Top Law Schools

I thought my only option was to go to American University as a part-time student. Two days ago, however, SMU gave me an acceptance call for their part-time program and they threw $12,000 per year into the deal. Since it's a part-time program, which would be completed in four years, that's a total of $48,000. Yesterday, GSU told me that they expect to offer seats off of their waitlist for the part-time program and wanted to know if I would be interested (I'm on their priority waitlist).
I currently live in Atlanta and even though I own a really nice condo here, I am not too crazy about the city, so moving is desirable in order to escape this city but also a burden because I need to deal with my real estate.
I am most interested in maximizing my employment prospects. I want to get a job paying more than $100,000 as a first-year associate immediately following law school. I think I would be interested in IP law although healthcare law and corporate law may be interesting to pursue as well.
For me, I don't think there would be a huge difference between living in Dallas vs. living in D.C. I think D.C. has a bit more glamour and is a more international city than Dallas but my buying power in Dallas would be much greater than in D.C. Living in Atlanta offers the plus of my condo and being close to family; however, I don't like the city that much.
Really, I care about getting a good-paying job, then getting a good-paying job, and lastly, getting a good-paying job in IP law/healthcare law/corporate law.
So which one would you choose?

Those schools only give you like a 15%-20% shot at the biglaw firms that pay the biglaw bucks, so retake or adjust your career goals.

see: http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 1&t=183053

I think 15-20% chance of getting "biglaw" are pretty good odds. I find no need to adjust my career goals at the moment. Of course many people will disagree with me, especially in this forum. Maybe if I were to find out that law school is not going favorably, then I would adjust my career goals, but my goals are attainable from my current opportunities.

chraruce wrote:I think 15-20% chance of getting "biglaw" are pretty good odds.

lulz

Please make intelligent posts which are focused on the topic.
Thanks.

And what I mean is this: if you have no concept of what "a priori" or "a posteriori" mean or how they are related to probabilities or if you have no idea how Bayesian probabilities work, then please don't try to mock my statement. I believe that an a priori probability of 15-20% is pretty good, especially knowing what I know about myself and about law schools (the a posteriori).

chraruce wrote:And what I mean is this: if you have no concept of what "a priori" or "a posteriori" mean or how they are related to probabilities or if you have no idea how Bayesian probabilities work, then please don't try to mock my statement. I believe that an a priori probability of 15-20% is pretty good, especially knowing what I know about myself and about law schools (the a posteriori).

chraruce wrote:And what I mean is this: if you have no concept of what "a priori" or "a posteriori" mean or how they are related to probabilities or if you have no idea how Bayesian probabilities work, then please don't try to mock my statement. I believe that an a priori probability of 15-20% is pretty good, especially knowing what I know about myself and about law schools (the a posteriori).

This poast made me cringe

chraruce wrote:And what I mean is this: if you have no concept of what "a priori" or "a posteriori" mean or how they are related to probabilities or if you have no idea how Bayesian probabilities work, then please don't try to mock my statement. I believe that an a priori probability of 15-20% is pretty good, especially knowing what I know about myself and about law schools (the a posteriori).

Please do not go to SMU. Thank you.

Why do you say that Kalvano? Do you think SMU is not good enough for my interests?

chraruce wrote:And what I mean is this: if you have no concept of what "a priori" or "a posteriori" mean or how they are related to probabilities or if you have no idea how Bayesian probabilities work, then please don't try to mock my statement. I believe that an a priori probability of 15-20% is pretty good, especially knowing what I know about myself and about law schools (the a posteriori).

This post is a trollocaust.

chraruce wrote:Please make intelligent posts which are focused on the topic.
Thanks.

First off, rad lulz is right. You and everyone else will go in thinking youll make top 15 percent. Only 15 percent of you will. Those are not good odds.
Second, you mentione ip law. What is your academic background? (ee etc).

I have an EECS degree from MIT. I think I can pass the patent bar and hopefully get a job at a good firm if I decide to go the IP route as long as I get good grades in law school. Also, there is a big difference between what you are saying (that most people will go trying to get to the top), which is correct, and what rad lulz is saying. His "conclusiveness" makes me think that either he will suck at the LSAT or that he will really not do well in law school. Either way, he has no respect from me.
Nonetheless, even though everyone will go in trying to get to the top and only 2 in 10 people will make it, I have my reasons for believing that my chances are not quite 15-20% but more like 30-40%, which are similar chances to what some top law schools offer. However, you may disagree with me about this and that's fair.

Edit: Just had a couple of beers so I hope the above makes some sense!

chraruce wrote:His "conclusiveness" makes me think that either he will suck at the LSAT or that he will really not do well in law school.

Well shucks then

OP: Compare total COA for each school. GSU should be very inexpensive for a Georgia resident. SMU is a great school in a nice location & the Texas economy is healthy & growing. American is too expensive for what it offers.

chraruce wrote:Why do you say that Kalvano? Do you think SMU is not good enough for my interests?

Mainly because I don't want there to be an off chance we are in the same class.

Canadian Wolf, your comment is important. Tuition at GSU is about $12,000 per year for in-state. Tuition at SMU is about $33,000 minus the $12,000 scholly = $21,000. American ends up being the most expensive of them all at $36,000 by virtue of the lack of scholly and in-state tuition. The cost of living ends up being relatively comparable between the 3 (although D.C. ends up being just a bit more expensive overall).
So you're right in that financially, GSU makes the most sense by about $9,000 per year.
The big question is this. I know SMU dominates the Dallas market and it's very strong in Texas, which has a healthy economy. GSU has an ok placement in Atlanta and I think that's about it. Do the savings of $9,000 per year offset the weaker employment prospects offered by GSU? That's about $36,000 for four years. It's significant and I'm not sure what the right answer is although I'm leaning towards the better firm placement by SMU.

Hey Kalvano, I thought classmates were supposed to always push each other forward. Well, at least that's how I work. You should be happy to have a quantitatively brilliant engineer joining your school's community
I'll be happy to have an offensive troll as my classmate if I join SMU.
I kid. I'm sure you have plenty of good things to contribute if SMU offered you admission.

Edit for clarity

OP sounds like he'll get into a lot bar fights in Dallas. He'll go up to some jacked guy and say "Hey, I've calculated I have a 15-20% chance of kicking your ass. Those are pretty good odds."

SMU is a very highly regarded law school in Texas. GSU does well in Atlanta. Texas is a strong & growing economy, whereas Atlanta is a tough legal market.

In my opinion, SMU is worth the higher price if you want to live & work in Texas after finishing law school.

Ummm no, Repartee... Because given the a posteriori information (i.e. that I'm a scrawny nerd), I know that my probabilities are MUCH lower than 15% of kicking anybody's ass.
That made me laugh quite a bit though.

Canadian Wolf, I think your input has been great and I truly appreciate it.

Are you a splitter by the way? SMU, GSU, and American are all pretty splitter friendly. I honestly suggest waiting and retaking with ample study time so that next year your dilemma is about three full time programs with schollys. Maybe you'll even be able to get into UGA or Emory. EECS is great, and it'll be that much better from a good full time program.

Repartee, your suggestion is very valid. In fact, I toyed around with this idea for the past 3 months: to delay or not to delay. After much deliberation and consulting with old classmates, friends, and family, I decided to go ahead and not wait the year. This may be the wrong choice and I'm convinced that the TLS forum consensus dictates that I should retake. I honestly think the benefits of waiting would not outweigh the sacrifices. This decision was reached by evaluating my personal situation.

However, everyone is different, and if anyone is reading this trying to make a decision for themselves, I would urge them to consider retaking the LSAT. If my working conditions were a bit more favorable and more conducive towards giving me some free time (for LSAT prepping) I would wait out this cycle. However, I'm afraid that my LSAT score will repeat itself as long as I continue with my current job.

chraruce wrote: sure you have plenty of good things to contribute if SMU offered you admission.

If only they would.....


*sigh*

Cheer up Kalvano, I'm sure SMU would love to have you. Look at the bright side. If you were a student at SMU, imagine how stressful it would be right now with finals and other things coming up.