Top Law Schools

Hi,
I applied to law school in the Philly area and have been admitted to Rutgers, Drexel (both with full tuition covered), and Villanova (have to wait until January to hear about scholarship $$$) and am still waiting to hear from Temple. I am aware that big law is not a realistic goal at these schools. However, I am most interested in entering the field of health/health care law. I intend to declare a concentration in health law. Each school has the concentration and Drexel's is ranked in the top 20 according to USNWR. What are your guys thoughts?

It is a rule that you must declare your concentration in this fashion:

Specialty rankings do not matter. Few, if any, employers will care that you graduate with a concentration. The best school is the one most likely to get you a job. Penn is the best school in Philly for health law, because Penn is most likely to get you a job.

If BigLaw is not the goal, what kind of job do you expect/desire within health law? I don't think Rutgers for free is awful. But if you have Rutgers for free, have you considered a retake for Penn?

We have someone in our health law division who graduated from Penn. She turned down NYC BL to work here in CA (V100 firm). Might try there.

drs36 wrote:Specialty rankings do not matter. Few, if any, employers will care that you graduate with a concentration. The best school is the one most likely to get you a job. Penn is the best school in Philly for health law, because Penn is most likely to get you a job.

If BigLaw is not the goal, what kind of job do you expect/desire within health law? I don't think Rutgers for free is awful. But if you have Rutgers for free, have you considered a retake for Penn?

I second this. I think law schools do this to promote themselves (as my school (Rutgers) just started offering specialties for some reason). In the end, follow the US News rankings, not specialty rankings. The hierarchy in Philly goes: Penn, Temple/Villanova, Rutgers, (I have no idea what footing Drexel even has in Philly, but from what I have heard, it is not much). If you can't get Penn, then the cheapest option between Temple, VIllanova, and Rutgers is the best bet.

Also, what is health law exactly? Is that litigation?

"Health law" encompasses, like, 50 distinct fields of law. It's literally more vague of "concentration" than litigation is.

nickb2020 wrote:Hi,
I applied to law school in the Philly area and have been admitted to Rutgers, Drexel (both with full tuition covered), and Villanova (have to wait until January to hear about scholarship $$$) and am still waiting to hear from Temple. I am aware that big law is not a realistic goal at these schools. However, I am most interested in entering the field of health/health care law. I intend to declare a concentration in health law. Each school has the concentration and Drexel's is ranked in the top 20 according to USNWR. What are your guys thoughts?

I also have to add, you do not have to declare anything. This is not undergrad where you declare a major. Law is the major. And I would also be leery of picking a school based on your interest in "health care law" (whatever that is). Unless you have a lot of experience in "health care law," your mind will probably change once in law school. You may find you like something else. A full ride from Rutgers, or good scholarship $$$ from Nova or Temple should eliminate Drexel. Don't be fooled by their "top 20" ranking.

Penn

Much of "health law" is biglaw from my understanding

Thank you all for the insight. A retake for Penn is out of the cards for me, my score is a 157 and I do not feel confident it can go any higher. I'm aware that concentrations aren't mandatory and that health law is a vague concept. However, as things stand now, I'd like to practice law that has anything to do with the healthcare system. This can be anything from malpractice, insurance issues, bioethics, fraud etc. its just a field I'm extremely passionate about.

nickb2020 wrote:Thank you all for the insight. A retake for Penn is out of the cards for me, my score is a 157 and I do not feel confident it can go any higher. I'm aware that concentrations aren't mandatory and that health law is a vague concept. However, as things stand now, I'd like to practice law that has anything to do with the healthcare system. This can be anything from malpractice, insurance issues, bioethics, fraud etc. its just a field I'm extremely passionate about.

What makes you say a retake is "out of the cards"? If you haven't taken the exam 3 times, you should retake that 157. No questions about it.

I echo what most people have said here, that your decision where to attend law school will not be relevant in entering health law.

Also agree with ymmv that "health law" is a very broad term that is too general: you could be doing transactional, compliance or litigation in anything from appellate law to med mal.

With that being said, you don't need to get into biglaw to land in the healthcare industry. Experience in the legal, business or even substantive aspects of healthcare would make you desirable to companies or governmental agencies. What would be critical would be an internship/externship in the healthcare field during your law school years to build up this experience.

This is based on my experience, so take it with a grain of salt (or not). I externed for a gov't health agency and a large healthcare provider during law school (I went to a T2 in Cali). A year after I passed the bar, I applied and went inhouse to a large healthcare provider. At each stop, I was able to play up my previous healthcare experience (except at the gov't agency).

My opinion is that, if you miss the biglaw boat, and you don't have a tech background, health law is a great field to consider because you will pick up a broad skill set in a very in-demand industry.