New LST Score Reports Launched! Forum

[jenesaislaw]

Hi everybody,

I am REALLY excited to announce that we've launched a new version of our websites. Check out both http://www.lawschooltransparency.com and http://www.lstscorereports.com.

We'll be adding Class of 2013 employment data on Monday, but for now, we've added a ton of new 2010, 2011, and 2012 data. I'm very confident that we have all of the data ever made public about the class of 2010, class of 2011, and class of 2012.*

The site has a new layout, new URLs (but the old ones will work still), and new features. In particular, I think you all will love the financial planning tools, custom reports, and custom employment, under-employment, and firm scores. To take advantage of those features, you'll need to create an account.

I'll add more to this thread tomorrow because I am too tired to type more. Here's some links:

Compare up to 4 schools head-to-head: http://www.lstscorereports.com/compare/
A lot of LST Guides: http://www.lstscorereports.com/guides/
What schools should I apply to?: http://www.lstscorereports.com/guides/W ... -Apply-To/
Guide to LST's new customization features: http://www.lstscorereports.com/guides/I ... ustom-LST/
An example of a school's cost page, with tuition over time and a hypothetical discount price table: http://www.lstscorereports.com/schools/ ... osts/2012/
Job trends example: http://www.lstscorereports.com/schools/american/trends/

Finally, a shoutout is in order to the beta testers, particularly the core group that not only sent me lists of bugs and suggestions, but actually contributed material to the new site.

Hope you all have as much fun playing with it as I had coding/designing/thinking about it.

Kyle McEntee
Executive Director, Law School Transparency

*the one exception may be salary data that schools submitted to U.S. News. We did not add those data for 2011 or 2012 because they're not reliable due to the way the questions are asked and the way U.S. News publishes the answers.

PS please donate to LST if you can. http://www.lawschooltransparency.com/donate/

[Archangel]

Thanks, I've been waiting. It's appreciated.

[20141023]

.

[jenesaislaw]

Should add that I appreciate all bug reports and other comments.

[star fox]

Great work! Thank you so much!

Just wondering, have you gotten any media attention for your site? Everyone who applies to law school needs to see this stuff.

[jenesaislaw]

Great work! Thank you so much!

Just wondering, have you gotten any media attention for your site? Everyone who applies to law school needs to see this stuff.

Press release will go out in an hour or so. We will see who bites. Updated websites are not the best media bait.

If you mean generally, we are frequently in the press. As examples, Forbes and NPR last Friday and the Wall Street Journal today. Here's a list of many of our press mentions: http://www.lawschooltransparency.com/recognition/

[Attax]

Loving it so far! So much easier to use and navigate, although the previous version wasn't bad either.

[kobe1020]

much appreciated !!!

[Big Dog]

you da' man!

[Winston1984]

Woo!

[jenesaislaw]

Lots of visitors today with above average engagement. Love seeing that.

[Nonconsecutive]

Nice! Going to head over there now and be even less productive at work.

[Manteca]

Awesome, thank you so much!

[rebexness]

This is awesome!

[Mack.Hambleton]

nice work

[KatyMarie]

This is fantastic. Thank you!

[Nova]

yay

[AdInfinitum]

Love the revamp!

One question: I'm getting different debt at repayment on this calculator from the Georgetown calculator. Any reason for this? The interest rates on here for the loans seem higher than the current rate?

[lhanvt13]

You're awesome! Thanks!

[jenesaislaw]

Love the revamp!

One question: I'm getting different debt at repayment on this calculator from the Georgetown calculator. Any reason for this? The interest rates on here for the loans seem higher than the current rate?

a) I do not know if that calculator bases its interest calculations on semester distributions. If it does not, it underestimates accumulated interest.
b) The interest rates on LST are higher. The default assumption is 3.5% for the ten-year treasuries. Last year was 1.81%. Treasuries today were about a point higher. We'll adjust the rate when it's set for next year, but GULC definitely underestimates interest. You can adjust these assumptions here: http://www.lstscorereports.com/manage/c ... ssumptions
c) The big thing is that we do not include loan fees in the budget, which is one part of the total cost of attendance (the other is loan fees). This accounts for much of the difference. When you input your projected tuition and cost of living, we tack the loan fees onto that. The GULC calculator takes the loan fees out of your projected tuition and cost of living. GULC's figures do NOT account for any loan fees in their budget either. We're therefore more realistic.

Let me give an example that illustrates (c).

Say your budget is 10k for COL and 20k for tuition. Let's say the fee is 2% for all loans. If you have no cash, you will need to borrow to cover fees, so your actual cost of attendance is 30k+2% of 30k, or $30,600. We list your cost of attendance in this scenario as $30,600. GULC lists it as $30,000.

[rodmanhust]

appreciate the work in putting these together.

will you have 2013 employment stats on Monday for all schools?

[jenesaislaw]

appreciate the work in putting these together.

will you have 2013 employment stats on Monday for all schools?

Yes

[rodmanhust]

appreciate the work in putting these together.

will you have 2013 employment stats on Monday for all schools?

Yes

awesome. thank you!
I wonder is there an option to save your head-to-head schools?

[Pumpkin-Duke of Pie]

This is better than sliced bread.

Edit: Now the only problem is getting people to use this tool and actually take it seriously. And therein lies the true challenge...

[jenesaislaw]

appreciate the work in putting these together.

will you have 2013 employment stats on Monday for all schools?

Yes

awesome. thank you!
I wonder is there an option to save your head-to-head schools?

Not yet. Have a share feature in the works that will create an image for people to use on TLS. Just couldn't get it ready for the release.

Would it really be that useful to have a shorthand of comparisons you like? Or what do you see the feature looking like?