Top Law Schools

So about a month and a half ago I posted a similar topic with W&L vs. Tulane when they offered the same amount. I declined $20k/yr then, but they just came back with another offer of $25k. To make matters more interesting, I was just admitted off of the waitlist for Notre Dame and they offered $10k.

Here's the link to the previous posting: http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 1&t=154190

If you're too lazy to read through the other thread- I don't blame you- here's a quick rundown:

I do have aspirations in the international legal realm and I think I have a complementary skill set to do so- however I also realize these jobs may be close to nonexistent, if not nonexistent. While I'm on unrealistic dreams, I also wouldn't mind eventually working in academia, and I realize this is hard even for HYS and gets almost exponentially harder the farther down the list you go.

Outside of this, I think there are many aspects of law I would enjoy practicing, so I'm not particularly partial to big law, government work, etc.

I'm also not set on working in a particular area, however I want the flexibility to move. I would equally like to work abroad as I would in NYC, Austin, San Francisco, Portland, New Orleans, Seattle, Chicago, and I'm sure there are more where I wouldn't mind working for at least a while.

I once found a link to a pdf that had schools rated by how regional/national they were. I think the schools were either classified as "Top Regional Schools" or "Top National Schools" and each school had ratings for student placement after graduation for each region. I cannot for the life of me find it. Anyone here have a link?

Thanks in advance for any insight you can offer.

ND isnt worth it with the other schollys you have.

MeetMyBackhand wrote:Outside of this [international legal realm], I think there are many aspects of law I would enjoy practicing, so I'm not particularly partial to big law, government work, etc.

I'm also not set on working in a particular area, however I want the flexibility to move. I would equally like to work abroad as I would in NYC, Austin, San Francisco, Portland, New Orleans, Seattle, Chicago, and I'm sure there are more where I wouldn't mind working for at least a while.

I think Washington & Lee is probably the most balanced choice.

Scholarship stipulations?

Well I know that none of Notre Dame's scholarships come with a stipulation. In any case, this is tough but I'd probably go with W&L. NDLS outplaces both by a fairly wide margin in biglaw, but COL will be super cheap in Lexington and since you're open to living in a lot of places, I suppose you can handle the mid Atlantic. If you have any questions about ND, feel free to PM me.

ndirish2010 wrote:Well I know that none of Notre Dame's scholarships come with a stipulation.

I'm pretty sure W&L's do, though.

Gecko of Doom wrote:

ndirish2010 wrote:Well I know that none of Notre Dame's scholarships come with a stipulation.

I'm pretty sure W&L's do, though.

If I can remember, it was like a 3.0 stip for W&L.

That sounds about right. I have no idea how they curve, though. OP, I would look into that before you make any decisions. If the stips seem reasonable, W&L is probably the way to go. Otherwise, I'd go with ND.

It may be too late, but if you ask ND for more money they might be willing to accomodate you.

Thanks for the advice. Seems odd that more people voted for ND even though more responded in favor of W&L.

Scholly stips:

ND: Remain in good standing.

W&L: 3.15 GPA, but if I remember correctly when I visited I believe some students told me they curve to a B+...

Tulane: Not sure- the correspondence has been primarily by phone.


I forgot to mention I'm out $1500 on seat deposits with W&L (which in the grand scheme of things is marginal), and I'm sure W&L and Tulane are at their limit for scholarships for me... I've done what I've could already. I haven't tried to up ND, as I only found out this morning about my acceptance and scholarship, and I have until Tuesday to make a decision so there's still some time to see if they can up it.

Any other input?

Is this what you were looking for?
http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 1&t=150843

Anyway, I vote ND

No, but thanks- that's really similar and also interesting. The pdf may have been found off another law school message board, but it had ratings for each school in each region, including the region they're located in, not just an overall score.

I would get a list of the cities you are interested in and do a martindale search for alumni from each school to see what cities they work in. Then you could compare the number of alumni from each school that work in the cities you are interested in. That is the best scientific way to handle this.

Also, I would remove W&L unless you want VA badly. You didn't list any cities in VA on your list, but you listed New Orleans. It would be between Notre Dame and Tulane. Then you would have to consider how much you want to pay and what would happen if you were not able to secure employment outside of the state of your school. Would you rather be in South Bend or New Orleans?

ND

Thanks for all your responses.

Aberzombie, those are some really good ideas... I did a Martindale search like you suggested and the results were intriguing. Tulane had more grads in NYC and SF than did the other two schools, but ND beat out in other areas like Portland, Chicago. Washington & Lee had a decent presence in all of these places, but they also have a much smaller class size to begin with. I also have close to no idea about how active Tulane's alumni help recent grads find work, but from what I've heard W&L's is extremely strong because of it's small size and the necessity of grads to find work outside of Lexington and VA. I've also heard ND's is good but I have no idea.

I don't have much desire to work in VA, but could possibly see myself in D.C. As far as location of the school I would rather be in New Orleans for three years, but the mountains of VA have grown on me the more I think about it. I know very little about South Bend other than what I've read on TLS and a few posts. Anyone know if it isn't as boring as I think it might be? (I like the outdoors...)

It also appears as though job prospects aren't as good for those graduating from Tulane as they are for W&L and ND, going off % employed after graduation and after 9 months, but I realize these figures are oftentimes skewed.

Do you guys really think $30,000 over 3 years is worth the jump up to ND? If so, why? I'm genuinely curious here.