Top Law Schools

Hi everyone,

I got accepted to these schools with these scholarships:

DePaul: $20K
John Marshall: $25K
Marquette: $30K
NIU: Full Ride

Now, DePaul and John Marshall ae around $45K, so they are out. The debt I would be in is not worth it. Marquette costs about $40K and I got a $30K scholarship, but NIU gave me a full ride. I want to focus on criminal law. Any advice as to which school is the best option?

Thank you!

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-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

http://top-law-schools.com/forums/viewt ... 1&t=206299

aavila60 wrote:Hi everyone,

I got accepted to these schools with these scholarships:

DePaul: $20K
John Marshall: $25K
Marquette: $30K
NIU: Full Ride

Now, DePaul and John Marshall ae around $45K, so they are out. The debt I would be in is not worth it. Marquette costs about $40K and I got a $30K scholarship, but NIU gave me a full ride. I want to focus on criminal law. Any advice as to which school is the best option?

Thank you!

Do some research and determine whether Marquette offers $30k or more worth of value or than NIU can give you.

Where do you want to practice? What existing legal connections do you have? NIU would be very cheap, but if you want to practice in Wisconsin Marquette might be better.

Stay away from John Marshall.

Please do what Nova asked.

As a general matter, getting employed as an attorney will be an uphill battle from any of these schools.

BigZuck wrote:Please do what Nova asked.

As a general matter, getting employed as an attorney will be an uphill battle from any of these schools.

Please do. This is accurate but based on your responses we can really elaborate.

When you say you want to focus on criminal law, do you mean you want to be an ADA/PD? From what I understand, those positions focus less on school ranking (within reason) and more on demonstrated commitment to public service. If that's your goal, then consider where you want to live/work and go as cheaply as possible in that area.

TheSpanishMain wrote:When you say you want to focus on criminal law, do you mean you want to be an ADA/PD? From what I understand, those positions focus less on school ranking (within reason) and more on demonstrated commitment to public service. If that's your goal, then consider where you want to live/work and go as cheaply as possible in that area.

This is accurate.

If you are wanting private criminal defense, no lawyers hire newly-minted JDs unless it is a family friend or you get extremely lucky by working there for all of law school and have a great relationship with the lawyers.

Also keep in mind that ADA/PD gigs are very competitive because of funding. There are little to no openings and plenty of candidates qualified to fill them.

Hesitantly, I would say Marquette wouldn't be a horrible choice if you have ties to Wisconsin and kept your debt load around 40k and plan on working in Milwaukee. But it's still pretty possible to be unemployed or not employed as a lawyer after 3 years there.

Anecdotally speaking, solid prospects for Marquette grad in Milwaukee. However, it is a very small market, so don't anticipate any six figure salary to help pay off student loans.

I wouldn't come near NIU, but who knows, maybe you want to work in Rockford...

If you want to work in WI you'd be nuts to turn down Marquette. It seems decently priced and you get diploma privilege. Enjoy not having to take the bar.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diploma_privilege

If you don't want to work there, different story.

timbs4339 wrote:If you want to work in WI you'd be nuts to turn down Marquette. It seems decently priced and you get diploma privilege. Enjoy not having to take the bar.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diploma_privilege

If you don't want to work there, different story.

Lol@at people suing under the commerce clause

Thank you, all. Very helpful. Here's more specifics:

I grew up and live in Chicago. I've been a legal assistant for a law firm for the past 2 years (securities litigation, completely different than what I want to do). I do want to focus on the public, so preferably a PD. I would love to work in Chicago. If I go to NIU, I would move to a suburb, but my goal is to work in Chicago.

Marquette is an option, but I don't want to work in Wisconsin. I would go there and sit for the bar in Illinois.

aavila60 wrote:Thank you, all. Very helpful. Here's more specifics:

I grew up and live in Chicago. I've been a legal assistant for a law firm for the past 2 years (securities litigation, completely different than what I want to do). I do want to focus on the public, so preferably a PD. I would love to work in Chicago. If I go to NIU, I would move to a suburb, but my goal is to work in Chicago.

Marquette is an option, but I don't want to work in Wisconsin. I would go there and sit for the bar in Illinois.

I've always wanted to do this.

FIFY

If you don't want to work in Wisconsin, than there's little reason to go to Marquette. It's a decent option if you're aiming for Milwaukee shitlaw and you take on debt you can pay off on a shitlaw salary ($35-40K starting). Diploma privilege means you can start work the week after graduating law school, so you won't have to spend 6 months studying for/taking/passing the bar and waiting for the results. The interest accrued on your loans can really add up. Normally, TTT private schools like Marquette are a terrible investment regardless of the city, but Wisconsin only has two law schools and Milwaukee only has one--so it's a state that isn't overly flooded with law grads. If you can keep your total debt under $50K, it might be worth a shot.

The Chicago market is completely broken right now. If I were you, I'd either go to NIU for free (and see if you can live with your parents or something to avoid taking out COL loans, because NIU isn't even worth that), or I wouldn't go at all. Chicago is flooded with a bunch of the B1G Ten Tier 1 grads (Wisconsin, UIUC, IU, Iowa, Minnesota, etc.) that finished below the top 20% and are scraping around to find a place to work for free. Plus, there's IIT-Kent, Loyola, and DePaul you're competing with. Not to mention the bottom 2/3rds of the class of ND and WUSTL, and the bottom half of Michigan/NU. There's way too many schools dumping unemployed grads into the Chicago area to even think about going in debt one dime for NIU. But if it's totally free (including COL), you might want to chance it on the off-chance that the legal market will be better in 3.5 years.

JCougar wrote:If you don't want to work in Wisconsin, than there's little reason to go to Marquette. It's a decent option if you're aiming for Milwaukee shitlaw and you take on debt you can pay off on a shitlaw salary ($35-40K starting). Diploma privilege means you can start work the week after graduating law school, so you won't have to spend 6 months studying for/taking/passing the bar and waiting for the results. The interest accrued on your loans can really add up. Normally, TTT private schools like Marquette are a terrible investment regardless of the city, but Wisconsin only has two law schools and Milwaukee only has one--so it's a state that isn't overly flooded with law grads. If you can keep your total debt under $50K, it might be worth a shot.

The Chicago market is completely broken right now. If I were you, I'd either go to NIU for free (and see if you can live with your parents or something to avoid taking out COL loans, because NIU isn't even worth that), or I wouldn't go at all. Chicago is flooded with a bunch of the B1G Ten Tier 1 grads (Wisconsin, UIUC, IU, Iowa, Minnesota, etc.) that finished below the top 20% and are scraping around to find a place to work for free. Plus, there's IIT-Kent, Loyola, and DePaul you're competing with. Not to mention the bottom 2/3rds of the class of ND and WUSTL, and the bottom half of Michigan/NU. There's way too many schools dumping unemployed grads into the Chicago area to even think about going in debt one dime for NIU. But if it's totally free (including COL), you might want to chance it on the off-chance that the legal market will be better in 3.5 years.

Thank you. This was very helpful!