University of Baltimore Law School Forum

[VTarmyjag]

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[Tarvis]

I am very ambitious to take admission in University of Baltimore Law School
please guide me and give some information about the school.

Baltimore personal trainer

[taxguy]

We live in Maryland. I am also quite familiar with University of Baltimore law school and know professors who are also familiar with it.Here is my thoughts on them.

Pros: They are part of the Maryland state university system. Thus, they are relatively inexpensive for a law school at 25K tuition in-state. This isn't cheap for a state university but it is cheaper than most private schools.

Second: They are well known in Baltimore and thus, you potentially can get into some law firms if you do well. Moreover, Baltimore judges like to have their clerks from there,which does help with connections.

Third: They have some decent concentrations such as tax law.

Fourth: They are located in Baltimore,which I personally like as a city,although it can be dangerous there too,which will be discussed in the cons section. Baltimore has some amazing restaurants and things do do.
Fifth: They are building a new facility ,which should be quite nice.
Cons:

1.Most professors that I know will tell you, which is also my opinion, that University of Baltimore gives you a "diploma mill" feel.
2. It is undoubtably second fiddle to University of Maryland. Most of the big law firms in Maryland will take a Maryland grad over that of UB.I personally know someone who graduated from UB law two years ago with a 3.2 overall GPA,which isn't bad. He couldn't get a job for a long time. IN fact, he considered getting his truck driving license! He was fortunate to get a clerkship with a judge due to family connections and through that, a subsequent job with the federal government starting him out at only 45K per year.

3. There is a reason it is a T4 school and it isn't do to their facilities,which really aren't that bad. Most faculty are mediocre at best. There are few legal scholars or well known professors. Few attended a top school or have sterling credentials.

4. It has NO cache outside of Maryland. See item 8,below.
5. If you want a good job from there, you MUST do well in the school. If you don't, forget about Big law and you can probably forget about most jobs. The key is to get a strong GPA and you will have some opportunies regardless of it being second fiddle to Maryland.

6. What I find most galling is that despite its much lower ranking than Maryland, and despite it being a state school,it is actually more expensive than Maryland by several thousand dollars per year. The reason, which was admitted by their top admission officer at a conference, is that University of Baltimore uses some of the law school tuiton to fund other aspects of the university. In contrast,all of the University of Maryland's law school tuition is used for the law school.

7. Baltimore can be a dangerous place. You really need to be careful where you are going and keep your eyes open when you walk around.

8. There is nothing about the UB programs that is a standout, which other T2-T4 schools emphasize in order to distinguish themselves. For example: Stetson has a well known litigation program and Elder Law program. Miami has a strong , well known tax and estate planning program, George Mason and Suffolk are well known for IP. I can't think of any program at University of Baltimore that is nationally well known, which is why it has no cache outside of Baltimore.

Bottom line: if you want to practice in Maryland and specifically in Baltimore, it isn't a bad choice. However, you MUST do well there. You are frankly much better off attending University of Maryland for those same opportunities at a lower cost too.

[taxguy]

Some additional info for UB

Tuition and fees for instate is $24,300 for tuition alone PLUS $1,900 in mandatory fees, which is pretty high for instate tuition for a state university, especially considering it is Tier 4. Out of state tuition is rediculous at $37,000 plus $1,900 in mandatory fees. UB also tries hard to hide their tuition costs. You really have to search it out for obvious reasons. See http://www.ubalt.edu/template.cfm?page=156

In addition, being a city school, parking is estimated at $1,400 per year. Room and board is also fairly high at an estimated $14,200 per year. As you can tell for a tier 4 state school, this is no cheap school, although it is cheaper than most private schools.

Here is a list of their clinics,which are fairly numerous:

•Appellate Practice Clinic
•Civil Advocacy Clinic
•Community Development Clinic
•Criminal Practice Clinic
•Disability Law Clinic
•Family Law Clinic
•Family Mediation Clinic
•Immigrant Rights Clinic
•Innocence Project Clinic

I don't know,however, how hard it is to get into any of these clinics.
I hope this all helps.

[ach24]

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[taxguy]

ach24 notes,"f you want to be in Maryland, didn't get into UMB, go to UB. "

Don't you mean: if you want to be in Maryland, don't go to UB, go to University of Maryland (UM)?

[androstan]

Bottom line on UB:

If you want to be in Maryland, didn't get into UMB, go to UB, rethink being in Maryland.

If you want to be in Maryland and didn't get any $$ from other school but got into both, go to UMB.

If you want to be in Maryland and got $$ from UMB (even if it's less than UB offered), go to UMB.

If you don't want to be in Maryland, do not go to UB.

[ach24]

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[taxguy]

Yes, I wouldn't go as far as Androstan to say not to apply to UB or rethink Maryland. Frankly, I think living in Maryland is terrific. However, as I mentioned in prior posts, UB has no cache for out of state jobs, and you would need a very decent GPA at UB in order to get jobs with Maryland law firms since most Maryland law firms would take either a UM law grad or Georgetown law grad over that of University of Baltimore, unless the UB person had a very decent GPA. Of course, the problem is that everyone thinks that they are that "special snowflake" that will put them among the top of their class.

[androstan]

ach24 notes,"f you want to be in Maryland, didn't get into UMB, go to UB. "

Don't you mean: if you want to be in Maryland, don't go to UB, go to University of Maryland (UM)?

No. If the person wants to be in Maryland and did not accepted into UMB, they should go to UB because UB has the second best tap into the Maryland market.

I bet the entire T13, GULC, GW, and likely several T50s in the vicinity have a better "tap" into the Maryland market.

[ach24]

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[AreJay711]

ach24 notes,"f you want to be in Maryland, didn't get into UMB, go to UB. "

Don't you mean: if you want to be in Maryland, don't go to UB, go to University of Maryland (UM)?

No. If the person wants to be in Maryland and did not accepted into UMB, they should go to UB because UB has the second best tap into the Maryland market.

I bet the entire T13, GULC, GW, and likely several T50s in the vicinity have a better "tap" into the Maryland market.

Not necessarily the case. About half of Maryland's judges are UB grads (and they strongly prefer to hire UB students as clerks); same can be said with the OAG and State's Attorneys offices. UB has an exceptionally strong alum base within Maryland which can really work in favor of UB grads.

Yeah, UB is a very large school and floods the MD market. Also, some large Bmore firms (more midlaw than biglaw) told me that they really only hire from UMD and UB. Idk if that really matters since right now they are only hiring associates with experience anyway but if MD is something you really want it is worth considering.

[jtweissbrot]

Not to bump a very old thread, but, I live in Baltimore (and love the city, when I'm not hating it) and drive my wife to the train station every day. The new building is nearly done, it looks fantastic, it's quite large, and it looks like it's going to house only, or almost-only, the school of law.

I wouldn't call Baltimore one of the most beautiful cities, but there are beautiful parts, the inner harbor is great, and the National Mall is 75 minutes away, door-to-door (well, door-to-escalator) by commuter rail.

I know UMD Law grads who work in DC, and I know UB Law grads who work in Baltimore. Quality of life is nearly equal, when you consider the DC/Baltimore salary difference -- commuting to DC is horrible (we leave the house at 630 am and get back at 7 pm) and living in/around DC is so much more expensive.

My feeling is, if you're in MD and want to be in MD, you'll be just fine if you go to UB and work in Charm City. But if you've got the drive to be a DC mover and shaker, seems UB isn't for you.

I'm shooting for MD, but, I'm applying so late...

[taxnstuff]

Just to answer the people calling Baltimore a dump, there are plenty of amazing areas in the city. Its a hotbed for undergrads and recent alumns, and many areas are getting nicer because of it. Inner Harbor, Harbor East, Fells, Fed hill, canton are all in the city and are great places to be as a student. With that said, just avoid the bad areas (like in any city) which isn't very hard to do. I spent 4 years there as an undergrad and I never had a single issue, you really have to be dumb to get into trouble (walking alone where/when you shouldnt).