Top Law Schools

Nightrunner wrote:

thexfactor wrote:Hey guys, I realize that there is a difference between all 4 schools. Which difference is greater?
Washu-Ucla
UCLA-GT
GT-Mich

Thanks

Mich >>>>>G'Town>UCLA>>>WashU

imho

Nightrunner wrote:

thexfactor wrote:hmm interesting. Why do you guys all think there is a bigger diff between Mich-GT than UCLA-Washu

...seriously?

Michigan is an elite law school. Its placement statistics in academia, the NLJ 250, and Article III clerkships are astonishing.

OK, I made this once upon a time. It has a few flaws to it (for example, I'm using all most recent data, which means that NLJ is from one year, and clerkships are from another), so don't trust the hardcore number, but the general flow is close. This isn't necessarily as "public info," folks, just to help answer the question - don't give me too much shit about my methodology.

The schools in question are in bold.

The following list is a ranking of top schools by percentage of graduates who land the best jobs. I'm classifying best jobs as: NLJ 250 Firm jobs, Article III Judicial Clerkships, and Tenure-Track Academic Fellowships.


TIER 1 – HYPER-ELITE LAW SCHOOLS (AROUND 4/5)
1. Yale - 82.1%
2. Stanford - 80.1%

TIER 2 – ELITE LAW SCHOOLS (AROUND 2/3)
3. Harvard - 70.7%
4. Chicago - 67.7%
5. Virginia - 67.5%
6. Columbia - 66.5%
7. Michigan - 66.3%

TIER 3 – EXCELLENT LAW SCHOOLS (BETWEEN 2/3 AND 3/5)
8. Northwestern - 63.2%
9. Penn - 63%
10. Duke - 62.7%
11. Berkeley - 60.1%

TIER 4 – VERY GOOD LAW SCHOOLS (WITHIN 10% OF 1/2)
12. NYU - 57.4%
13. Vanderbilt - 55.5%
14. Cornell - 52.4%
15. Georgetown - 48.4%
16. Texas - 48.2%
17. USC - 47.2%
18. UCLA - 43.2%

TIER 5 – GOOD LAW SCHOOLS (WITHIN 5% OF 1/3)
19. Boston College - 38.0%
20. Notre Dame - 37.8%
21. GW 36.5%
22. Fordham 35.3%
23. Washington University – St. Louis 32.5%
24. Illinois 32.3%
25. Boston University 30.8%

TIER 6 – WELL ABOVE-AVERAGE LAW SCHOOLS (AROUND 1/4)
26. Emory 28.8%
27. Washington & Lee 26.6%
28. William & Mary 26%
29. Wake Forest 25.7%
30. Wisconsin 25.3%
31. SMU 25%
31. Iowa 25%
33. Washington 24.7%
34. Ohio State 24.3%
35. Minnesota 24.1%

In my opinion, these estimates (and take them as such) highlight the general consensus: that certain schools (specifically the top 7 above) simply have much stronger placement power than their competitors dream about. If WUSTL doubled the percentage of their students who land these sorts of jobs, they would still be below Michigan.

Nightrunner wrote:Like I noted, it is from different years (thus the problem, and the lack of public TLS release). My methodology was flawed.

2009 NLJ 250 data
2008 Article III Clerkships (including the possibility of double-count)
Leiter's info on professors, divided (I know: shotty, shotty shit).

It was really only for my own purposes, which is why I didn't mind the numbers' margin of error being so large: the bottom line is that the list lined up pretty decently with how I intuitively supposed the placement power of the schools to be. I'm only bringing it up here to illustrate the intuitive difference between the schools OP mentioned, in something vaguely resembling a linear fashion.

Mich >>>>>G = UCLA >>>WushU
(minor, insignificant edit)

Nightrunner wrote:

thexfactor wrote:Hey guys, I realize that there is a difference between all 4 schools. Which difference is greater?
Washu-Ucla
UCLA-GT
GT-Mich

Thanks

Mich >>>>>G'Town>UCLA>>>WashU

imho

nealric wrote:

Mich >>>>>G = UCLA >>>WushU
(minor, insignificant edit)

More anti-GULC trolling from TLS


It's more like Mich >>G>>>UCLA>>>>>>>>>>WUSTL

JCougar wrote:Awesome list, NR.

This just confirms my hypothesis that NYU is overrated.

This also confirms the presence of the T18. The gap between US News rankings of 18 and 19 is far greater than the gap between 14 and 15 if you're looking at employment outcomes. T18 doesn't get enough credit -- the same 4 schools have been rated 15-18 for the last decade, yet you still hear about T14 and T20, etc. The real cutoff between good employment prospects and simply better than average employment prospects is the 18th rank.

Sauer Grapes wrote:

JCougar wrote:Awesome list, NR.

This just confirms my hypothesis that NYU is overrated.

This also confirms the presence of the T18. The gap between US News rankings of 18 and 19 is far greater than the gap between 14 and 15 if you're looking at employment outcomes. T18 doesn't get enough credit -- the same 4 schools have been rated 15-18 for the last decade, yet you still hear about T14 and T20, etc. The real cutoff between good employment prospects and simply better than average employment prospects is the 18th rank.

Wait... aren't you going to #19?

Sauer Grapes wrote:

JCougar wrote:Awesome list, NR.

This just confirms my hypothesis that NYU is overrated.

This also confirms the presence of the T18. The gap between US News rankings of 18 and 19 is far greater than the gap between 14 and 15 if you're looking at employment outcomes. T18 doesn't get enough credit -- the same 4 schools have been rated 15-18 for the last decade, yet you still hear about T14 and T20, etc. The real cutoff between good employment prospects and simply better than average employment prospects is the 18th rank.

Wait... aren't you going to #19?

voice of reason wrote:Placement success in the most competitive jobs is clearly one of the best ways to compare law schools, especially top law schools.

Sauer Grapes wrote:

JCougar wrote:

Sauer Grapes wrote:

JCougar wrote:Awesome list, NR.

This just confirms my hypothesis that NYU is overrated.

This also confirms the presence of the T18. The gap between US News rankings of 18 and 19 is far greater than the gap between 14 and 15 if you're looking at employment outcomes. T18 doesn't get enough credit -- the same 4 schools have been rated 15-18 for the last decade, yet you still hear about T14 and T20, etc. The real cutoff between good employment prospects and simply better than average employment prospects is the 18th rank.

Wait... aren't you going to #19?

Yes, I am. I'm happy about it, because it's probably the best I could have hoped for. Would have loved to have had 3 extra points on the LSAT to have a shot at Northwestern, but WUSTL was probably as good as I was going to do.

Don't worry, I'm not hating. I would have been VERY happy at WUSTL. It's just rare to see someone on here objectively rag on their school.