Top Law Schools

Should you choose a school based on the strength of job placement numbers in one particular field, or should you just simply go to the highest ranked school with the best overall job placement numbers? I know job placement scores are important, but it's difficult to figure out exactly what they mean sometimes. For example, I looked for "best law school for public interest jobs," and found conflicting information. One article listed W&M as #1 for PI, whereas another article didn't have W&M listed at all among top schools for PI. UVA was ranked on one list, but I saw a post in a thread here (don't remember exactly where) quoting actual UVA law students who cautioned against attending UVA if you were interested In PI because they felt the school actively discourages a career in PI.

Is there a reliable site that would provide useful info on this? I know you can look at LST and see what percentage of grads each school places in which jobs, but is that really useful? For instance, Cornell has a 95.8% employment score, but places 4.7% in PI. CUNY has a 48% employment score, but places 26% in PI. So strictly using the percentage of grads placed in PI, CUNY seems a better choice, but choosing CUNY over Cornell would be a stupid thing to do. (If you have only 2 employed grads and they're both PI, you'd have 100% PI score, so it seems like an almost useless consideration). So is the right choice just to go the best school you can reasonably afford and not worry about their PI placement? (That doesn't seem like a good idea either)

This is probably a stupid question with an obvious answer, but I keep running into dead ends looking for it.

If you really want to do PI, I'd get the best scholarship you can for it. You will learn how to do whatever your specialty is at whatever top-ranked school. Also, look into full-ride scholarships for PI. For instance, I know BU has 6 full rides per year for PI people, and I am sure that other schools are similar. And LRAP is really important too...that's what I'd be looking for.

schools that place well in biglaw will place well for PI. the only reason those schools push people to OCI is because it's comparatively easier for them to get their students jobs through OCI .

RedGiant wrote:If you really want to do PI, I'd get the best scholarship you can for it. You will learn how to do whatever your specialty is at whatever top-ranked school. Also, look into full-ride scholarships for PI. For instance, I know BU has 6 full rides per year for PI people, and I am sure that other schools are similar. And LRAP is really important too...that's what I'd be looking for.

I've never even looked into these types of scholarships. I just assumed it would be a waste of time given their limited availability. I figured the recipients of these would be candidates with 170+/4.0, and my application would get tossed into the LOL pile. I'll check into that, thanks!