Do law school rankings REALLY matter? Forum

[lawschool111]

A lot of people seem to be caught up in Law School rankings but how much do rankings really mean?

Take for example, Santa Clara University. They are ranked 96th (which is nothing to really boast about) by U.S. News BUT Forbes lists them as top 13 law schools for getting rich. Santa Clara University is located in the Silicon Valley and most of the graduates remain in California to practice law after they graduate, which helps when it comes networking. Mid career pay is $188,000 which is up there with UCLA, Georgetown, Chicago, Berkeley and the top ranked law schools.

I am a California Native, and plan on studying law in California upon graduation. Up until now, I was adamant about going to the highest ranked law school as possible but does it really matter?

When it comes to California I am now considering Santa Clara over USC, LMU, Hastings, Davis, Pepperdine except for UCLA and UC Berkeley.

[alwayssunnyinfl]

This is a subject which has never been discussed before on TLS. Using the search function would have shown absolutely no results that would answer this question.

[jump_man]

I am now considering Santa Clara over USC

Let me know how that works out for.

Did you know that Santa Clara was ranked as having the highest "underemployment" score among all law schools?

[NewLobo]

You should totally do it brah!

[lawschool111]

I am now considering Santa Clara over USC

Let me know how that works out for.

Did you know that Santa Clara was ranked as having the highest "underemployment" score among all law schools?

Provide me with a link, and then i'll believe you. At SCU, 83% of graduates have work 9 months after graduation whereas USC is 82%. Also, the mid-career salary pay is higher for Santa Clara than USC.

[Scotchandsoda]

I am now considering Santa Clara over USC

Let me know how that works out for.

Did you know that Santa Clara was ranked as having the highest "underemployment" score among all law schools?

Provide me with a link, and then i'll believe you. At SCU, 83% of graduates have work 9 months after graduation whereas USC is 82%. Also, the mid-career salary pay is higher for Santa Clara than USC.

Troll. Or an idiot.

[alwayssunnyinfl]

I am now considering Santa Clara over USC

Let me know how that works out for.

Did you know that Santa Clara was ranked as having the highest "underemployment" score among all law schools?

Provide me with a link, and then i'll believe you. At SCU, 83% of graduates have work 9 months after graduation whereas USC is 82%. Also, the mid-career salary pay is higher for Santa Clara than USC.

You seem like a dumb who deserves misinformation. However, for any good people who may accidentally stumble upon this thread in the future:

USC: 63.8% Good, fulltime legal work (and a 34% large-firm score)

SCU: 41% fulltime legal employment, 9% large-firm.

[jump_man]

I am now considering Santa Clara over USC

Let me know how that works out for.

Did you know that Santa Clara was ranked as having the highest "underemployment" score among all law schools?

Provide me with a link, and then i'll believe you. At SCU, 83% of graduates have work 9 months after graduation whereas USC is 82%. Also, the mid-career salary pay is higher for Santa Clara than USC.

Dude, it's called a hyperlink - just click on the blue colored text. But just in case, here's the URL:
http://lsatblog.blogspot.com/2012/05/wo ... stics.html

[lawschool111]

I am now considering Santa Clara over USC

Let me know how that works out for.

Did you know that Santa Clara was ranked as having the highest "underemployment" score among all law schools?

Provide me with a link, and then i'll believe you. At SCU, 83% of graduates have work 9 months after graduation whereas USC is 82%. Also, the mid-career salary pay is higher for Santa Clara than USC.

You seem like a dumb who deserves misinformation. However, for any good people who may accidentally stumble upon this thread in the future:

USC: 63.8% Good, fulltime legal work (and a 34% large-firm score)

SCU: 41% fulltime legal employment, 9% large-firm.

Location is important idiot. For anyone who wants to study law outside of California, Santa Clara wouldn't be a good choice. I think that goes without saying. Employment statistics in California for USC and SCU are very close, 68% vs 61%. Mid-career pay for Santa Clara graduates are higher than USC grads. Read the Forbes Report.

[lawschool111]

I am now considering Santa Clara over USC

Let me know how that works out for.

Did you know that Santa Clara was ranked as having the highest "underemployment" score among all law schools?

Provide me with a link, and then i'll believe you. At SCU, 83% of graduates have work 9 months after graduation whereas USC is 82%. Also, the mid-career salary pay is higher for Santa Clara than USC.

Dude, it's called a hyperlink - just click on the blue colored text. But just in case, here's the URL:
http://lsatblog.blogspot.com/2012/05/wo ... stics.html

thanks. i wasn't able to click on the hyperlink earlier. can you really trust this source though? the link the other guy provided has different numbers, stating that 61% of santa clara graduates are employed in California

[alwayssunnyinfl]

Location is important idiot. For anyone who wants to study law outside of California, Santa Clara wouldn't be a good choice. I think that goes without saying. Employment statistics in California for USC and SCU are very close, 68% vs 61%. Mid-career pay for Santa Clara graduates are higher than USC grads. Read the Forbes Report.

This economy is much different than even just five years ago. Also, USNWR isn't why people think USC is better than SCU on the whole. Could you link to this report? Because the only thing I can find is a broken link from a "View in Pictures" fluff piece by Forbes. It all depends on how many people are reporting.

And as far as info we do have, based on the 46% of the class who both had private sector jobs and reported their salary, USC had a median of 160k starting salary for grads, with a 25th percentile of 135k. With only 25% of their class getting private sector jobs and reporting, SCU's median is 94k, with a 25th percentile of 63k and 75th of 160k. Maybe you could argue that SCU grads aren't self-reporting because they're ashamed of their higher salaries, but I find that claim dubious.

[jump_man]

thanks. i wasn't able to click on the hyperlink earlier. can you really trust this source though? the link the other guy provided has different numbers, stating that 61% of santa clara graduates are employed in California

Yes, the source is very reliable. However, if you have any doubt, check out these statistics:

Santa Clara's own website admits that only 52% of grads from the class of 2011 had a job that required they pass the bar (in layman's terms, that means that only 52% of grads found jobs as lawyers) - http://law.scu.edu/careers/employment-data-2011.cfm

In contrast, USC's own website claims that 88% of grads from the class of 2011 had a job that required they pass the bar - http://weblaw.usc.edu/careers/statistics/

You should also check out this excellent resource when making your decision - they do an excellent job providing a comprehensive analysis of employment stats: http://www.lstscorereports.com/

[Ludo!]

Lol at going to any law school to get rich but Santa Clara?? Jesus Christ dude.

127 full time long term legal jobs out of 296 students in the class of 2011. Only 27 of those were in BigLaw firms.

http://employmentsummary.abaquestionnaire.org/

[WhiskeynCoke]

Come attend Santa Clara, where you can pay $240,000 for a 40% chance of becoming a lawyer!

http://www.lstscorereports.com/?school=santaclara

Dude, Santa Clara doesn't even come close to comparing to USC/UCLA. Your information is either outdated, wrong, or being misinterpreted (by you). Do your research.

[guinness1547]

This was fun. Thanks guys!

[PDaddy]

Rankings do matter, but only because we say so.

[Total Litigator]

I know the Forbes study you are referring to, and it is complete shit, and a statistical error ridden nightmare. Pay no heed to it.

[DildaMan]

Santa Clara pumps out a lot of patent attorneys, who generally have an easier time finding employment. I don't think they place very well outside of that niche.

[jump_man]

Since we are having fun with rankings, we should also mention this masterpiece:
http://www.cooley.edu/rankings/overall2010.html

[banjo]

You can get a lot of the recent data directly from the ABA: http://employmentsummary.abaquestionnaire.org/. On first glance, it seems like Santa Clara is a pretty terrible law school -- worse than USC. If you believe that your Forbes picture list is sufficiently robust to overcome the clear implications of the ABA data, I guess go for it?

[skri65]

IMO, rankings do not matter. However, employment statistics do matter, and they are very much correlated with rankings.

[JCFindley]

IMO, rankings do not matter. However, employment statistics do matter, and they are very much correlated with rankings.

[cinephile]

I don't get it. You asked a question, but when people responded you attacked them. Why ask if you've already made up your mind? It's your money and your life, if you want to waste it go ahead but don't look to others for support to support a bad decision.

[Br3v]

rankings matter in the sense that employers tend to hire from the best schools. How do you determine the best schools? Primarily it is from which school shave the "best" (read: highest numbers) students. How to schools get the "best" students? Because students look at the rankings.

[jenesaislaw]

IMO, rankings do not matter. However, employment statistics do matter, and they are very much correlated with rankings.

This is not true. http://www.lstscorereports.com/?r=guides&show=13