i'm not going to go there.

The threads are purely anecdotal, of course. You might have a ton of people on the Chi one who just aren't doing well or 50 posts from 'anonymous' that are the same poster. You can't tell. I know more than a few CLS students who had 0 CBs or 0 offers.

Sure, but ppl should already be factoring in the unreliability/inability to verify that is inherent on any anon online forum. The goal is trying to make decisions about the future based on imperfect information. To do that, you can either assume it's all bullshit and essentially ignore the anecdotal reports because of the inability to verify/separate alts, in which case you are in the same spot as you are in before, or you can use a simplifying assumption that the info is reliable and based on that scenario choose to the school where it appears like relatively more action is happening. If that's the case HYSCN>everything else. No one said strikeouts didn't exist at HYSCN, though. You then try and approximate the relative odds of scoring an offer thru EIP and compare to whatever scholarship money is being forfeited at a lesser school. Then factor in geographical preference.. in other words, you make a decision tree by assuming perfect information where it isn't otherwise available (op should be digging up 2010 ocs offer rates once they become available) in simplified scenarios and compare each one relative to another.