Top Law Schools

Enough with the troll threads (apologies for those btw), this is the real deal:

A bit of info about me:
1- 3.1/167
2- International student. Will be returning to my home country after graduation and thus will not be working in the U.S
3- Took the LSAT 3 times
4- Will be working as a corporate lawyer after graduation (job is already lined up)

I have to decide between WUSTL and GWU. Both offered me money (GW more money), making the COA the same for both options (how sweet is that?). So my decision now only depends on the experience each of these schools offer. All being equal, which would you choose?

Info about me related to the schools:
1- I fear GW's big student body would make the experience less personal than WUSTL's.
2- I have never been to St. Louis. I have been to DC and I liked the city. However, I am the type of guy that spends the vast majority of time between school and home, and so this factor is not the biggest to me.
3- I like to be around people more intellectual than myself. Which of these schools generally has the smarter student body?
4- I know I am a 0L, but I am not opposed to the idea of transferring after the first year. Generally, which of these schools is easier to transfer out off into a T10?
5- Layprestige matters to me somewhat. Which of the two schools is generally more preftigious (I know someone will jump and say that neither is prestigious, but that someone fails because I asked about relative prestige which cannot be 0 unless both are 0, which is obviously not the case here).
6- I did not like GW's campus because it felt integrated into the city. Even the facilities felt a bit old. I know that WUSTL's campus is much better, but how are the facilities compared to GW? (library, classrooms, etc..)

Thanks everyone.

Based on reading the transfer forum and talking around (I go to GW and like it a good bit), people have done well transferring out of GW. The student body is so big that you can find any group you want, and we have some very intellectual/engaging professors (Kerr and Kovacic come to mind as highlights, the later I particularly enjoyed). GW is likely more lay prestigious, and at least is recognized as a good school in the mid-atlantic region, and to a lesser extent NYC. On the whole, I really like DC. The GW Campus is kinda disappointing, but the rest of the city has way more to offer.

Do you want to live in DC or St. Louis for three years? That is the question I would be asking. Personally, I'd go with GWU.

Thanks for your replies guys.

As for living in St. Louis, I would probably prefer DC over it. However, if the other factors give WUSTL an edge, then I would not mind St. Louis.

GWU easily. Esp. as an in international, I expect DC will provide many more lifestyle options than St. Louis.

If everythings lined up and you dont have to worry about cost or employment options (Really?) then gwu will probably be the common response. St. Louis is cool but it doesn't have much of an international community and has substantially less shit going on (at least from a tourist standpoint).

Thanks all, but I want more prospective about the other factors I mentioned. Are these schools so much alike that factors like facilities, student body size, layprestige, transfer opportunities are negligible?

I don't even know what that means of course they are negligible. You want library square footage or something?

flawschoolkid wrote:Based on reading the transfer forum and talking around (I go to GW and like it a good bit), people have done well transferring out of GW. The student body is so big that you can find any group you want, and we have some very intellectual/engaging professors (Kerr and Kovacic come to mind as highlights, the later I particularly enjoyed). GW is likely more lay prestigious, and at least is recognized as a good school in the mid-atlantic region, and to a lesser extent NYC. On the whole, I really like DC. The GW Campus is kinda disappointing, but the rest of the city has way more to offer.

^ This

I mean if we're just talking about soft factors:
-WUSTL's entire campus is amazing, and the law school is very nice and updated (sounds like what you're looking for)
-I'd argue WUSTL as a whole is a bit more prestigious than GW, especially internationally, but I guess that depends on what circles you're in

scottidsntknow wrote:I mean if we're just talking about soft factors:
-WUSTL's entire campus is amazing, and the law school is very nice and updated (sounds like what you're looking for)
-I'd argue WUSTL as a whole is a bit more prestigious than GW, especially internationally, but I guess that depends on what circles you're in

This. Wustl's facilities are great, the campus is beautiful and the town is fine for someone who spends most of their time between school and home. Also, I agree that WashU is more prestigious than GWU but it is based on the undergrad and med school, not the law school.

Disclosure: I'm at Wustl

futago wrote:

scottidsntknow wrote:I mean if we're just talking about soft factors:
-WUSTL's entire campus is amazing, and the law school is very nice and updated (sounds like what you're looking for)
-I'd argue WUSTL as a whole is a bit more prestigious than GW, especially internationally, but I guess that depends on what circles you're in

This. Wustl's facilities are great, the campus is beautiful and the town is fine for someone who spends most of their time between school and home. Also, I agree that WashU is more prestigious than GWU but it is based on the undergrad and med school, not the law school.

Disclosure: I'm at Wustl

Also a WUSTL student. However I'm from DC, and WUSTL is more impressive in DC as a whole than GW as well. I was figuring OP was just talking about general lay prestige.

City = Most people would rather live in DC.
Facilities = WUSTL has better facilities.
Student body size = GW is larger with more alumni.
Layprestige = The undergrad of WUSTL has more layprestige than the undergrad of GW, but GW Law has more legal prestige than WUSTL Law.
Transfer opportunities = These are probably pretty equal. Can't really comment on this.
Employment Prospects = GW has a better track record of biglaw and biggov placement.

Ultimately, its up to you.

Interesting, I never thought WUSTL is more impressive than GW in DC. If anything, I would have expected it to be unknown to the average person.

I must say that I also found GW's campus to be dull. I attended a class there and the professor did not use a presentation (only a whiteboard), while when I attended classes at other schools (USC, UCLA), only a presentation was used. Not sure if this is case-by-case, or if it is just how each school teaches (could current GW students elaborate on this?)

I'm trying to make the same decision as OP, but I'm still waiting for other schools' decisions. So, tagged.

No idea about transfer stats, but I'd assume the difference between WUSTL and GW are negligible. In terms of lay prestige, WUSTL has top-tier UG and med schools. Of course, none of this matters. But here's a breakdown. Relative rankings:

UG

WUSTL - #14
GW - #54

Med

WUSTL - #6
GW - #67

Business

WUSTL - #19
GW - #58

Lawl

WUSTL - #18
GW - #22

It's not that WUSTL is mega prestigious (it is for UG and Med), it's just that GW is not prestigious at all. So relatively, WUSTL has more ~preftige~.

ETA - What you really need to worry about are either school's success with international job placement. FWIW, US News has this bullshit "global" ranking list that has WUSTL at 50 and GW at like 250 something.

mohdban wrote:Interesting, I never thought WUSTL is more impressive than GW in DC. If anything, I would have expected it to be unknown to the average person.

I must say that I also found GW's campus to be dull. I attended a class there and the professor did not use a presentation (only a whiteboard), while when I attended classes at other schools (USC, UCLA), only a presentation was used. Not sure if this is case-by-case, or if it is just how each school teaches (could current GW students elaborate on this?)

I'm trying to make the same decision as OP, but I'm still waiting for other schools' decisions. So, tagged.

The style of lecturing/presentation just depends on the professor (with the notable exception of LRW, where the profs/TAs are given standardized powerpoints that they simply tweak to their style). I had classes with whiteboard only (or nothing at all), with powerpoints and clickers, and where there were interactive exercises.

mi-chan17 wrote:

mohdban wrote:Interesting, I never thought WUSTL is more impressive than GW in DC. If anything, I would have expected it to be unknown to the average person.

I must say that I also found GW's campus to be dull. I attended a class there and the professor did not use a presentation (only a whiteboard), while when I attended classes at other schools (USC, UCLA), only a presentation was used. Not sure if this is case-by-case, or if it is just how each school teaches (could current GW students elaborate on this?)

I'm trying to make the same decision as OP, but I'm still waiting for other schools' decisions. So, tagged.

The style of lecturing/presentation just depends on the professor (with the notable exception of LRW, where the profs/TAs are given standardized powerpoints that they simply tweak to their style). I had classes with whiteboard only (or nothing at all), with powerpoints and clickers, and where there were interactive exercises.

Yeah same at WUSTL. All my doctrinals have been whiteboard only fwiw, but I don't see how that plays into your decision.