Top Law Schools

Hello Everyone,

Im in a position where Maryland is a safety for me and that I can expect a scholarship as well. Im curious if anybody has heard anything about their school.

My questions primarily are in terms of student life, chances at big law, competitiveness, etc?

Thank you for your time

jenesaislaw wrote:http://www.lstscorereports.com/schools/maryland/

I appreciate that link! Helpful especially for the employment stats.

Does anybody have any information on student life?

You and me both brotha. I'm lookin into MD next year too. I know I can get in, it'll just come down to $$$ since im out of state.

choward014 wrote:You and me both brotha. I'm lookin into MD next year too. I know I can get in, it'll just come down to $$$ since im out of state.

Ya im in state so Im lucky there. Looking at a bunch of schools in DC area

Are you from Maryland and want to work in Maryland?

It will not place well into big law.

The quality of life is mostly irrelevant; you should be concerned about job outcomes and total debt.

It's on par with most decent state law schools like Rutgers, Penn State, SUNY Buffalo, UConn, etc.
It's fine if you want to work in that state, and have in state tuition + scholarship.

Are you from Maryland and want to work in Maryland?

It will not place well into big law.

The quality of life is mostly irrelevant; you should be concerned about job outcomes and total debt.

This.

If you go to UMD Law, you should expect to work in MD shitlaw. After browsing the salary distributions on LST, it looks like UMD only sends about 5-10 JD's per year to biglaw. This doesn't seem to be self selection. If you want to do anything but work in MD, don't go to this TTT.

What's your LSAT/GPA?

ETA: Checked out your profile and saw your LSAT/GPA. Retake the LSAT this September and apply to the T14 (especially since you want biglaw). You'll be a splitter, but a high LSAT can cancel out your lower GPA.

Victory wrote:

Are you from Maryland and want to work in Maryland?

It will not place well into big law.

The quality of life is mostly irrelevant; you should be concerned about job outcomes and total debt.

This.

If you go to UMD Law, you should expect to work in MD shitlaw. After browsing the salary distributions on LST, it looks like UMD only sends about 5-10 JD's per year to biglaw. This doesn't seem to be self selection. If you want to do anything but work in MD, don't go to this TTT.

What's your LSAT/GPA?

ETA: Checked out your profile and saw your LSAT/GPA. Retake the LSAT this September and apply to the T14 (especially since you want biglaw). You'll be a splitter, but a high LSAT can cancel out your lower GPA.

They actually sent 41 (or 14.1%) graduates to large firms and federal clerkships for the Class of 2013.
http://www.lstscorereports.com/schools/maryland/2013/

What do you mean by student life? Whatever it is, you should probably forget about it in favor of employment/cost of attendance

Maryland is fine if you are looking to work in MD and won't have debt higher than about 40k. You'd need to be down with jobs in small firms or local government. Otherwise, avoid.

They actually sent 41 (or 14.1%) graduates to large firms and federal clerkships for the Class of 2013.
http://www.lstscorereports.com/schools/maryland/2013/

I stand corrected.

OP, FWIW, from the salary distribution I saw ~17 people out of those in large firms making 160k. Still...it's a coin flip as to whether or not a UMD law student will be employed as a lawyer.

Thank you all for all your answers. Especially to all those that went further than just this thread to give me information. Its my first time on this board and I appreciate it.

By student life I meant student culture and pretty much how competitive the class is, how is the housing, etc. It was more to help compare to a comparable school such as American or George Mason than to compare to other, higher ranked schools.

I am all signed up for a retake in September and will try to take your advice and go to a higher ranked school such as Georgetown. Thank you

niplomo wrote:Thank you all for all your answers. Especially to all those that went further than just this thread to give me information. Its my first time on this board and I appreciate it.

By student life I meant student culture and pretty much how competitive the class is, how is the housing, etc. It was more to help compare to a comparable school such as American or George Mason than to compare to other, higher ranked schools.

I am all signed up for a retake in September and will try to take your advice and go to a higher ranked school such as Georgetown. Thank you

I can help you with this one. I've visited the campus before. Its in the Camden area of downtown Baltimore. I'll say, the location of it is nice as far as job placement in Baltimore goes, but I'd much rather it be in College Park. Very close to DC and the actual UMD campus is beautiful. Plus the nightlife is great. But there are some really bad areas of baltimore that I remember visiting as a kid. The area the campus is in doesnt look particularly bad though, I think they've made efforts to make it better.

I don't think there's a law school in the country you can go to where its not "competitive" but I've heard the students are extremely nice and everyone helps eachother. If you're looking for like parties and an actual "terp" fanbase, I dont think its that great considering its like 45 minutes away from the actual campus. I think most of those people are there because they are career oriented, not because its their dream school, ya know? I think that if you can get into schools like GW or Georgetown, they will definitely look better, but from what I am told, maryland isnt a bad school at all if maryland is where you wanna work. It really doesnt have competition. I was told that there are several students from Delaware that commute all the way to baltimore because that's their only option.

The housing was very unimpressive to me. The worst I've seen. Its very expensive off campus, but when you're on campus, although its cheaper, the options are really bad. I was recommended to find an apartment 10 minutes outside of Baltimore and bus/commute everyday, as there really are nice options. But as far as within 5 minutes radius of baltimore, the options arent good or are wayy too pricey.

Hope this helps.

choward014 wrote:

niplomo wrote:Thank you all for all your answers. Especially to all those that went further than just this thread to give me information. Its my first time on this board and I appreciate it.

By student life I meant student culture and pretty much how competitive the class is, how is the housing, etc. It was more to help compare to a comparable school such as American or George Mason than to compare to other, higher ranked schools.

I am all signed up for a retake in September and will try to take your advice and go to a higher ranked school such as Georgetown. Thank you

I can help you with this one. I've visited the campus before. Its in the Camden area of downtown Baltimore. I'll say, the location of it is nice as far as job placement in Baltimore goes, but I'd much rather it be in College Park. Very close to DC and the actual UMD campus is beautiful. Plus the nightlife is great. But there are some really bad areas of baltimore that I remember visiting as a kid. The area the campus is in doesnt look particularly bad though, I think they've made efforts to make it better.

I don't think there's a law school in the country you can go to where its not "competitive" but I've heard the students are extremely nice and everyone helps eachother. If you're looking for like parties and an actual "terp" fanbase, I dont think its that great considering its like 45 minutes away from the actual campus. I think most of those people are there because they are career oriented, not because its their dream school, ya know? I think that if you can get into schools like GW or Georgetown, they will definitely look better, but from what I am told, maryland isnt a bad school at all if maryland is where you wanna work. It really doesnt have competition. I was told that there are several students from Delaware that commute all the way to baltimore because that's their only option.

The housing was very unimpressive to me. The worst I've seen. Its very expensive off campus, but when you're on campus, although its cheaper, the options are really bad. I was recommended to find an apartment 10 minutes outside of Baltimore and bus/commute everyday, as there really are nice options. But as far as within 5 minutes radius of baltimore, the options arent good or are wayy too pricey.

Hope this helps.

This helps a lot. I appreciate it!

It would be tragic if you went to Maryland. You just need a few more points on the LSAT to have tremendously better options, in terms of both schools and scholarships.

niplomo wrote:Thank you all for all your answers. Especially to all those that went further than just this thread to give me information. Its my first time on this board and I appreciate it.

By student life I meant student culture and pretty much how competitive the class is, how is the housing, etc. It was more to help compare to a comparable school such as American or George Mason than to compare to other, higher ranked schools.

I am all signed up for a retake in September and will try to take your advice and go to a higher ranked school such as Georgetown. Thank you

American is not a comparable school. It is, without question, one of the biggest TTTT scams in the country.

http://www.lstscorereports.com/schools/american/2013/

GMU isn't much better but at least it's cheaper

http://www.lstscorereports.com/schools/gmu/2013/

None of these schools are worth attending for less than a full ride FYI

Ti Malice wrote:It would be tragic if you went to Maryland. You just need a few more points on the LSAT to have tremendously better options, in terms of both schools and scholarships.

I would really rather go to George Washington and would REALLY rather go to Georgetown. Gives me a few more options after graduating and some national mobility. Hopefully this retake in September goes well

rickgrimes69 wrote:

niplomo wrote:Thank you all for all your answers. Especially to all those that went further than just this thread to give me information. Its my first time on this board and I appreciate it.

By student life I meant student culture and pretty much how competitive the class is, how is the housing, etc. It was more to help compare to a comparable school such as American or George Mason than to compare to other, higher ranked schools.

I am all signed up for a retake in September and will try to take your advice and go to a higher ranked school such as Georgetown. Thank you

American is not a comparable school. It is, without question, one of the biggest TTTT scams in the country.

http://www.lstscorereports.com/schools/american/2013/

GMU isn't much better but at least it's cheaper

http://www.lstscorereports.com/schools/gmu/2013/

None of these schools are worth attending for less than a full ride FYI

These are my back ups. Im hoping to attend GULC or GW. Im hoping this retake in September will help these become options for me