St. Mary's vs. South Texas Forum

[tuna4]

Any thoughts? From what I understand STCL grads do pretty well in Houston. Perhaps this is due to the large legal market in Houston? Ultimately, I'd rather end up in San Antonio for several reasons, however from what I've read I'm worried about the job prospects for St. Mary's grads. Thanks.

[patrickd139]

Thoughts (based purely on statistics): Don't do either unless you're on full scholarship and are happy with Houston or St. Mary's. Both are private schools which cost a helluva lotta money to end up as an ADA or sole practitioner. You should be worried about the job prospects for both law schools.

I'm sure there are people on here who would disagree with me, though.

[tuna4]

I understand where you are coming from, and that seems to be the consensus on TLS for most schools other than the t14. However, if you do a search of attorneys in big Texas firms. Both St. Mary's and STCL seem to be represented to a certain degree. Particularly STCL at firms in Houston.

[patrickd139]

I understand where you are coming from, and that seems to be the consensus on TLS for most schools other than the t14. However, if you do a search of attorneys in big Texas firms. Both St. Mary's and STCL seem to be represented to a certain degree. Particularly STCL at firms in Houston.

I hear what you're saying, and have heard it before about both schools, but hey, you don't have to convince me. You asked for my thoughts, which are posted above. Neither my opinion nor my advice changes because people from STCL landed firm jobs in Houston.

[cafloyd12]

I think that if you are forced to choose between the two, then STCL is the best bet. I don't really have alot of statistics or evidence to back up this advice, but the difference in legal markets alone should be enough to sway you. San Antonio, for all intents and purposes, doesn't really have one. Houston's is massive. I know lawyers from both schools and I've never heard anybody really speak to what kind of school St. Mary's is. I have heard lawyers from STCL say that their grad placement, while not great, is sort of an anomoly for a tier 4 school. There seems to be a consensus among the grads I know, as well as a few friends that are currently students there, that STCL really does a good job of preparing you to actually be an attorney. I know that in my part of Texas (pretty much the tort capital of the world) there are STCL grads everywhere in small/mid sized firms.

The thing to remember when attending a school like South Texas or St. Mary's is that, in Texas, regardless of how well the school prepares you for practicing law, upon graduation you're not going to have the brand name on your degree that students from Texas, SMU, U of H, and Baylor have. This means that alot more of your success is going to depend on you and your ability to network and outperform people that are going to have an advantage over you (fair or unfair) upon graduation because of the name on their degree.

Ultimately though, regardless of their tier four label, you could do ALOT worse than STCL. I think it could be a great decision to go there if you are realistic about your expectations and are confident in your ability to network and make good grades while attending.