Top Law Schools

I want to practice in Texas, and I want to go into criminal law.

What would you all choose in this situation?

As an URM with a 3.7 GPA & a 165 LSAT, you should be accepted to higher ranked law schools, likely with merit money. Do you still have applications pending at other law schools ? Or is it just between Tulane & Baylor ? If so, then ask Tulane to match Baylor's offer if you are truly unsure as to your top choice.

Tulane places well in Texas.....I've heard one should stay far away from baylor if at all possible

Waco may be more of an issue than Baylor Law for many applicants. Waco & New Orleans are polar opposites in many respects.

CanadianWolf wrote:As an URM with a 3.7 GPA & a 165 LSAT, you should be accepted to higher ranked law schools, likely with merit money. Do you still have applications pending at other law schools ? Or is it just between Tulane & Baylor ? If so, then ask Tulane to match Baylor's offer if you are truly unsure as to your top choice.

+1. You should be looking at lower T14 with those #s as a URM.

law_noob wrote:Tulane places well in Texas.....I've heard one should stay far away from baylor if at all possible

Not sure whether or not the stats back up the first clause in that sentence, but I generally tend to agree with the second part.

OP: where else are you applying? Do you have any other options other than those two? When you say "criminal law" do you mean DA/PD, USAO/DOJ, or private criminal defense? Finally, which part of Texas?

Also, +1 to this:

CanadianWolf wrote:As an URM with a 3.7 GPA & a 165 LSAT, you should be accepted to higher ranked law schools, likely with merit money. Do you still have applications pending at other law schools ? Or is it just between Tulane & Baylor ? If so, then ask Tulane to match Baylor's offer if you are truly unsure as to your top choice.

idk. Baylor has a good rep in texas, Waco has a cheap COL. But, I hear Baylor makes its law school unnecessarily harder then it needs to be, with practice court looming in the 3rd year.

Tulane would be fun, and it place well in TX. But, NOLA COL will be higher, and there will be more entertaining things around to spend money on

I applied to all of the T-20 and except for HYS. However, I was an outright reject at University of Texas, so I'm already skeptical about my chances. As I mentioned, I want to work in Texas, and the only other schools in the region I applied to were SMU and UH. I just thought I'd ask this in case it does come down to just Baylor and Tulane and because I'm sort of anxious about the whole process as it is.

CrimLaw300 wrote:However, I was an outright reject at University of Texas,

Fucking what? What kind of URM? That's nuts.

Anyway, expect good (and I mean very good) money at SMU. I don't know about UofH.

In that case, for Texas, SMU would be your best bet.

Aside from that, Tulane is better than Baylor.

CrimLaw300 wrote:I applied to all of the T-20 and except for HYS. However, I was an outright reject at University of Texas, so I'm already skeptical about my chances. As I mentioned, I want to work in Texas, and the only other schools in the region I applied to were SMU and UH. I just thought I'd ask this in case it does come down to just Baylor and Tulane and because I'm sort of anxious about the whole process as it is.

I agree with Kalvano that your chances (barring some bizarre factor in your application you're not telling us about) are very good at SMU and UofH. If it comes down to that, go with UofH if you want Houston after graduation, and SMU if you want Dallas. Baylor places extremely well in places like Tyler, Longview, and Beaumont, but that's not the type of place most people are looking for.

If it's Tulane ($$$) v. Baylor ($$$$), and you want to work in Houston, then go with Tulane.
If it's Tulane ($$$) v. Baylor ($$$$), and you want to work anywhere else in Texas (outside where Baylor statistically places), retake.