Top Law Schools

I have been accepted to a couple of these and wait-listed at the others.

Assume I will be paying out of state tuition at all of them (for at least the first year).

Arkansas is the only one offering any scholarship money.

Please don't vote solely based on US News rankings. I'd love you hear why you voted the way you did

Thanks!

Where do you want to live? That is, by far, the most important factor in choosing between these schools. Would you prefer to live in Arkansas, Mississippi, Oklahoma, California or Georgia?

After that, I'd eliminate USF and Mercer because of their cost and the competition they face in state, particularly USF (SF cost of living + heavy competition from Stanford/Boalt/Hastings/Santa Clara / etc).

That leaves you with Mississippi, Oklahoma or Arkansas. I would say at this point, make your choice based on location and cost. You should DEFINITELY see how easy it is to get in state after 1L at any of these schools and, IMO, that should play a large role in your choice.

I will now add in the obligatory warning against attending a T2 at sticker price with the caveat that, should you want to work in any of these states, in-state at most of these schools seems quite reasonable and COL will probably be on the lower side.

If you do NOT want to live and practice in Arkansas, Mississippi, Oklahoma, California or Georgia, then you should re-take and re-apply to schools in your desired geographic area.

Good luck I'm voting Arkansas, just 'cause.

I would choose between OU and Arkansas.

I'd say OU if you had to pick. But good luck tapping into the robust Texas market because people, even older people like the CFO @ my job, haaaaateee OU.

@snapdragon:

I agree about Mercer and USF. I've already unofficially scratched them off my list of reasonable possibilities.

@everyone:

Each school and its location is appealing to me for different reasons. I didn't initially elaborate on the specific reasons because I'm mostly curious about the appeal each school has from an outsider's perspective, from the perspective of others that regularly research different law schools around the country.

-- I have some family in Arkansas and wouldn't mind living there. Fayetteville is a cool town in a very pretty area... and I like the SEC.

-- Oklahoma would keep us the closest to my wife's family. I've never been a huge Sooners fan but I think I could become one and that we would be happy living in OKC upon graduation. With my numbers, I can't help but feel lucky that OU even considered me. Also, I've always found tornadoes and baseball-sized hail very appealing.

-- I don't have ties to Mississippi but my wife and I are ready for a change of scenery and wouldn't mind moving a little further East. Ole Miss is an impressive and very traditional school... and I like the SEC

When did OU slip to the T2?

I chose Mississippi simply because I would rather live there than any of the other places. Great town for traveling back in time w/ southern hospitality, and during football season the atmosphere is great. School is very respected in the state...might as well be Harvard as far as the locals are concerned. That said, I would never encourage anyone to move to MS w/o visiting first. It's not for everyone. Good luck!

I chose Oklahoma because I'm from there, and would be fine living in Tulsa again for awhile.

YMMV.

bartleby wrote:I'd say OU if you had to pick. But good luck tapping into the robust Texas market because people, even older people like the CFO @ my job, haaaaateee OU.

Is this a Dallas job?

I voted for OU. I went there for undergrad. The law school has some great facilities and David Boren, the President of OU, does a lot to bring in some great people. That said, you have to accept that you'll be limited to OKlahoma and adjacent states, mainly Arkansas, Kansas, and Texas (which is difficult to get). There are basically two large sized firms you can aim for in Oklahoma: Crowe Dunlevy and McAfee Taft. Outside of that it's all smaller, local firms. So as other people have said in here, choose where you want to live.

Also you should clearly choose OU because you'll get student football tickets

Oklahoma does have one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country, and the Thunder look like they'll be a contender for the next decade...

Flips88 wrote:I voted for OU. I went there for undergrad. The law school has some great facilities and David Boren, the President of OU, does a lot to bring in some great people. That said, you have to accept that you'll be limited to OKlahoma and adjacent states, mainly Arkansas, Kansas, and Texas (which is difficult to get). There are basically two large sized firms you can aim for in Oklahoma: Crowe Dunlevy and McAfee Taft. Outside of that it's all smaller, local firms. So as other people have said in here, choose where you want to live.

Also you should clearly choose OU because you'll get student football tickets

It has always bugged me that the "University of Oklahoma" is abbreviated OU. Shouldn't it be...UO?

What is it... the helmets?

Percent of 2009 Grads Working as Full Time Lawyers (source: http://www.lawschooltransparency.com)
Arkansas (Fayetville) - 61.9%
Mercer - 58.9%
USF - 26.3%
Mississippi - 66.5%
Oklahoma - 59.5%

So USF is obviously out. The others all pretty close so pick the cheapest one or the one in the area you want to be.

danquayle wrote:

Flips88 wrote:I voted for OU. I went there for undergrad. The law school has some great facilities and David Boren, the President of OU, does a lot to bring in some great people. That said, you have to accept that you'll be limited to OKlahoma and adjacent states, mainly Arkansas, Kansas, and Texas (which is difficult to get). There are basically two large sized firms you can aim for in Oklahoma: Crowe Dunlevy and McAfee Taft. Outside of that it's all smaller, local firms. So as other people have said in here, choose where you want to live.

Also you should clearly choose OU because you'll get student football tickets

It has always bugged me that the "University of Oklahoma" is abbreviated OU. Shouldn't it be...UO?

What is it... the helmets?

A lot of schools in the middle part of the country do this. CU=U of Colorado, etc

Also, if you have any interest in doing legal work in the energy sector, Oklahoma is a clear choice. Chesapeake and Devon are headquartered here and do tons of work on oil/natural gas/wind energy stuff. I'm sure they have in house legal counsel. I'm not sure about Devon, but Chesapeake gets rave reviews for how it treats its employees.

Just some input on Mercer- I would only go there if you are certain you want to practice in GA. It works for me because half of the lawyers in my city graduated from there (the other half: UGA).

Though I do know of a top ~5% of the class grad who is clerking in Texas, the overwhelming majority of Mercer grads stay in GA.

Best of luck

EDIT: I voted Ole Miss because it's probably got the best bang for your buck concerning local reputation
after your first year (assuming you do 1L summer work in state) tuition drops from around $22k to around $9k

But you know...San Fran is one of the best cities in the world. I wouldn't mind being unemployed there.

danquayle wrote:But you know...San Fran is one of the best cities in the world. I wouldn't mind being unemployed there.

The bums outside my office building seem to be doing okay here.

bk187 wrote:

danquayle wrote:But you know...San Fran is one of the best cities in the world. I wouldn't mind being unemployed there.

The bums outside my office building seem to be doing okay here.

If I had to choose 1 city to be a bum in, San Francisco might be the one!

...this may call for a new poll.

NOT Ole Miss if you don't have family or are not from there. MS is incredibly parochial.

It's official, I'm going to OU this Fall! Thanks for your votes!

gjr8891 wrote:It's official, I'm going to OU this Fall! Thanks for your votes!

Boomer sooner

Where do you want to live & work ?

P.S. Interesting combination of schools. San Francisco & Mississippi without being a resident of either suggests an adventurous personality.

CanadianWolf wrote:Where do you want to live & work ?

P.S. Interesting combination of schools. San Francisco & Mississippi without being a resident of either suggests an adventurous personality.

Decisions already been made.

mrtoren wrote:

CanadianWolf wrote:Where do you want to live & work ?

P.S. Interesting combination of schools. San Francisco & Mississippi without being a resident of either suggests an adventurous personality.

Decisions already been made.

I'm pretty open-minded when it comes to where I want to live and work upon graduation from law school. I guess I chose such an interesting combinations of schools to apply to because of this open-mindedness.

But yes, the decision has been made. In the end, OU made the most sense. It's a great school, it keeps me the closest to family, and I have a couple of possible connections in OKC.