American University Washington College of Law Forum

[treenapolits]

Other than employment statistics and prestige,
what do you think of American University's law school?
Campus, location and travel, atmosphere, student body, professors, internships, city culture, etc?

[cahwc12]

[treenapolits]

Thanks.

[untar614]

Other than employment statistics and prestige,
what do you think of American University's law school?



student body

As of last year's class, people who are not good at looking at statistics and forming good cost-benefit analyses

professors

dunno

internships

the kind that don't lead to lawyer jobs. If you're interested in political stuff, there are better routes - try working for a congressman or something

Campus, location and travel, atmosphere, city culture, etc?

that's just being in DC. Why not just move to DC then?

[nickb285]

Other than employment statistics the only thing that actually matters and prestige,
what do you think of American University's law school?
Campus, location and travel, atmosphere, student body, professors, internships, city culture, etc? A bunch of shit that either doesn't matter, or is identical to/worse than schools with better employment numbers?

[nickb285]

Also, you've been posting the same questions for like a week now in several different subforums. YOU ARE NOT GOING TO GET THE ANSWER YOU WERE HOPING TO HEAR. AMERICAN IS A BAD IDEA. EVERYONE HERE WILL TELL YOU THAT. Either listen to the answers and advice to the questions you've asked, or just admit that you're determined to go to American and nobody will change your mind, and stop asking the same damn question over and over waiting for someone to tell you what you want to hear. We're not here to validate your poor decisions; if you need that, try Facebook.

[treenapolits]

Hi Nick,

I'm looking for information on the school, and hoping someone will be able to provide me that. I'm not asking for validation to attend or not attend the school, merely asking for information on it from people who know about it. If you are not familiar with the school and campus itself, I am not interested in the information you are able to provide me with. Thanks for your understanding.

[PRgradBYU]

Other than employment statistics the only thing that actually matters and prestige,
what do you think of American University's law school?
Campus, location and travel, atmosphere, student body, professors, internships, city culture, etc? A bunch of shit that either doesn't matter, or is identical to/worse than schools with better employment numbers?

Looks like OP is trying to talk him-/herself into attending AU while ignoring what matters most.

[treenapolits]

What I am looking for is first-hand accounts of the school, its educational quality and academic culture. Since it's a fairly small school, this is unlikely to happen on a forum of this nature. I appreciate all posters' attempts to help, however.

[nickb285]

Hi Nick,

I'm looking for information on the school, and hoping someone will be able to provide me that. I'm not asking for validation to attend or not attend the school, merely asking for information on it from people who know about it. If you are not familiar with the school and campus itself, I am not interested in the information you are able to provide me with. Thanks for your understanding.

The only information on the school that matters is what your job prospects look like and how much you'll be paying for it. Everything else is secondary. You know when it's a good time to ask questions about how pretty the campus is or what kind of "atmosphere" the classes have? When you have two or more good offers, at schools with good job prospects, and you're trying to choose between them. That is the only point where anything except job prospects and indebtedness matters. American is not a school with good job prospects, and you do not have a good offer there. Nobody is going to tell you what you want to hear about American because this is a site dedicated to helping people not screw up their lives, so we're not going to say "Oh yeah, American isn't the best school and nobody has jobs, but I love the city and the campus is really nice and I think the student body is great," because all you're going to hear is "Oh yeah...I love the city and the campus is really nice and I think the student body is great," and you and other 0Ls who refuse the good advice that's been offered to you in every single thread you've made will take that and run with it.

If you really want to know what the place is like, and you don't care about the parts of a school that actually matter, I'm sure their website has some pretty pictures and a way to get in touch with someone who will show you around. Good luck, please don't make another thread asking people to tell you the good parts of a bad decision.

[treenapolits]

In terms of jobs, I am interested in hearing from alumni what sort of jobs people did receive if they were not legal: i.e. were they professional positions in public interest, law jobs, or something else (or just bartending jobs)? This is important as statistics can be misleading depending on the outcome as compared to another similar school; each school's statistics are determined by its individual context. For example, Roger Williams University has a higher employment rate since it is the only law school in Rhode Island, however, this does not mean the legal education received there is essentially more valuable than another school if one were to attempt to get a legal position in another state.

As this was the wrong topic to post a school-specific question in, I am no longer asking for a reply in this topic.

[nickb285]

http://www.lstscorereports.com/?school=american

Click "Job Characteristics." The important one is the one on the front page--less than 40% of last year's grads got long term, full time jobs in positions that require bar passage. If you want more of a breakdown, it's here:

http://www.lstscorereports.com/?school= ... show=chars

Only 56.6% of grads had ANY kind of long term, full time job. That means barely over half of people who graduated last year could even find a job where they worked 40 hours a week. The rest, presumably, are completely unemployed or bartenders or doing some 20-30 hour/week job for a company that doesn't want to pay for benefits.

It's also worth looking at this:

http://www.lstscorereports.com/?school= ... =employers

To earn enough to pay back what you'll owe American, you'll need to work in a firm of (generously) at least 50 lawyers. That means 10.6% of last year's grads have found jobs making enough to service their loan debt. Reread that number, it's not a typo. 9 out of 10 people who go to American are unemployed or being crushed by debt that they are unable to service.

Given that, "atmosphere" and "culture" are entirely irrelevant.

[rickgrimes69]

The "education" you receive at American will be all but meaningless if you can't find a job, and it is far more likely than not that you won't find one. If you aren't concerned about finding a legal job, just don't go to law school - there is almost zero justifiable rationale if you aren't planning to get a legal job. If you want to work in public interest helping women, go find a public interest job helping women. There are plenty of ways to get into that line of work without a law degree, and most of them are far superior to going to AU Law.

The statistics aren't misleading. They are more transparent and comprehensive than they have ever been, and we have more than enough information to know that American is an objectively terrible school with atrocious employment prospects. The only problem here is you, and your head-in-the-sand refusal to acknowledge this information. Your obvious fishing for validation is an embarrassing display of willful ignorance, and your inability to think logically and critically does not bode well for your career as a lawyer (or even as a law student, since it's unlikely you'll make it any further).

Nobody here is going to validate your life choices. You are making a terrible decision, one that, in all likelihood, will end in abject and irrevocable failure. If you want to go to American, none of us can stop you - but don't expect us to support your choice.

[treenapolits]

Thanks for your well-thought-out and very helpful advice, it is much appreciated.

[timbs4339]

OP: Honest question. This is a school that is placing 35% of its students into legal jobs most of which pay 40-60K. It costs over 250K all-in to go there. If they were placing students into halfway decent non-law careers don't you think they'd be shouting this from the rooftops? Why do you have this abiding faith in what institutions out to take your money tell you?

Campus- It's probably nice, since thousands of students pay obscene amounts of money to go there. Really not going to help you get a job since no employers come to OCI.
Atmosphere- The same as every other goddamn law school
Student body- The same as every other goddamn student body
Professors- The same as all other goddamn law professors. The best indicator of how little they give a shit about you is that they continue to raise tuition when their placement rate is 35%.
Internships- What you'll be getting when you graduate since they can't place their students into jobs
City culture- DC's probably full of douches, but no more so then NY, SF, Boston.

[romothesavior]

The "education" you receive at American will be all but meaningless if you can't find a job, and it is far more likely than not that you won't find one. If you aren't concerned about finding a legal job, just don't go to law school - there is almost zero justifiable rationale if you aren't planning to get a legal job. If you want to work in public interest helping women, go find a public interest job helping women. There are plenty of ways to get into that line of work without a law degree, and most of them are far superior to going to AU Law.

The statistics aren't misleading. They are more transparent and comprehensive than they have ever been, and we have more than enough information to know that American is an objectively terrible school with atrocious employment prospects. The only problem here is you, and your head-in-the-sand refusal to acknowledge this information. Your obvious fishing for validation is an embarrassing display of willful ignorance, and your inability to think logically and critically does not bode well for your career as a lawyer (or even as a law student, since it's unlikely you'll make it any further).

Nobody here is going to validate your life choices. You are making a terrible decision, one that, in all likelihood, will end in abject and irrevocable failure. If you want to go to American, none of us can stop you - but don't expect us to support your choice.

Well said.

I'd still go to Harvard if they taught classes in a cardboard box outside Wal Mart over a "beautiful" and "fun" school like, say Stetson. It's a professional school.

[nickb285]

Perhaps OP would be interested in the Cooley rankings? According to them, American is better than Stanford, Berkeley, Michigan, and Chicago! How could you possibly go wrong?!

[Myself]

It is one of the worst scammers in the law school game.

[shintopig]

Campus- It's probably nice, since thousands of students pay obscene amounts of money to go there. Really not going to help you get a job since no employers come to OCI.
Atmosphere- The same as every other goddamn law school
Student body- The same as every other goddamn student body
Professors- The same as all other goddamn law professors. The best indicator of how little they give a shit about you is that they continue to raise tuition when their placement rate is 35%.
Internships- What you'll be getting when you graduate since they can't place their students into jobs
City culture- DC's probably full of douches, but no more so then NY, SF, Boston.

This guy really sounds like he knows what he's talking about. Doesn't know anything about WCL, but feels free to comment on it as if he really does. Pretty much wrong on all of it.

[stillwater]

Campus- It's probably nice, since thousands of students pay obscene amounts of money to go there. Really not going to help you get a job since no employers come to OCI.
Atmosphere- The same as every other goddamn law school
Student body- The same as every other goddamn student body
Professors- The same as all other goddamn law professors. The best indicator of how little they give a shit about you is that they continue to raise tuition when their placement rate is 35%.
Internships- What you'll be getting when you graduate since they can't place their students into jobs
City culture- DC's probably full of douches, but no more so then NY, SF, Boston.

This guy really sounds like he knows what he's talking about. Doesn't know anything about WCL, but feels free to comment on it as if he really does. Pretty much wrong on all of it.

WCL is a festering TTTT.

[HBBJohnStamos]

Campus- It's probably nice, since thousands of students pay obscene amounts of money to go there. Really not going to help you get a job since no employers come to OCI.
Atmosphere- The same as every other goddamn law school
Student body- The same as every other goddamn student body
Professors- The same as all other goddamn law professors. The best indicator of how little they give a shit about you is that they continue to raise tuition when their placement rate is 35%.
Internships- What you'll be getting when you graduate since they can't place their students into jobs
City culture- DC's probably full of douches, but no more so then NY, SF, Boston.

This guy really sounds like he knows what he's talking about. Doesn't know anything about WCL, but feels free to comment on it as if he really does. Pretty much wrong on all of it.

WCL is a festering TTTT.

[NoodleyOne]

Campus- It's probably nice, since thousands of students pay obscene amounts of money to go there. Really not going to help you get a job since no employers come to OCI.
Atmosphere- The same as every other goddamn law school
Student body- The same as every other goddamn student body
Professors- The same as all other goddamn law professors. The best indicator of how little they give a shit about you is that they continue to raise tuition when their placement rate is 35%.
Internships- What you'll be getting when you graduate since they can't place their students into jobs
City culture- DC's probably full of douches, but no more so then NY, SF, Boston.

This guy really sounds like he knows what he's talking about. Doesn't know anything about WCL, but feels free to comment on it as if he really does. Pretty much wrong on all of it.

Translation:

Campus actually sucks, Atmosphere is worse due to the colossal debt load, same with student body, professors suck, can't even get an internship, and DC is actually worse than NY, SF, and Boston in douche population.

[Yukos]

Re Shintopig: http://top-law-schools.com/forums/viewt ... 2#p5502442

To OP, if you've looked at the Law School Transparency page for AU and you're still considering going there, stay away from any profession that requires analytical thinking.

[shintopig]

Campus- It's probably nice, since thousands of students pay obscene amounts of money to go there. Really not going to help you get a job since no employers come to OCI.
Atmosphere- The same as every other goddamn law school
Student body- The same as every other goddamn student body
Professors- The same as all other goddamn law professors. The best indicator of how little they give a shit about you is that they continue to raise tuition when their placement rate is 35%.
Internships- What you'll be getting when you graduate since they can't place their students into jobs
City culture- DC's probably full of douches, but no more so then NY, SF, Boston.

This guy really sounds like he knows what he's talking about. Doesn't know anything about WCL, but feels free to comment on it as if he really does. Pretty much wrong on all of it.

Translation:

Campus actually sucks, Atmosphere is worse due to the colossal debt load, same with student body, professors suck, can't even get an internship, and DC is actually worse than NY, SF, and Boston in douche population.

No, Wrong, No, Wrong, No and the last one is up to you and depending on how proud you are.

But why am I telling all this to someone who knows jack about this school, save what they learn from sitting on the internet. You seem to have convinced yourself you know all these details about this place. All you're going to do no matter what is:

http://amytintera.com/wp-content/upload ... o1_400.gif

[stillwater]

Campus- It's probably nice, since thousands of students pay obscene amounts of money to go there. Really not going to help you get a job since no employers come to OCI.
Atmosphere- The same as every other goddamn law school
Student body- The same as every other goddamn student body
Professors- The same as all other goddamn law professors. The best indicator of how little they give a shit about you is that they continue to raise tuition when their placement rate is 35%.
Internships- What you'll be getting when you graduate since they can't place their students into jobs
City culture- DC's probably full of douches, but no more so then NY, SF, Boston.

This guy really sounds like he knows what he's talking about. Doesn't know anything about WCL, but feels free to comment on it as if he really does. Pretty much wrong on all of it.

Translation:

Campus actually sucks, Atmosphere is worse due to the colossal debt load, same with student body, professors suck, can't even get an internship, and DC is actually worse than NY, SF, and Boston in douche population.

No, Wrong, No, Wrong, No and the last one is up to you and depending on how proud you are.

But why am I telling all this to someone who knows jack about this school, save what they learn from sitting on the internet. You seem to have convinced yourself you know all these details about this place. All you're going to do no matter what is:

http://amytintera.com/wp-content/upload ... o1_400.gif

aren't you a 0L dude? giving us the straight dope about this backdoor to biglaw, WCL?