Top Law Schools

I'm a Canadia applicant who is hoping to start studying law in the US next fall (2015). On our Canadian Law School forum websites, there are large threads going around somewhat in this vain, and they have been very beneficial in acquiring brief yet detailed descriptions of what students most prefer/dislike at their own school, which can be super interesting when comparing options.

so please post away!

ps. please don't harp on anyone for their personal opinions
pp. please just write about an institution that you actually attend, thanks

Tagging .

UT

Pros:
- Very cool city
- Collegial and fun school environment
- Tends to be a good value option for $$/employment placement
- Great weather
- BBQ/TexMex/Music

Cons:
- Biglaw/fedclerk to only ~40%
- Insular legal market
- Difficult to break into other markets (compared to most T14)
- Hot af in summer
- Region conservative af

ETA: But this kind of stuff should have almost no bearing on your school decision. Start w/ your career goals and where you want to practice, then decide on what school gives you the best shot at that at the best price. If there are ties between schools at that point that's where this stuff might matter.

i thought austin was p liberal?

Brut wrote:i thought austin was p liberal?

It is (not compared to what I'm used to but yes). I said "region" . Not saying I'm the kind of guy who needs some kind of ideological conformity around me but it's a different world down here.

I like this thread idea but want to echo what McAvoy said -- this is no way to actually pick a school and I think for most places, while there may be 5 pros, they almost certainly don't outweigh the 5 cons.

PSU

Pros

1. COL can be pretty low (apt. rents under 500, cheap beer, ok food options for what you are paying)
2. Ok job placement if you want to be in central PA
3. People are calm/not too competitive
4. Pretty small class sizes (may actually be a con)
5. Facilities at both campuses are excellent

Cons

1. Job placement - just go to LST and see for yourself; hustling for a job is required if you want anything at graduation
2. Location - this part of PA has little to offer compared to schools in real metro areas, let a lone other PA cities like Pitt or Philly.
3. Transportation - Any savings in COL are going to be eaten up by how much it costs to travel anywhere else in the country (or even just the state) from here, which you will probably have to do to get a job
4. A lot of bad publicity
5. School is splitting in half?

Pros of X school:
-That it can get you a job that pays off your loans.

Cons of Y school:
-That it can't.

These are really the only considerations you need to have in the abstract. Come back with specific questions about specific schools.

malleus discentium wrote:Pros of X school:
-That it can get you a job that pays off your loans.

Cons of Y school:
-That it can't.

These are really the only considerations you need to have in the abstract. Come back with specific questions about specific schools.

For some people, myself included, this is not the only consideration sorry.
Also, I'm not using these answers as my decision basis for law school, although I do find it interesting when comparing schools to see what people have to say, and I have learnt some valuable random insights about Canadian schools i.e. library has awful hours, career services is not very helpful etc.

Duke

I could discuss job placement or clinics or professors or student body, but I suspect Duke is fairly interchangeable with most of the rest of the T14 in these categories. So here's an attempt at being relatively Duke-specific:

Pro:
1) Weather. Within the T14, Duke (exception California) is as far removed from the frozen tundra of the northeast as you're going to get.
2) Basketball (and now football, too, kinda). I could write about the benefits of strong revenue sports in terms of campus environment, alumni network, and general quality of life, but we'd be here all day.
3) Culture. Though the Research Triangle is definitely a few steps removed from the Deep South, elements of southern culture are everywhere. And, though your experience may be otherwise, I really enjoyed living in the south. (But see bbq, infra).
4) Cost of living. (Speaking of being far removed from the northeast.)
5) The Lemur Center. Seriously, it's really cool.
6 (yeah, I know)) Food. Durham's restaurant scene is surprisingly robust. There are seemingly dozens of strong options - highlighted, of course, by Dame's Chicken and Waffles. (Though, again - and I cannot stress this enough - but see bbq, infra).

Con:
1) Parking. You'll see.
2) Transportation. Bring a car.
3) BBQ. Jesus, it's like they're intentionally screwing up a good thing. Good bbq sauce is not nor should ever be vinegar-based. Ever. Jesus. (But see hushpuppies, sweet tea).
4) Undergrads. The Duke undergraduate comes in two varieties: 1) wannabe southern bro, and 2) nerd. That's it. There is no middle path.
5) Craft breweries, or lack thereof. Granted, Durham is not going to match up well in terms of big city amenities when compared to peers in NYC/Chicago/DC/etc. But, for whatever reason, the dearth of quality breweries was always a sore point for me. (Fullsteam is about as good as you're gonna get, and Fullsteam tops out at "yeah, I guess that was good.")

There you have it. I apologize for the novel, but I don't start work for another few weeks and I'm running low on things to keep me occupied.

fireflies wrote:

malleus discentium wrote:Pros of X school:
-That it can get you a job that pays off your loans.

Cons of Y school:
-That it can't.

These are really the only considerations you need to have in the abstract. Come back with specific questions about specific schools.

For some people, myself included, this is not the only consideration sorry.

It's not the only consideration, but it should be the dominant one. Ability to get a job in my desired location without crushing debt > Ooh, the library has comfy chairs.

TheSpanishMain wrote:

fireflies wrote:

malleus discentium wrote:Pros of X school:
-That it can get you a job that pays off your loans.

Cons of Y school:
-That it can't.

These are really the only considerations you need to have in the abstract. Come back with specific questions about specific schools.

For some people, myself included, this is not the only consideration sorry.

It's not the only consideration, but it should be the dominant one. Ability to get a job in my desired location without crushing debt > Ooh, the library has comfy chairs.

1. Aware that finances are important, and obviously the main deciding factor in choosing a law school depends on where you can get in, not libraries, but still...
2. If you don't like the subject matter, then by all means just don't participate/read
3. I find random aspects about campus life very interesting
4. I can easily look up job placement stats on LST and ABA, and of course I do, but insights from students about their experiences are still enjoyable on my end

fireflies wrote:

TheSpanishMain wrote:

fireflies wrote:

malleus discentium wrote:Pros of X school:
-That it can get you a job that pays off your loans.

Cons of Y school:
-That it can't.

These are really the only considerations you need to have in the abstract. Come back with specific questions about specific schools.

For some people, myself included, this is not the only consideration sorry.

It's not the only consideration, but it should be the dominant one. Ability to get a job in my desired location without crushing debt > Ooh, the library has comfy chairs.

1. Aware that finances are important, and obviously the main deciding factor in choosing a law school depends on where you can get in, not libraries, but still...
2. If you don't like the subject matter, then by all means just don't participate/read
3. I find random aspects about campus life very interesting
4. I can easily look up job placement stats on LST and ABA, and of course I do, but insights from students about their experiences are still enjoyable on my end

This thread is not going to be a thing if you're combative about this one point. You don't have a good argument here.

NU

1. Public transportation is great
2. Not far from a bunch of decent areas to hang out
3. Some amazing faculty members
4. Solid jerb placement
5. Varied clinic opportunities

Not good

1. Fucking cost is horrible
2. Some narcissistic douchebag staff (looking at you, Ron Allen)
3. Self important listserv police
4. Fucking obscene cost. I need to say it again.
5. Winter weather

..

Indiana Tech

Pros:
1. Location - Ft. Wayne is THE place to be in the midwest, nothing else can compare.
2. Amazing faculty - andré frederick douglas pond cummings has taught me a lot about law, love, and life in general
3. CHEAP - cost of attendence is only 50k unlike those pretentious "big name" schools like Columbia (85k cost of attendence)
4. free application - why waste money on schools you wont get into anyway
5. Job placement - no reportable employment data yet, but its a buyers market so I'm sure there will be no problem landing jobs

Cons:
none

beachbum wrote:
Con:

3) BBQ. Jesus, it's like they're intentionally screwing up a good thing. Good bbq sauce is not nor should ever be vinegar-based. Ever. Jesus. (But see hushpuppies, sweet tea).
.

BLASPHEMY! Thanks for the perspectives though.

nyu

pros:
greenwich village! food, bars, culture, parks, it's a fun place to be
hop skip and a jump to brooklyn
good bl/fc placement, good pi placement, so you can really go either route

cons:
cost is fucking insane
no lay preftige, friends who knew i killed the lsat kept asking why i wasn't going to columbia

those are the ones i wanted to bring up
not going to add filler to get them up to five

a school near 42 degrees N latitude in the continental united states

pros:
- vanwinkle went there

cons:
- awkward to mention in casual conversation

Brut wrote:nyu

pros:
greenwich village! food, bars, culture, parks, it's a fun place to be
hop skip and a jump to brooklyn
good bl/fc placement, good pi placement, so you can really go either route

cons:
cost is fucking insane
no lay preftige, friends who knew i killed the lsat kept asking why i wasn't going to columbia

those are the ones i wanted to bring up
not going to add filler to get them up to five

idk the law school has local prestige

also the people here seem way more chill so that would def be a plus

among laypeople, i think nyu law's preftige is probably roughly commensurate with the preftige of its UG
anecdotally, i vaguely remember before researching law schools, i knew nyu had one
and i figured it was probably a good school, but wouldn't have guessed it was a top school

Transferred so i'll do for both schools.

WUSTL
Pros: Low COL, generous scholarship, laidback classmates, smaller class size, pretty campus
Cons: No market that it reliably places in, the 1L's draft study group contracts, frequently mistaken for the St. Louis campus of GW or UW, CSO does nothing, curriculum is too litigation-heavy

UChicago
Pros: job prospects, brilliant profs, smart classmates, OCS, small class size
Cons: Too much Fed Soc, smart classmates know they're smart, brilliant professors are too smart to understand, Hyde Park, have to listen to Northwestern kids claim that they're somehow cooler by virtue of going to NU and not UChicago (#lhanvt)

cusenation wrote:Cons: Federalist Society stronghold . . . have to listen to Northwestern kids claim that they're somehow cooler by virtue of going to NU and not UChicago (#lhanvt)

Listing this as a con = vicious anti-ChikFilA trolling.

1. don't go to law school
2. there are no jobs
3. you will die alone

bjsesq wrote:NU

1. Public transportation is great
2. Not far from a bunch of decent areas to hang out
3. Some amazing faculty members
4. Solid jerb placement
5. Varied clinic opportunities

Not good

1. Fucking cost is horrible
2. Some narcissistic douchebag staff (looking at you, Ron Allen)
3. Self important listserv police
4. Fucking obscene cost. I need to say it again.
5. Winter weather

Pros

6. NU is not expensive when you ED.
7. My classmates are not assholes.
8. Professors treat students like human beings.

Cons

6. Prevailing emphasis on rich people law.
7. More fiscally conservative people than I was expecting at lawl school, but I guess that's just how americans are these days.
8. Location is a tourist hotspot.

well i mean, no school is expensive when you get a full ride