West Virginia University College of Law Ranking/Questions? Forum

[Katessays]

Hello!

I am currently a junior in high school and have maintained a 4.0 throughout my high school "career". I am fairly close to WVU and would like to attend WVU since it's convenient.

1) According to a law school rankings site, WVU is currently tied at 94. I know that it's best to receive a degree from a school that is at least ranked within the top 100 list but is 94 considered good for a law school considering that there are a million law schools in America alone? Would I be able to obtain a good career with a degree from WVU?

2) How much does my GPA matter? (I know your LSAT score is more important) What other schools could I possibly attend?

Please excuse my ignorance. I am more than a little confused and would like to figure everything out before I start applying.

Thank you!

[adil91]

You're in high school stop thinking about law school and focus on getting into a good undergrad. Have fun,major in something in useful, get a full time office job and if you still want to go to law school set your sights at something better than WVU law. Don't sell yourself short.

[OhBoyOhBortles]

Now is about the right time to start thinking about undergrad. Please tuck law school safely in the back of your mind. If you know you will eventually want to do law school, definitely focus on your gpa through undergrad. Best of luck!

[Katessays]

Now is about the right time to start thinking about undergrad. Please tuck law school safely in the back of your mind. If you know you will eventually want to do law school, definitely focus on your gpa through undergrad. Best of luck!

Oh, I know! I am thinking way ahead! I just want to know what my options are because I plan to maintain a 4.0 throughout the rest of my schooling (undergrad, etc.) so I'm curious to see how good of a school WVU actually is.

[adil91]

Now is about the right time to start thinking about undergrad. Please tuck law school safely in the back of your mind. If you know you will eventually want to do law school, definitely focus on your gpa through undergrad. Best of luck!

Oh, I know! I am thinking way ahead! I just want to know what my options are because I plan to maintain a 4.0 throughout the rest of my schooling (undergrad, etc.) so I'm curious to see how good of a school WVU actually is.

It's not good, Aim for Yale and if you miss you might hit the t14 but aim for Yale, seriously. When I was your age I had the same mindset, I thought I wasn't smart enough to get into a school higher than my local public T1 but I'm set to go to a school that would never have taken me as a undergrad student.

[Katessays]

Now is about the right time to start thinking about undergrad. Please tuck law school safely in the back of your mind. If you know you will eventually want to do law school, definitely focus on your gpa through undergrad. Best of luck!

Oh, I know! I am thinking way ahead! I just want to know what my options are because I plan to maintain a 4.0 throughout the rest of my schooling (undergrad, etc.) so I'm curious to see how good of a school WVU actually is.

It's not good, Aim for Yale and if you miss you might hit the t14 but aim for Yale, seriously. When I was your age I had the same mindset, I thought I wasn't smart enough to get into a school higher than my local public T1 but I'm set to go to a school that would never have taken me as a undergrad student.

That is what I needed to know! Although it seems simple, it's hard to figure out what schools are considered "good" without jumping straight to Yale or Harvard. I know I have quite some time before I can consider schools but I want to have a head start because I don't want to be incredibly uninformed when I do begin searching. There aren't many people around here (well, me) that have a background in law, or heck, have even gone to college for more than psychology so I am completely on my own!

Thank you all so much for the help! I apologize for sounding so immature but I truly had no clue.

[adil91]

Now is about the right time to start thinking about undergrad. Please tuck law school safely in the back of your mind. If you know you will eventually want to do law school, definitely focus on your gpa through undergrad. Best of luck!

Oh, I know! I am thinking way ahead! I just want to know what my options are because I plan to maintain a 4.0 throughout the rest of my schooling (undergrad, etc.) so I'm curious to see how good of a school WVU actually is.

It's not good, Aim for Yale and if you miss you might hit the t14 but aim for Yale, seriously. When I was your age I had the same mindset, I thought I wasn't smart enough to get into a school higher than my local public T1 but I'm set to go to a school that would never have taken me as a undergrad student.

That is what I needed to know! Although it seems simple, it's hard to figure out what schools are considered "good" without jumping straight to Yale or Harvard. I know I have quite some time before I can consider schools but I want to have a head start because I don't want to be incredibly uninformed when I do begin searching. There aren't many people around here (well, me) that have a background in law, or heck, have even gone to college for more than psychology so I am completely on my own!

Thank you all so much for the help! I apologize for sounding so immature but I truly had no clue.

The only schools that will give you a great chance of getting a good job are the t14 schools.UVA is near WV, aim for a full scholarship there.

[stego]

You're still a junior in high school so your time would probably be better spent thinking about where you want to go to undergrad and what you want to major in. If you're seriously interested in law you need a major that would allow you to earn strong grades but that will also give you sufficient academic preparation so that you can do well if you end up going. Undergraduate GPA is important and you can retake the LSAT but you don't really get a do-over if you have a poor UGPA.

A year or more of work experience between undergrad and law school is often helpful and law schools won't look at that as a negative in any way, so if adequately studying for the LSAT would interfere with getting good grades while in school, you shouldn't even study for or take the LSAT while you're in undergrad. Good/interesting work experience is a slight positive on an application.

Really I would say to look at tier 1 (law schools in the top 50) but US News and World Report rankings don't really matter at all. What matters is (1) job placement after graduation (what kind of jobs you can get and where) and (2) cost of attendance (i.e., how much debt will you have when you graduate and how will you pay it off).

West Virginia's numbers are not great. Less than 60% of the 2014 class found long-term full-time jobs as lawyers. Over 60% of the class that found jobs stayed in West Virginia. If you'd be content with staying in West Virginia, you got a full ride scholarship, and you had really modest career goals, it might be an OK option, but your opportunities to practice law outside West Virginia would be very limited unless you finished near the top of the class.

http://www.lstscorereports.com/schools/ ... tion/2014/

As a general rule of thumb, you should go to law school at the best school you can get into that you can afford. But unless you go to one of the top 14 or so schools with truly national placement, you should in general go to a good school in the area you want to practice.

At this point in your life, focus on learning things you want to learn and things you might want to do for work / a career. The legal field is tough and you have other options so don't go to law school unless you're pretty sure you want to practice law and you have a clear idea of what kind of law you want to practice and where.

[Katessays]

You're still a junior in high school so your time would probably be better spent thinking about where you want to go to undergrad and what you want to major in. If you're seriously interested in law you need a major that would allow you to earn strong grades but that will also give you sufficient academic preparation so that you can do well if you end up going. Undergraduate GPA is important and you can retake the LSAT but you don't really get a do-over if you have a poor UGPA.

A year or more of work experience between undergrad and law school is often helpful and law schools won't look at that as a negative in any way, so if adequately studying for the LSAT would interfere with getting good grades while in school, you shouldn't even study for or take the LSAT while you're in undergrad. Good/interesting work experience is a slight positive on an application.

Really I would say to look at tier 1 (law schools in the top 50) but US News and World Report rankings don't really matter at all. What matters is (1) job placement after graduation (what kind of jobs you can get and where) and (2) cost of attendance (i.e., how much debt will you have when you graduate and how will you pay it off).

West Virginia's numbers are not great. Less than 60% of the 2014 class found long-term full-time jobs as lawyers. Over 60% of the class that found jobs stayed in West Virginia. If you'd be content with staying in West Virginia, you got a full ride scholarship, and you had really modest career goals, it might be an OK option, but your opportunities to practice law outside West Virginia would be very limited unless you finished near the top of the class.

http://www.lstscorereports.com/schools/ ... tion/2014/

As a general rule of thumb, you should go to law school at the best school you can get into that you can afford. But unless you go to one of the top 14 or so schools with truly national placement, you should in general go to a good school in the area you want to practice.

At this point in your life, focus on learning things you want to learn and things you might want to do for work / a career. The legal field is tough and you have other options so don't go to law school unless you're pretty sure you want to practice law and you have a clear idea of what kind of law you want to practice and where.

Thank you SO much for all of the information! You've made everything very clear and I am so appreciative of that. I will definitely look into other options after reading all of the information you've provided.

I understand that the legal field is tough and I planned to start my "backup plan" first (in other words, I am determined to have a degree that will potentially allow me to have a good career in case I don't get into a law school or decide that I no longer want to take that path) but this has reinforced that I NEED to do that.

You've all been very helpful! I apologize if I make zero sense but everything has been made more clear to me now.

[Charlestonsfb60]

Dude, worry about prom or something! Come back here in 4 years. Live a life until then.

[DaRascal]

Are you planning to go to WVU for undergrad? I think you should get a really good SAT score if you haven't already, go to the best college you can for free, and then major in something rigorous that interests you so that you end up with a college degree in an area that you like, but you also are better prepared for the rigors of law school compared to most of your eventual peers at WV Law.


Also, don't drink and party all the time in college unless you know you can still kill your classes. Be scrong... be scrong...