Choosing a school from overseas Forum

[thecactus]

I'm sure there are many TLSers in the same boat as me -- living abroad and unable to come back to the States to visit schools, talk to students, or admissions staff. Obviously places like TLS have proved to be valuable resources in deciding where to go. I've also been contacting admissions staff and student ambassadors through email, but it's hard to get a truly honest description of different schools.

So for everyone living overseas -- how are you making your decisions? Will you feel weird deciding on a school without visiting it?

[topper10s]

I'm in the same boat. I visited two schools I'm applying to, and I'm hoping I can get in to both of them so I don't have to make a blind choice. One of the school's I've seen, I've been accepted to which is great. But for other schools that I haven't seen but would want to go to if accepted, I've been going back to past threads from their application classes to read what they had to say. I've been doing lots of google searchin to find out things about each school too. The thread with 2009 employment stats with charts has been a good way of getting an idea of where you'd have to graduate to realistically find a good job.

I feel the same way as well though that information from school websites and ambassadors could be pretty biased. It's going to end up being a leap of faith...

[topper10s]

On a side note, taking the LSAT overseas and not being able to see what questions I got wrong is a major pain. I tested higher than my PT's actually, but have no way of knowing what I messed up on. Too bad simply being overseas means LSAC doesn't disclose your test answers. Just had to get that off my chest

[hopeful234]

I understand what you mean, I'm teaching English in China until June. Being abroad, trying to decide between my very expensive reach school or scholarship $$, having no idea where I want to eventually practice law (I'm from CA, my bf was born and raised in Philly), and being interested in PI/environmental law, but not 100% set on it, makes deciding on a law school pretty difficult. I've been depending on TLS for a lot of info, but I've also looked at the NALP directory to see what firms do OCI at which schools, Law Clerk Addict for data on clerking, and Craigslist to gauge cost of living. I find myself using google images a lot, and I've looked at the websites of firms I would be interested in to see where their lawyers went to school. Good luck!

[nsbane]

*edit*

[thecactus]

I'm teaching math at a private school in Xi'an. One of my students is from Gansu. I'm also originally from CA, so this weather is kicking my butt.

I'm a little worried about finding housing in the city I do end up deciding to go to school in. Since my BF and I will be living together, I've asked him to check out apartments for me. If I end up going to school all the way across the country, he may have to fly out to the East Coast, which would be very inconvenient for him. I kinda wish I can send him to ASW on my behalf, lol.