Top Law Schools

Better market for the legal profession? Big Law? Place to practice? Place to study? Quality of life? cost of living?

You probably won't get a job from either school. Neither, retake

Source:
http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 4#p7344724

Oh c'mon now. Howard vs. DePaul AND you want Big Law? You need to stop deceiving yourself. I know your parents are probably telling you not to listen to people who tell you it's impossible, live your dreams, you can do anything, etc. It's time to take a rational, adult look at your situation and let go of cliches. Do you know how rough the legal market is right now?

DC is saturated with lawyers. There are plenty of people from Georgetown and George Washington that are struggling to find work. Why would you think a JD from Howard would be a good investment, particularly at sticker price?

Same thing for Chicago. Why would a big firm choose you over a University of Chicago or Northwestern grad? You realize barely 1 in 3 DePaul grads are actually employed?

Howard is the less bad option here, but ONLY if you are fine with doing something besides Big Law AND you can go for free/very cheap. If Howard at sticker is your best option, you should not go to law school.

What is your LSAT/GPA?

TheSpanishMain wrote:Oh c'mon now. Howard vs. DePaul AND you want Big Law? You need to stop deceiving yourself. I know your parents are probably telling you not to listen to people who tell you it's impossible, live your dreams, you can do anything, etc. It's time to take a rational, adult look at your situation and let go of cliches. Do you know how rough the legal market is right now?

DC is saturated with lawyers. There are plenty of people from Georgetown and George Washington that are struggling to find work. Why would you think a JD from Howard would be a good investment, particularly at sticker price?

Same thing for Chicago. Why would a big firm choose you over a University of Chicago or Northwestern grad? You realize barely 1 in 3 DePaul grads are actually employed?

Howard is the less bad option here, but ONLY if you are fine with doing something besides Big Law AND you can go for free/very cheap. If Howard at sticker is your best option, you should not go to law school.

What is your LSAT/GPA?

nowhere in this post did I mention those schools.

Ah, my fault, I confused Loyola and DePaul. I assumed those are the schools we were talking about given your last DC vs. Chicago thread. What schools are we talking about here?

Strongfaithgirl wrote:

TheSpanishMain wrote:Oh c'mon now. Howard vs. DePaul AND you want Big Law? You need to stop deceiving yourself. I know your parents are probably telling you not to listen to people who tell you it's impossible, live your dreams, you can do anything, etc. It's time to take a rational, adult look at your situation and let go of cliches. Do you know how rough the legal market is right now?

DC is saturated with lawyers. There are plenty of people from Georgetown and George Washington that are struggling to find work. Why would you think a JD from Howard would be a good investment, particularly at sticker price?

Same thing for Chicago. Why would a big firm choose you over a University of Chicago or Northwestern grad? You realize barely 1 in 3 DePaul grads are actually employed?

Howard is the less bad option here, but ONLY if you are fine with doing something besides Big Law AND you can go for free/very cheap. If Howard at sticker is your best option, you should not go to law school.

What is your LSAT/GPA?

nowhere in this post did I mention those schools.

Of course you're asking about the Chicago and DC area TTTs. You were just hoping to outsmart TLS and get them to not tell you to retake.

You were waitlisted at Howard, we are not going to assume this is a Georgetown vs Northwestern thread.

Straight talk- very, very few people should be considering both of these markets because its a rare person who would have ties to both. From what I understand, DC doesn't place so much of an emphasis on ties as they do grades (from top schools, mind you) and Chicago cares a lot about ties. Regardless though, attending any one of the area TTTs has a very, very high probability of ruining your life. Your life. Ruined.

Retake until you can get George Washington or the University of Illinois for cheap (like, no more than 60ishk total) at the very least.

BigZuck wrote:Regardless though, attending any one of the area TTTs has a very, very high probability of ruining your life. Your life. Ruined.

Retake until you can get George Washington or the University of Illinois for cheap (like, no more than 60ishk total) at the very least.

I've been around these parts for a long time and it still absolutely amazes me how intense some people are about potentially ruining their lives at age 22 when there are obvious other viable options.

While I agree with the other posters that going to a TT or worse in those markets is highly unlikely to lead to anything beyond extreme debt and worse employment prospects than you'd have without a JD, for the sake of answering the OP's question: Chicago is marginally better.

DC is amazingly competitive - perhaps the most competitive market in the country. The DC area is packed full of law schools, including some of the largest in the country (Georgetown alone graduates 600+ students a year), but the real problem is that it's an extremely desirable location for students at other t14 schools. I go to a top 3 school and just went through OCI. DC was the only market where students from my school struggled to get summer positions.

In contrast, Chicago is only extremely competitive. Chicago also has far too many law schools, and attracts many of the best students from other Midwest schools (Michigan, Notre Dame, WUSTL, etc) but it's not quite as desirable for students from the non-Midwest t14s.

That said, if OP really wants to roll the dice on a 1/10 or 1/20 chance at working for a big law firm, the best place to be is NY.

Did I miss something? I didn't think OP was comparing two specific schools or anything. I though they were just inquiring overall about the differences between the two cities.

lawschool22 wrote:Did I miss something? I didn't think OP was comparing two specific schools or anything. I though they were just inquiring overall about the differences between the two cities.

That's how I read it too

Sounds like OP maybe has a posting history where actual schools were listed but this just seems like where would OP be happier.

lawschool22 wrote:Did I miss something? I didn't think OP was comparing two specific schools or anything. I though they were just inquiring overall about the differences between the two cities.

read OP's post history

kershka wrote:

lawschool22 wrote:Did I miss something? I didn't think OP was comparing two specific schools or anything. I though they were just inquiring overall about the differences between the two cities.

That's how I read it too

Sounds like OP maybe has a posting history where actual schools were listed but this just seems like where would OP be happier.

Ya there is post history.

Gooner91 wrote:

kershka wrote:

lawschool22 wrote:Did I miss something? I didn't think OP was comparing two specific schools or anything. I though they were just inquiring overall about the differences between the two cities.

That's how I read it too

Sounds like OP maybe has a posting history where actual schools were listed but this just seems like where would OP be happier.

Ya there is post history.

OP had a thread that asked this exact question, expect it also specificed Loyola vs. Howard. Also specifically declared she wanted Big Law.
Not surprisingly, she got a chorus of "retake".

Since this is more or less the same question, just with the schools removed, I assumed it was just an attempt to bypass the "retake" advice.

TheSpanishMain wrote:

Gooner91 wrote:

kershka wrote:

lawschool22 wrote:Did I miss something? I didn't think OP was comparing two specific schools or anything. I though they were just inquiring overall about the differences between the two cities.

That's how I read it too

Sounds like OP maybe has a posting history where actual schools were listed but this just seems like where would OP be happier.

Ya there is post history.

OP had a thread that asked this exact question, expect it also specificed Loyola vs. Howard. Also specifically declared she wanted Big Law.
Not surprisingly, she got a chorus of "retake".

Since this is more or less the same question, just with the schools removed, I assumed it was just an attempt to bypass the "retake" advice.

Gotcha. Thanks for the backstory

TheSpanishMain wrote:Ah, my fault, I confused Loyola and DePaul. I assumed those are the schools we were talking about given your last DC vs. Chicago thread. What schools are we talking about here?

That's why you do not assume because then you make an ass out of u and me

lawschool22 wrote:Did I miss something? I didn't think OP was comparing two specific schools or anything. I though they were just inquiring overall about the differences between the two cities.

Exactly! The spanishmain seems to be keeping tabs on my posts. That's scary. One post has nothing to do with the other. I applied to several school's. I was simply asking for the comparison of the two cities. I see that you have interest in my all my posts as you obviously are tracking me.

Strongfaithgirl wrote:

lawschool22 wrote:Did I miss something? I didn't think OP was comparing two specific schools or anything. I though they were just inquiring overall about the differences between the two cities.

Exactly! The spanishmain seems to be keeping tabs on my posts. That's scary. One post has nothing to do with the other. I applied to several school's. I was simply asking for the comparison of the two cities. I see that you have interest in my all my posts as you obviously are tracking me.

Are you saying I'm tracking you? Or the "spanishmain?"

BigZuck wrote:

Strongfaithgirl wrote:

TheSpanishMain wrote:Oh c'mon now. Howard vs. DePaul AND you want Big Law? You need to stop deceiving yourself. I know your parents are probably telling you not to listen to people who tell you it's impossible, live your dreams, you can do anything, etc. It's time to take a rational, adult look at your situation and let go of cliches. Do you know how rough the legal market is right now?

DC is saturated with lawyers. There are plenty of people from Georgetown and George Washington that are struggling to find work. Why would you think a JD from Howard would be a good investment, particularly at sticker price?

Same thing for Chicago. Why would a big firm choose you over a University of Chicago or Northwestern grad? You realize barely 1 in 3 DePaul grads are actually employed?

Howard is the less bad option here, but ONLY if you are fine with doing something besides Big Law AND you can go for free/very cheap. If Howard at sticker is your best option, you should not go to law school.

What is your LSAT/GPA?

nowhere in this post did I mention those schools.

Of course you're asking about the Chicago and DC area TTTs. You were just hoping to outsmart TLS and get them to not tell you to retake.

You were waitlisted at Howard, we are not going to assume this is a Georgetown vs Northwestern thread.

Straight talk- very, very few people should be considering both of these markets because its a rare person who would have ties to both. From what I understand, DC doesn't place so much of an emphasis on ties as they do grades (from top schools, mind you) and Chicago cares a lot about ties. Regardless though, attending any one of the area TTTs has a very, very high probability of ruining your life. Your life. Ruined.

Retake until you can get George Washington or the University of Illinois for cheap (like, no more than 60ishk total) at the very least.

Good call ^^^^^ I actually got into both. Straigh talk. Outsmart TLS geeez you guys are intense in these forums. Good think no one is paying you all to think

lawschool22 wrote:

Strongfaithgirl wrote:

lawschool22 wrote:Did I miss something? I didn't think OP was comparing two specific schools or anything. I though they were just inquiring overall about the differences between the two cities.

Exactly! The spanishmain seems to be keeping tabs on my posts. That's scary. One post has nothing to do with the other. I applied to several school's. I was simply asking for the comparison of the two cities. I see that you have interest in my all my posts as you obviously are tracking me.

Are you saying I'm tracking you? Or the "spanishmain?"

The spanishmain....

I am saying I was just as confused as you were

Strongfaithgirl wrote:

lawschool22 wrote:Did I miss something? I didn't think OP was comparing two specific schools or anything. I though they were just inquiring overall about the differences between the two cities.

Exactly! The spanishmain seems to be keeping tabs on my posts. That's scary. One post has nothing to do with the other. I applied to several school's. I was simply asking for the comparison of the two cities. I see that you have interest in my all my posts as you obviously are tracking me.

Or I just remember you. It's a pretty reasonable assumption when you just posted a thread asking about Howard and Loyola, and not liking the retake advice you got. If I'm wrong and those two schools aren't the reason you happen to be asking about Chicago and DC, please, correct me. What schools are we talking about?

Also, "keeping tabs" on your posts is pretty easy, since they're all linked from your profile. There's no weird Big Brother stuff going on here, relax.

Strongfaithgirl wrote:

BigZuck wrote:

Strongfaithgirl wrote:

TheSpanishMain wrote:Oh c'mon now. Howard vs. DePaul AND you want Big Law? You need to stop deceiving yourself. I know your parents are probably telling you not to listen to people who tell you it's impossible, live your dreams, you can do anything, etc. It's time to take a rational, adult look at your situation and let go of cliches. Do you know how rough the legal market is right now?

DC is saturated with lawyers. There are plenty of people from Georgetown and George Washington that are struggling to find work. Why would you think a JD from Howard would be a good investment, particularly at sticker price?

Same thing for Chicago. Why would a big firm choose you over a University of Chicago or Northwestern grad? You realize barely 1 in 3 DePaul grads are actually employed?

Howard is the less bad option here, but ONLY if you are fine with doing something besides Big Law AND you can go for free/very cheap. If Howard at sticker is your best option, you should not go to law school.

What is your LSAT/GPA?

nowhere in this post did I mention those schools.

Of course you're asking about the Chicago and DC area TTTs. You were just hoping to outsmart TLS and get them to not tell you to retake.

You were waitlisted at Howard, we are not going to assume this is a Georgetown vs Northwestern thread.

Straight talk- very, very few people should be considering both of these markets because its a rare person who would have ties to both. From what I understand, DC doesn't place so much of an emphasis on ties as they do grades (from top schools, mind you) and Chicago cares a lot about ties. Regardless though, attending any one of the area TTTs has a very, very high probability of ruining your life. Your life. Ruined.

Retake until you can get George Washington or the University of Illinois for cheap (like, no more than 60ishk total) at the very least.

Good call ^^^^^ I actually got into both. Straigh talk. Outsmart TLS geeez you guys are intense in these forums. Good think no one is paying you all to think

I have no idea what you meant by this lol. The people here are trying to help you regardless, so consider the intensity a good thing when your financial future and career are on the line.

AND I wouldn't ignore the most important part of Zuck's recommendation: "for cheap". Just getting in to GWU or Illinois is nothing to brag about. I really do hope for your sake that you get a scholarship or retake to improve your prospects. We're on your side, or what side you yourself should be on at least. Just trying to help!

Fiero85 wrote:
AND I wouldn't ignore the most important part of Zuck's recommendation: "for cheap". Just getting in to gWU or Illinois is nothing to brag about. I really do hope for your sake that you get a scholarship or retake to improve your prospects. We're on your side, or what side you yourself should be on at least. Just trying to help!

OP, did you get into GWU and Illinois? Because you said you were waitlisted at Howard, so that would be surprising.

Can you please listen to the advice people are giving you? It is good advice and may prevent you from ruining your life with debt and being forced to live on the streets.

I really do not want to see someone ruin their life just because they are to stubborn to remove their head from their bum and listen to people who know more about a topic than they do.

This is the second thread in which I will say this today: I've been around these parts for awhile and I am still absolutely amazed at how eager and desperate people are to make terrible life decisions when the alternatives have a ton of upside and essentially no downside.

.