Top Law Schools

I am looking seriously at these two school as well as others. I just wanted to see what people have to say about either since they are so close together. Some input would be nice Thanks in advance!!

If your goal is to work at a firm in KC, your margin for error is better (though not great) at KU.

Absolutely whichever is cheaper. All things equal, KU should carry a slightly stronger reputation so there over UMKC.

In which ways is it slightly stronger? Like teachers/academics, programs, activities, connections?

Absolutely ku, assuming tuition is simular. KU job prospects aren't good but are better

splitmuch wrote:Absolutely ku, assuming tuition is simular. KU job prospects aren't good but are better

oh rly?

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According to LST, UMKC placed 10 percent more into long term, full time, bar passage required jobs. Threads like these now should just link to that site. I am sick of "seats of our pants" and "gut reaction" type wisdom and advice on TLS.

Thank you for the link! I really appreciate it

Ashbar311 wrote:Thank you for the link! I really appreciate it

No prob!

My advice was related to Kc big law. Those employers will go deeper in to Kus class than UMKCs. At the lower ranked schools, part of the variance is probably people taking noon law h
Jobs that post a well our better than the bottom of the full time jd required ones

SuperCerealBrah wrote:

splitmuch wrote:Absolutely ku, assuming tuition is simular. KU job prospects aren't good but are better

oh rly?

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According to LST, UMKC placed 10 percent more into long term, full time, bar passage required jobs. Threads like these now should just link to that site. I am sick of "seats of our pants" and "gut reaction" type wisdom and advice on TLS.

Ashbar311 wrote:I am looking seriously at these two school as well as others. I just wanted to see what people have to say about either since they are so close together. Some input would be nice Thanks in advance!!

52% of the graduating class of 2011 of The University of Kansas School of Law found long term jobs that require a JD:

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61% of the graduating class of 2011 of the UMKC school of law found long term jobs that require a JD:

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So. I probably wouldn't go to either if I had to pay sticker. If it were free, and I really, really, really wanted to be a lawyer, and these were my only two options, I would go to UMKC.

splitmuch wrote:My advice was related to Kc big law. Those employers will go deeper in to Kus class than UMKCs. At the lower ranked schools, part of the variance is probably people taking noon law h
Jobs that post a well our better than the bottom of the full time jd required ones

SuperCerealBrah wrote:

splitmuch wrote:Absolutely ku, assuming tuition is simular. KU job prospects aren't good but are better

oh rly?

--LinkRemoved--

--LinkRemoved--
_=
According to LST, UMKC placed 10 percent more into long term, full time, bar passage required jobs. Threads like these now should just link to that site. I am sick of "seats of our pants" and "gut reaction" type wisdom and advice on TLS.

lol Oh Rly?

well, according to LST KUs biglaw score is 4.8% and UMKC's is 7.8% so it looks like you are wrong about KUs deeper placement into big firms as well. So was this another "common sense gut feeling" statement or is that based off real data that you actually know of? Regardless, Biglaw placement between the 2 schools is irrelevant. OP should not assume he will land a big firm job from either school because he has a greater than 90% chance of not landing one.

Also, your second sentence...lolwut?

SuperCerealBrah wrote:

splitmuch wrote:My advice was related to Kc big law. Those employers will go deeper in to Kus class than UMKCs. At the lower ranked schools, part of the variance is probably people taking noon law h
Jobs that post a well our better than the bottom of the full time jd required ones

SuperCerealBrah wrote:

splitmuch wrote:Absolutely ku, assuming tuition is simular. KU job prospects aren't good but are better

oh rly?

--LinkRemoved--

--LinkRemoved--
_=
According to LST, UMKC placed 10 percent more into long term, full time, bar passage required jobs. Threads like these now should just link to that site. I am sick of "seats of our pants" and "gut reaction" type wisdom and advice on TLS.

lol Oh Rly?

well, according to LST KUs biglaw score is 4.8% and UMKC's is 7.8% so it looks like you are wrong about KUs deeper placement into big firms as well. So was this another "common sense gut feeling" statement or is that based off real data that you actually know of? Regardless, Biglaw placement between the 2 schools is irrelevant. OP should not assume he will land a big firm job from either school because he has a greater than 90% chance of not landing one.

Also, your second sentence...lolwut?

Its from working at KC big law this summer and talking to the legal recruiting people. Regardless, I trust statistics more than anecdotal evidence; perhaps the KU preference was firm-specific.

Second sentence- typing on my phone, apologize for incoherence.

OP: Given stats, I change my advice to:all things equal,choose UMKC, all things not equal, go to whichever is cheaper.

Regarding the "statistics over anecdotal evidence", that is definitely good. I think you are probably right regarding firm preferences. Between the two schools in KC, it would not surprise me at all that it is very firm specific.

Those employment stats are pretty surprising (in the sense that UMKC comes out ahead). With that said....go with whatever is the cheapest between KU/Washburn/UMKC if KS is where you want to be. You're probably not getting biglaw from any of the above.

It wouldn't surprise me if it were closer than the stats suggest. KU is one of the cheaper law schools in the country and draws a disproportionate amount of students from outside of KS/MO. I think in the old KU law dean taking questions thread he pointed out that nearly half were out of staters. My gut feeling is that UMKC has a significantly higher portion of its class come from KS/MO than half.

Point being that OOS students going to KU are probably categorically fucked. KU isn't going to take the vast majority of its grads any further than KS/MO and it has ~half of its class presumably trying to sell the KU name on the coasts with little luck or trying to sell their coastal ties in KS/MO with less luck. So if you look at KS/MO folks at each school and figure out their employment stats, I imagine KU performs stronger than LST suggests.

That's speculation of course but I am intimately familiar with KU so I'm not completely pulling the above out of my ass.