Top Law Schools

Well now that I have your attention, of course not. But how much better is it? Or is it at all? WUSTL seems to get a bed rap, and I'm not sure why, while GWU is considered a a top non-t14 (that makes sense, right?). How much of it comes down to location v. the quality of the legal education one gets?

If anything, GW is better. Pretty much the same though (19-25).

Umm...where did you even get this? If money is the same everyone should take GW over WUSTL.

No

ClaytonR wrote:Well now that I have your attention, of course not. But how much better is it? Or is it at all? WUSTL seems to get a bed rap, and I'm not sure why, while GWU is considered a a top non-t14 (that makes sense, right?). How much of it comes down to location v. the quality of the legal education one gets?

Does anyone actually care about that? I should say, does any lawyer / current law student care about that?

Heinous GW/anti-WUSTL trolling in here. Although I'm not sure I'd say WUSTL is "significantly" better than GW, I don't think I could say with a straight face that GW is better than the schools ranked similarly to it.

ClaytonR wrote:Well now that I have your attention, of course not. But how much better is it? Or is it at all? WUSTL seems to get a bed rap, and I'm not sure why, while GWU is considered a a top non-t14 (that makes sense, right?). How much of it comes down to location v. the quality of the legal education one gets?

WUSTL gets a bad rap partially because it is a numbers whore moreso than almost any other school. It also gets looked down upon because it is in St. Louis.

Finally, the drop between the schools above WUSTL and WUSTL in terms of employment prospects is one of the bigger drops (at least on last year's USNWR). The WUSTL has more similar prospects to most of the schools ranked through 20-35 (i.e. GW through Fordham) than it does the school ranked 18 (USC). WUSTL is basically the first school where the rankings start to matter a lot less than they did in the higher ranks.

As a side note, the quality of legal education is going to be similar everywhere. If you want to work in the midwest, go WUSTL, if you want to work on the east coast, go GW.

20-35 might be stretching it. Fordham is a bit of an anomaly if you look at the NLJ stats because of their heavy placement in NY. Perhaps 15-18, 19-26?, 27-35, rest of tier 1?

Wustl is one better.

ndirish2010 wrote:20-35 might be stretching it. Fordham is a bit of an anomaly if you look at the NLJ stats because of their heavy placement in NY. Perhaps 15-18, 19-26?, 27-35, rest of tier 1?

Not really when you look at the data, things are pretty close. (i.e. in regards to biglaw + clerkships, WUSTL is around 30% whereas W&L/UDub are around 25%)

bk187 wrote:As a side note, the quality of legal education is going to be similar everywhere. If you want to work in the midwest, go WUSTL, if you want to work on the east coast, go GW.

This. Professors are usually former LS stars from the T10, and you'll learn the same law at each school during 1L. Major differences arise between quality of student body and competition, extracurricular opportunities, prestige, connections and job prospects.

bk187 wrote:

ndirish2010 wrote:20-35 might be stretching it. Fordham is a bit of an anomaly if you look at the NLJ stats because of their heavy placement in NY. Perhaps 15-18, 19-26?, 27-35, rest of tier 1?

Not really when you look at the data, things are pretty close. (i.e. in regards to biglaw + clerkships, WUSTL is around 30% whereas W&L/UDub are around 25%)

But in the other thread, 5% is a lot.

ndirish2010 wrote:

bk187 wrote:

ndirish2010 wrote:20-35 might be stretching it. Fordham is a bit of an anomaly if you look at the NLJ stats because of their heavy placement in NY. Perhaps 15-18, 19-26?, 27-35, rest of tier 1?

Not really when you look at the data, things are pretty close. (i.e. in regards to biglaw + clerkships, WUSTL is around 30% whereas W&L/UDub are around 25%)

But in the other thread, 5% is a lot.

I think 5% does matter a good amount, that can be thirty people depending on the law school.

wats a "wustl" and where might i obtain such a beast?

Patriot1208 wrote:

ndirish2010 wrote:

bk187 wrote:

ndirish2010 wrote:20-35 might be stretching it. Fordham is a bit of an anomaly if you look at the NLJ stats because of their heavy placement in NY. Perhaps 15-18, 19-26?, 27-35, rest of tier 1?

Not really when you look at the data, things are pretty close. (i.e. in regards to biglaw + clerkships, WUSTL is around 30% whereas W&L/UDub are around 25%)

But in the other thread, 5% is a lot.

I think 5% does matter a good amount, that can be thirty people depending on the law school.

I would say that 5% is a decent amount all things being equal, but other things are rarely equal so it is hard to justify 5% as a lot in my mind. Plus this is old data and WUSTL's primary biglaw market (Chicago) got hit exceedingly hard compared to others. It is hard to say that the 5% difference that existed pre-ITE is as relevant now.

That being said, I'd take WUSTL over Illinois for a better shot at biglaw if everything was equal, however I wouldn't necessarily say that it is stronger than GW or Fordham even if it was by 5% pre-ITE.

What about if you want to work in the Bay Area....and you're looking at GW sticker vs. WUSTL with 25K a year...? Just hypothetically of course...

They Bay area as in...San Fran? Go to Davis/Hastings, dont go to either GW or WUSTL if you're set on that region.

LttleBlakDress wrote:What about if you want to work in the Bay Area....and you're looking at GW sticker vs. WUSTL with 25K a year...? Just hypothetically of course...

Neither. Take UCD/UCH or retake/reapply.

If you must take one of them for the Bay, take the cheaper one.

Hell, take USF at fullride if you're hell bent of the Bay area. I doubt WUSTL places much better in San Fran than USF does.

BarbellDreams wrote:They Bay area as in...San Fran? Go to Davis/Hastings, dont go to either GW or WUSTL if you're set on that region.

Unfortunately Hastings has neglected to give me an answer at this point. And I'd probably drop out because I'd be so pissed off that I was in Davis at Davis... Also both schools love GPA's so I'm not optimistic about my chances at either anyway... And USF gave me $0 aid... Anyway, sorry to hijack the thread. Guess I'll keep crossing my fingers for Hastings and deal with whatever my choices are in April.

LttleBlakDress wrote:

BarbellDreams wrote:They Bay area as in...San Fran? Go to Davis/Hastings, dont go to either GW or WUSTL if you're set on that region.

Unfortunately Hastings has neglected to give me an answer at this point. And I'd probably drop out because I'd be so pissed off that I was in Davis at Davis... Also both schools love GPA's so I'm not optimistic about my chances at either anyway... And USF gave me $0 aid... Anyway, sorry to hijack the thread. Guess I'll keep crossing my fingers for Hastings and deal with whatever my choices are in April.

They are definitely not nearly as GPA-whorish as UCLA/USC/Boalt. Probably like a 30% shot at Hastings, 60% shot at Davis.

The city of Davis (where I went to undergrad) really isn't that bad.

bk187 wrote:

LttleBlakDress wrote:

BarbellDreams wrote:They Bay area as in...San Fran? Go to Davis/Hastings, dont go to either GW or WUSTL if you're set on that region.

Unfortunately Hastings has neglected to give me an answer at this point. And I'd probably drop out because I'd be so pissed off that I was in Davis at Davis... Also both schools love GPA's so I'm not optimistic about my chances at either anyway... And USF gave me $0 aid... Anyway, sorry to hijack the thread. Guess I'll keep crossing my fingers for Hastings and deal with whatever my choices are in April.

They are definitely not nearly as GPA-whorish as UCLA/USC/Boalt. Probably like a 30% shot at Hastings, 60% shot at Davis.

The city of Davis (where I went to undergrad) really isn't that bad.

Well I'll keep crossing my fingers. Sorry about hating on Davis. I live/work/grew up in downtown SF, and I've spent a good amount of time in Davis, but I just can't imagine doing it for 3 solid years. I'm sort of wondering if I don't get into Hastings if I should keep working/volunteering etc. and reapply including Davis and Santa Clara next year...

LttleBlakDress wrote:Well I'll keep crossing my fingers. Sorry about hating on Davis. I live/work/grew up in downtown SF, and I've spent a good amount of time in Davis, but I just can't imagine doing it for 3 solid years. I'm sort of wondering if I don't get into Hastings if I should keep working/volunteering etc. and reapply including Davis and Santa Clara next year...

Honestly, if I were you, I'd retake to get a 170+ and reapply aiming for the lower T14.

Is WUSTL Law prestige boosted at all by the undergrad? Someone before (sorry, posting on phone) mentioned differences between the schools being prestige. What separates the two schools in the OP? Or are they the same in their regions?

ClaytonR wrote:Is WUSTL Law prestige boosted at all by the undergrad? Someone before (sorry, posting on phone) mentioned differences between the schools being prestige. What separates the two schools in the OP? Or are they the same in their regions?

UG prestige has nothing to do with law school prestige.

The prestige difference, as it equates to job prospects, between GW and WUSTL is negligible.