Top Law Schools

Posted: **Thu Jan 23, 2014 12:04 pm**

Hello everyone,
which one of the factors do you think is more important in terms of law schools, ranking or location?
I have received offers (with scholarship) from Maurer, UIUC, and Chicago-Kent.
Maurer and UIUC, both ranking around 25, obviously rank much higher than Kent (68 or so), but Kent is in Chicago. I imagine being in a major big city might have an advantage over being in a small town.
It has been a hard choice for me. I would love to hear more advice.
Thank you very much!

Posted: **Thu Jan 23, 2014 12:21 pm**

Surf around this site:
lawschooltransparency.com

This is all that matters, unless you are deadset on working in Indiana or Chicago.

Posted: **Thu Jan 23, 2014 12:22 pm**

[color=#8000FF]mods[/color] wrote:In order to receive the best feedback in this forum, please provide as much of the following information in your original post as possible:
-~~The schools you are considering~~
-The total Cost of Attendance (COA) of each. COA = cost of tuition + fees + books + cost of living (COL) + accumulated interest - scholarships. Here is a helpful calculator.
-How you will be financing your COA, i.e. loans, family, or savings
-Where you are from and where you want to work, and other places where you have significant ties (if any)
-Your general career goals
-Your LSAT/GPA numbers
-How many times you have taken the LSAT

Posted: **Thu Jan 23, 2014 12:25 pm**

What are your goals? If they're very modest, a second tier school with large scholarship might be alright. But otherwise, steer clear of the lower-ranked Chicago schools (but I'd also say that about UIUC because, presumably you want to end up in Chicago and that would be hard from there -- the Indiana schools are okay if you want to stay in Indiana).

Posted: **Thu Jan 23, 2014 3:38 pm**

cinephile wrote:What are your goals? If they're very modest, a second tier school with large scholarship might be alright. But otherwise, steer clear of the lower-ranked Chicago schools (but I'd also say that about UIUC because, presumably you want to end up in Chicago and that would be hard from there -- the Indiana schools are okay if you want to stay in Indiana).

This makes no sense. UIUC is a direct feeder into Chicago if that is what you desire.

Posted: **Thu Jan 23, 2014 4:11 pm**

allamerican73 wrote:
cinephile wrote:What are your goals? If they're very modest, a second tier school with large scholarship might be alright. But otherwise, steer clear of the lower-ranked Chicago schools (but I'd also say that about UIUC because, presumably you want to end up in Chicago and that would be hard from there -- the Indiana schools are okay if you want to stay in Indiana).
This makes no sense. UIUC is a direct feeder into Chicago if that is what you desire.

No, not enough to make it worth your while. If you want biglaw, you've got to do better than UIUC.

Posted: **Fri Jan 24, 2014 1:37 am**

cinephile wrote:
allamerican73 wrote:
cinephile wrote:What are your goals? If they're very modest, a second tier school with large scholarship might be alright. But otherwise, steer clear of the lower-ranked Chicago schools (but I'd also say that about UIUC because, presumably you want to end up in Chicago and that would be hard from there -- the Indiana schools are okay if you want to stay in Indiana).
This makes no sense. UIUC is a direct feeder into Chicago if that is what you desire.
No, not enough to make it worth your while. If you want biglaw, you've got to do better than UIUC.

I imagine even though schools might all be 2-tier, 25 is still different from 68.
Another thing I'm wondering is whether those 2-tier "regional" schools will enable me to move around a bit after graduation, because my boyfriend is a phd and will graduate one year before me. Considering the academia where you can't predict where you'll get a position, it's likely that I'll move to where he'll get a position. Thus, there is the possibility that I'll move out of Indiana if I attend Maurer, and even though he also likes Chicago, it's likely that he won't get a position there, so I may also need to move out if I attend Chicago-Kent. For this reason, I somehow imagine higher-ranking schools might give me a bit advantage over lower-ranking schools, although they're all 2-tier "regional" schools. My goal is to do internships during school and have a legal career after graduation (not necessarily strictly in big-laws, but still a decent job). So, here is the dilemma--a school that ranks lower but is in a big city vs. schools that rank higher but are in towns.
That's what worries me.
By the way, tuition is around 50,000 for those school generally.
I'm still looking forward to hearing more advice from all of you.
Thank you!

Posted: **Fri Jan 24, 2014 1:44 am**

allamerican73 wrote:
cinephile wrote:What are your goals? If they're very modest, a second tier school with large scholarship might be alright. But otherwise, steer clear of the lower-ranked Chicago schools (but I'd also say that about UIUC because, presumably you want to end up in Chicago and that would be hard from there -- the Indiana schools are okay if you want to stay in Indiana).
This makes no sense. UIUC is a direct feeder into Chicago if that is what you desire.

What I prefer is a school that enables me to move around a bit after graduation. More specifically, it's likely that I'll move to other places after graduation because I may need to reunion with my boyfriend who will be working in the academia. And academia is so unpredictable that you can't foresee where you will be.
That's why I've been wondering whether there is one feasible choice, because I've been hearing the saying that regional school "only" work out in that particular state.
That's why I need more advice and suggestion!
Thank you again!

Posted: **Fri Jan 24, 2014 5:17 am**

suchana wrote:but Kent is in Chicago. I imagine being in a major big city might have an advantage over being in a small town.
Thank you very much!

Allow me to first say, this is not correct. Rankings don't matter beyond ~20, but while Kent being in Chicago does mean a higher percentage of grad who get work do so in Chicago and there may be greater networking opportunities in Chicago, that does not mean there's any sort of general advantage to being in a large city. People are not going to go "Oh Kent, that's in Chicago" so that's makes it better than UCIC. And, importantly, even in Chicago UCIC outplaces Kent significantly. It's not like firms in Chicago are like "University of Illinois? Where the hell is that?"

More generally, could you clarify what you're looking for? Do you want to be an attorney in Illinois? Are you from Illinois? All of these are "regional" schools regardless of what a broucher says. IU places mostly into Indiana, UCIC into Chicago/illinois and Kent into Chicago. UIUC is generally the strongest of the three and offers an at least semi-legit shot at Chi biglaw if that's what you want. Kent has very poor placement anywhere at the moment. All but the top top of the class are struggling to find serious work. Please refer to this chart: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/pub ... zanc&gid=1 understand it fully before you make any decision.

In the meantime if you could please be so kind as to provide all the info in the sticky, we can give much much better advice. Try and be specific, this is a big decision and you probably want to have a very good idea. 50,000 is what? Total attendance? Let me give you general assessments:

UIUC: Will, if you do well, give you some shot at biglaw in Chicago and a very realistic shot at an actual lawyer job in Illinois or maybe the surrounding states. You may even be able to swing something elsewhere, but I wouldn't count on it. With a decent scholarship, this may make sense, but it depends on your specific career goals, financial situation and COA.

IU: Forget the ranking, it has lower placement stats. That's all that matters. Being the state flagship in IN means if you definitely would be cool practicing in IN, it may be a good choice with a significant scholarship. Likely however, the following also applies to IU...

Kent: In this economy, schools like Kent are really struggling. They have to compete with many better schools in ONE highly competitive market. You have a roughly 50/50 shot at coming out with ANY job as an attorney. Unless you are in the top 10% you will NOT make enough money to pay off significant loans. I would attend ONLY with a full ride or near it AND if I were prepared to drop out if I did not do well 1st year AND if I were OK with working at a small firm ("Shitlaw" according to some) in Chicago or its environs. Others on here will say I'd be crazy for even doing that.

Posted: **Fri Jan 24, 2014 9:39 am**

suchana wrote:What I prefer is a school that enables me to move around a bit after graduation.

T14 or bust

HYS > T14 > Regional powerhouse > Strong Regional (2nd/3rd in major market) > Sole school in small market > everyone else > Cooley

Posted: **Fri Jan 24, 2014 9:57 am**

Posted: **Sat Jan 25, 2014 7:23 pm**

I am at UIUC now and I have had multiple friends graduate from Kent, UIUC, and Indiana. All of my friends that went to Kent regretted it. A lot of that had to do with section stacking and not guaranteeing scholarships, which I believe Kent does do now. But also they have complained that they get no traction for jobs and little support from alumni. My friends that went to Indiana did fine, but they did strike out at Chicago biglaw (they did get offers in Indy). A good percentage of my friends that went to Illinois got big law in Chicago and they all are at least practicing in Chicago. If you want to be in Chicago or Illinois generally, UIUC is the no brainer at the right price.

But if you don't want to be in Illinois or Indiana, none of these make sense. Retake and go for t14

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