Is Loyola New Orleans really that bad? Forum

[nixy]

All law schools are perfectly good at teaching the law and all have some amazing professors. That’s how national accreditation works. If people say Loyola is bad, that’s based on its employment statistics, especially when coupled with its cost (basically, does it offer you a reasonable chance of making enough money to pay back the debt you take to attend?). Looks like the largest single employer for grads is firms of 2-10 attorneys, which don’t tend to pay especially well (some might; impossible to know, as compared to biglaw where the salaries are public). So the question is do you know how much you’ll have to pay back per month after attending and how that compares to anticipated salary? And does Loyola place people in the geographic region of your hometown?

[Johnnybgoode92]

I have been researching local law schools and Loyola New Orleans keeps coming up. However, I see a lot of negative posts about it. I understand it is expensive, but it is a small school, which is what I am looking for. I plan to go to my hometown of 150,000 or so to practice after graduation.

I also have a friend that attends Loyola NOLA and he loves it. He says the professors are great and it is academically challenging. Just curious everyone else's thoughts.

You’ve posted this before and gotten feedback. Stop trolling. You know the answer to your question.

[decimalsanddollars]

Loyola NO places okay in the city, which doesn't have much of a biglaw presence and doesn't have great funding for state and local govt jobs. The top 3-5 students have a decent shot at biglaw in Houston and Atlanta and federal clerkships in New Orleans. The school has cut enrollment and seen a corresponding increase in percentage of grads with JD-required, full-time long-term jobs---but even last year, the highest year with data available, only about two-thirds of grads got these jobs, and nearly 20% were unemployed or did not have a long-term, full-time job. Compare that to 3ish% in federal clerkships and less than 3% total in firms larger than 50, and the employment numbers leave much to be desired.

As for your hometown practice plan, is it in eastern Louisiana? Loyola has a hard time placing non-top students outside the region. Also, cost should be a significant factor---and maybe the main factor---in your decision, because most students pay at least half-tuition, and more than a third pay full tuition, which yields over $200k cost of attendance, not even counting interest accrued during that time.

[crazywafflez]

Do not pick Loyola- my only caveat with this is if you are from the area and went to high school in the area (pref Jesuit or Newman . If you are from LA, but not NOLA, go to LSU. NOLA's legal market is trash. Even if you are from the city, I'd still pick LSU. I'd only go Tulane if you get a really good scholarship. Best of luck.

[LSATWiz.com]

People don't really care about the law school experience because studying anything, particularly something that requires you to think about things in a new way will be intellectually challenging and anything that involves being grouped in a non-work environment with people around your age can be fun. Some schools may incentivize social events more and some may attract more students with a certain personality type, but the law school experience is by and large pretty similar between schools. I'd imagine all graduate schools are fun to a certain extent.

The reason why the law school experience is misleading is because you aren't going to law school to have fun. As compared to other fun adventures like spring break or a yoga retreat, law school is categorically less fun. If you took a 100 people in their 20s and had them backup through Europe for one month and then placed them in law school for another month, I'd venture to say that at least 90 of them would find backpacking through Europe to be more fun. If the goal is maximizing fun, law school is a categorically bad option. Many Super Bowl winners celebrate their victory by going to Disney World, but I'm not aware of a single one who celebrated their victory by going to law school. This is because even to the extent law school is fun, it is not that much fun.

The main reason most people go to law school is to get jobs. Loyola doesn't do a particularly good job at helping students get jobs in a good economy. In this economy, it is likely to struggle and to struggle a great deal. That's why people are saying the law school experience doesn't matter. It would be great if law school could both lead to gainful employment and be a great experience much like it would be nice if diet food could taste great, but if you're trying to lose weight, it doesn't matter how great a candy bar tastes. It will be a bad decision to eat 5 of them a day because it won't help you fulfill your goal. It's the same thing with law school. Most people would rather go to a law school that is not fun but will lead to a career in law than attend one that is fun but will not lead to such a career.