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« TLS Profiles - TLS Programs - TLS Stats - Rankings University Of Miami School Of Law
Admissions & Tuition Miami does not set especially high admissions standards for its applicants; in fact, the standards can hardly said to be high at all. The Princeton Review gives the school an “Admissions Selectivity Rating” of 76 out of a possible 100. Roughly 50% (2,288 out of 4,492) of applicants were granted admission last year. For those who were admitted, the 25th to 75th percentile GPA range was 3.21–3.63 and the range for the LSAT was 155-160—with medians of 3.43 and 158, respectively. The relaxed standards of Miami’s admissions department (and its astonishingly high acceptance rate) are not a result of the numbers the school bases its admissions decisions on. After all, many schools have similar ranges for GPA and LSAT scores but don’t admit nearly as many students. Rather, it is that Miami doesn’t seem to look very far beyond the numbers. That is to say, soft factors are not as important as they are at schools like Hawaii, which has similar ranges but only accepts 18% of students. At $34,652, tuition at Miami is neither terribly high nor especially low. Considering also room and board (~$11,000) and miscellaneous fees (~$9,000 including books), the annual cost of attendance at Miami is approximately $56,652. Multiplied by three years and the total cost becomes almost $170,000. This is a hefty price-tag; but Miami is pretty good about awarding financial aid. Grants last year ranged from $10,000 to $20,000, and the median was a strong $16,000. Employment
For those who did find work, private-practice is without contest the most popular choice. A whopping 69% of employed Miami graduates chose private practice last year. Salary is surely the motivating factor: Miami grads working in private practice enjoyed a starting salary range of $83,500-$125,000, with a median of $103,500 (USNews). This is quite good for a school of Miami’s caliber. As always, the median starting salary for those working in public service was lower: ~$40,000. Most Miami graduates (more than 60%) stay in Florida after graduation. Of those who did leave Florida, more stayed in the South than went to any other region. This is consistent with the trends of schools ranked similarly to Miami, all of them being “regional” law schools (meaning that the best employment prospects are in-state or at best in-region). Miami grads are not rigidly confined to the South however, as is evidenced by the 8% of graduates who found work above the Mason Dixon Line and the 5% who made it all the way out to the Pacific States (USNews). Academics Academically, Miami Law is not a particularly distinguished academic institution. Ranking 82nd in the country, few would expect it to be. This does not mean, however, that the school does not have its strong points. Miami’s tax law program, for instance, is fantastic—tied for the #6 spot (with Harvard Law, of all schools) on USNews’ ranking of the country’s best programs in tax law. Given Florida’s geopolitical status, students also have the opportunity to get plenty of hands on experience in immigration law as well. Still, the overall academic experience at Miami is far from stellar. The student-faculty ratio is poor, with 19.1 students to every professor, and there are complaints about the quality of teachers and the out-dated status of many programs at the school. It seems that students have to go beyond what is expected of them in order to make the most of their academic experience at Miami. For an investment of three year’s time and $170,000, that simply should not be the case. Quality of Life The sense of community boasted by students at many U.S. law schools does not seem to be present at Miami Law, where grading is based on a curve. This, combined with weak job prospects faced by graduates, make the environment at Miami quite competitive, providing an added level of stress most law students could do without. Not all is grim, however. Going to school in Miami certainly has its perks, including an always-sunny campus, a plethora of palm-trees, and beaches galore. Though law students are known for being confined to their casebooks, those who can escape from the library take advantage of Miami Law’s warm-weather location and enjoy the Sunshine State for all that it is worth. Quick Reference U.S. News Ranking: 82 |
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Palm trees and casebooks? It seems an odd mix; but it is exactly the mix that students at the University Of Miami School Of Law enjoy. Prospective students are encouraged to look beyond the sunny skies, however, when evaluating Miami Law, where competition is high, and employment prospects are discouragingly weak.
Miami graduates pass the bar at a rate of nearly 85%, comfortably exceeding the state-wide passage rate of 74%. Relatively high bar passage rates, however, do not necessarily translate into strong career prospects; and this is best evidenced by the schools weak point-of-graduation employment percentage of 72.4%. This means that a staggering 27.6% of graduates surveyed by USNews were unemployed at the time of graduation. Nine months later, 17% of those who were previously unemployed had found work, but about 10% were still jobless. Undoubtedly, this is a figure prospective students should keep in mind.