Top Law Schools

If you were in at all three, which would you choose and why?

Under what circumstances would you choose one of the others?

It would depend largely on $$; wouldn't go to either sticker.. but scholarships being similar or equal, I'd go to BC. Better employment stats, very strong in Boston/New England and seems to be doing better than BU. DC has more competition in general so I think it makes it a little tougher on GW grads.

IIRC, GW places more into big law than BC/BU, if that's what you want. Could be wrong, not on my computer right now.

GW and BC are basically tied for big law (BC is slightly higher.. less than 1% higher so basically even) and but both had better results than BU. Based on LST, however GW has a much better underemployment score.

BU BC and GW biglaw placements are within a narrow band of each other. Sure, every year one might stand out or one might drop below, but who knows which one it'll be? Besides, the difference in placement is so small it shouldn't factor into your decision. If you'd rather live in DC, go to GW, otherwise visit both and choose whichever you prefer (assuming money is the same)

For biglaw, BC>Bu>GW. However, the statistics are so close you should really decide where you ant to practice after you graduate:

If you want the northeast, go to BC.
If you want the mid-Atlantic, go to GW.

http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticleNL ... 2543436520

Depends on money, where you want to work after graduation, and where you want to live for 3 years. They are more or less peers. I actually like all 3.

AlanShore wrote:GW and BC are basically tied for big law (BC is slightly higher.. less than 1% higher so basically even) and but both had better results than BU. Based on LST, however GW has a much better underemployment score.

Note that GW is likely significantly understated because the long-term, full-time school funded jobs at GW were $15/hr for 35 hours per week for a maximum of one year. GW arguably could have an underemployment score of 23.7% -- we haven't counted long-term, full-time school funded jobs as underemployed because some of those jobs might be jobs like CSO or admissions staff, or GC for the school.

This is still much lower than BU, but about the same as BC.

Correct me if I am wrong but isn't a large part of GW's graduating class going into IP every year. If so this makes GW a lot less attractive to those of us that aren't/can't go into IP. It seems like this could lower their employment rating if you control for IP jobs.

It's hard to separate myth from reality enough to know either way. Lots of schools claim to specialize, or at least provide a great path to certain specialties, but never back it up with data other than course selection.

Nickg415 wrote:Correct me if I am wrong but isn't a large part of GW's graduating class going into IP every year. If so this makes GW a lot less attractive to those of us that aren't/can't go into IP. It seems like this could lower their employment rating if you control for IP jobs.

This is what I struggled the hardest with when deciding whether or not I should go to GW. On the surface from browsing TLS, it looks like a lot of the ~20% large firm score is made up from IP kids. It's just hard to tell exactly how much more difficult it is to get a market (or close to it) paying job for non-IP students at GW.

What ranking do you have to get at each of these schools to make getting Chicago BigLaw a possibility--top 10%? top 20%? top 30%? Assuming ties to Chicago. Are any of them stronger than the other two in the Midwest?

M458 wrote:What ranking do you have to get at each of these schools to make getting Chicago BigLaw a possibility--top 10%? top 20%? top 30%? Assuming ties to Chicago. Are any of them stronger than the other two in the Midwest?

Don't attend any of these if you want to end up in Chicago.
Put simply, you need to be at least top 30% to have a chance at biglaw in either Boston or DC, depending on the school. Anything less than top 10% will be a serious struggle

BC is probably more national than the other two, but like another poster said, you should be looking at schools in or around Chicago if that is where you want to end up. GW if you want DC, BC if you want the northeast, maybe ND if you want Chicago.

If you got into BC, BU or GW, you can definitely get into ND.

Thanks for the input to both of you! I actually haven't even applied to any of the three and don't really plan on it, but just in case things don't work out in the T-14 + next 4, I have considered throwing an app to one of them later in the cycle. I'm in the position of being an International student, and since I can't get Federal loans and parents can't help w/ law school, I pretty much need a substantial scholarship to attend. Seems like if I strike out on scholarship money at the T-14, Notre Dame might be my next best bet.

I would absolutely take the full ride ED to either BU or GWU, certainly over a couple T14s (GULC, Michigan, NU) at sticker. Heck, I might even take GWU ED over UVA/Cornell at sticker.

Other than that, I wouldn't go for any one of these three.

EDIT> I didn't see that you were an international. ED to either GWU/BU, or else NU (they also have a full ride, but it's probably out of your sights). Internationals get almost no scholarship money according to LSN. :\

twentypercentmore wrote:I would absolutely take the full ride ED to either BU or GWU, certainly over a couple T14s (GULC, Michigan, NU) at sticker. Heck, I might even take GWU ED over UVA/Cornell at sticker.

Other than that, I wouldn't go for any one of these three.

EDIT> I didn't see that you were an international. ED to either GWU/BU, or else NU (they also have a full ride, but it's probably out of your sights). Internationals get almost no scholarship money according to LSN. :\

Hey--thanks again (I actually think you've responded with some helpful advice to one of my "What are my chances?" threads). I don't think I'm your typical International student, as I actually do live in Chicago and grew up and went to undergrad here so I do have a GPA (and should be to my benefit, as it's a 3.9x); I even work here on a work visa, I'm just not a citizen or resident yet. I actually did exactly what you suggested and applied ED to NU. Besides the $50k/year, it's also here in Chicago and I would be psyched to go there. Just waiting to hear back from them. I know there's not too many similar applicants in the past few years (I've looked on LSN), so I'm not sure what to expect in terms of admissions and also scholarships. I've already gotten into Duke and should hear back from NU very soon (above the 75th on GPA, 169 LSAT, and I have the work experience--fingers crossed). I'm just trying to think of a back-up plan if I don't get enough scholarships at any of my top choices.

twentypercentmore wrote:I would absolutely take the full ride ED to either BU or GWU, certainly over a couple T14s (GULC, Michigan, NU) at sticker. Heck, I might even take GWU ED over UVA/Cornell at sticker.

Other than that, I wouldn't go for any one of these three.

I agree with you that I wouldn't go to any of these schools without a full ride, but the bolded makes me go unless it is based on personal preference. The implication to me is that you see Cornell and UVa to be better bets than NW. NW actually places better than its intra-T14 tier of Duke, Cornell, and GULC. NW would be the only one of that tier at which I'd consider paying sticker. I believe NW also does better than UVa in big law. I generally find UVa to be overrated.

The way I see it is: Y/S/H, C/C, N, P/NW, V/M/B/D/C, G

See if you can get the T14, particularly in the upper midwest (Chicago, Northwestern, Mich, etc.).

If not, I would apply to schools in the top 20 of the NLJ 250 list that are in the upper midwest. While BC is ranked much higher than other schools outside of the T14 for biglaw placement, that is linked to their strong placement in Boston and NYC. Not their placement in Chicago. If you want chicago, you should drop down the list to the next handful of schools that are in or around the Chicago area. These include ND, WUSTL, Illinois, Minnesota, etc. You should be able to get some aid fro these schools if you are competitive for the T20 on the NLJ250 list.


http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticleNL ... slreturn=1

Informative wrote:BC is probably more national.

dingbat wrote:

Informative wrote:BC is probably more national.

+1

BC is NOT more national. Look at these maps:

http://www.lstscorereports.com/?school= ... b=location

http://www.lstscorereports.com/?school= ... b=location

BC is a very good school if you want to work in Boston. BU is as well, but will have a little more reach, especially into NY.

Never seen that site before. Thanks for sharing that.

Interesting to see 10.5% vs. 12.1% in unemployment. Fairly close statistically.

I also noted that BU places better in middle America other than Chicago while BC places better on the west coast, the midatlantic, and chicago. So yeah, maybe not more national from a specific definitional standpoint, but I think you'd be hard pressed to find too many people who go to BC or BU really looking to move to middle America.

Also, the OP was looking for placement in Chicago. BC places better there according to your link.

I still think if you look at ND, it places better in Chicago than either school, although it doesn't have a major market into which it places a majority of its students:

http://www.lstscorereports.com/?school= ... b=location

If the OP wants Chicago, ND is probably a better option than BC or BU.

Statistically, the difference between a BU and BC degree making it to Chicago are about the same...the chances are very very small. ND places a much bigger portion of their class into Chicago.

Keep in mind that BU placed 30 more students in school-funded jobs than BC. This might be the reason why they're spread out more (people going home to work for free).

Ultimately, I think it's right to say that the BC/BU distinction isn't terribly important.

Yup:

ND - 10% in IL
BC - 1.4% in IL
BU - 1.1% in IL