Top Law Schools

Okay, not sure if this post belongs here but here goes.

I've been accepted at the University of Oklahoma and University of Nebraska with decent scholarships, though I'd still be paying for living expenses (all in all not that expensive based on the locations).

I've also been accepted at the University of Mississippi with a full tuition scholarship. Now if I were choosing based on rankings alone, this would be a no brainer, however since my top choice (Ohio State) has me waitlisted and I have no strong particular feelings toward either Oklahoma or Nebraska, should I just take the full ride at Ole Miss or should I go for the higher ranked, but still not elite school.

Some background, I have a 157 LSAT and 3.45 GPA. My goal is to land in a large city (i.e. Chicago or Seattle) and I know that I would need to work hard at any of these schools to make that happen, as they aren't tier 1. My question is, I guess, how should I evaluate the rankings of these schools and how should I factor that in my decision making.

Any and all help is greatly appreciated!

I wouldn't go to any of these schools with those geographic goals

Go to a school that places you in the job that you want in the geographic region that you want, at an appropriate cost.

First, I would start by acquiring some more geographic focus.

Yeah not to spoil your party, but rethinking your whole strategy would be helpful. When you said OSU was your first choice I thought you wanted to practice in Cleveland. Than you said you wanted to go to Chicago and the OSU choice made a lot less sense.

You should retake and shoot for UW or Illinois--or better--at similar costs to what you'd be paying at UNebraska/UOklahoma if you want to practice in Seattle or Chicago, OP.

Law degrees are not as portable as you think. The odds of you landing a Chicago or seattle legal job from Oklahoma (not biglaw or midlaw, but legal job in general) are very slim.

Just to pile on: none of these will place you in Chicago or Seattle. It's not a matter of "hard work". You just won't have the opportunity.

Your plan is so wrong.

Do you want to practice in Mississippi? Then go there. If not, don't.

You should retake for UIUC. They are very generous with scholarships if you can bump up your LSAT 3-5 points, and it will give you a reasonable shot at Chicago.

Rankings don't matter when talking about regional state flagships either. The question here is where you want to work and does that school place there.
None of your options get you to Chicago or Seattle.

What career path do you want?

Wait out this cycle and try again

DogSitting wrote:Wait out this cycle and try again

No. No, no, no.

You do not get to give this advice if you are not willing to take it yourself.

cavalier1138 wrote:

DogSitting wrote:Wait out this cycle and try again

No. No, no, no.

You do not get to give this advice if you are not willing to take it yourself.

It's not really comparing apples to apples though.

For one, a 157 should 100% be retaken.
Secondly, the geographic goals vs. choices here are insane.

Rigo wrote:

cavalier1138 wrote:

DogSitting wrote:Wait out this cycle and try again

No. No, no, no.

You do not get to give this advice if you are not willing to take it yourself.

It's not really comparing apples to apples though.

For one, a 157 should 100% be retaken.
Secondly, the geographic goals vs. choices here are insane.

It's comparing apples to idiots. DogSitting cannot tell other people to do exactly what he has been advised to do if he's going to reject that advice out of hand and pretend he's a special case. Both of these people need to figure out how the legal job market works, but the OP in this thread has not been trying to hand out advice to others.

LBall8287 wrote:Okay, not sure if this post belongs here but here goes.

I've been accepted at the University of Oklahoma and University of Nebraska with decent scholarships, though I'd still be paying for living expenses (all in all not that expensive based on the locations).

I've also been accepted at the University of Mississippi with a full tuition scholarship. Now if I were choosing based on rankings alone, this would be a no brainer, however since my top choice (Ohio State) has me waitlisted and I have no strong particular feelings toward either Oklahoma or Nebraska, should I just take the full ride at Ole Miss or should I go for the higher ranked, but still not elite school.

Some background, I have a 157 LSAT and 3.45 GPA. My goal is to land in a large city (i.e. Chicago or Seattle) and I know that I would need to work hard at any of these schools to make that happen, as they aren't tier 1. My question is, I guess, how should I evaluate the rankings of these schools and how should I factor that in my decision making.

Any and all help is greatly appreciated!

Where are you from and where do you want to practice?
The reason I ask is that not only do schools have regional placement, many markets are insular and it won't be easy to be hired if you aren't from the surrounding area. I can almost guarantee that is the case in Mississippi.

If you want Ohio State did you write a LOCI?

Can you retake the LSAT?

What are your goals?

Finally, please post the actual cost and debt you will incur at the schools.

Definitely retake and sit out the cycle. Don't waste your time on this cycle anymore. Re-evaluate

Okay so to address a few different points:

1) At Ole Miss I will incur 10-15 over the course of three years (living expenses etc) At OU and Nebraska I would incur roughly 40-50 over the course of three years. The other schools I've applied to I've either been waitlisted or am in review still (including Illinois).

2) I have taken the LSAT three times, and even took a course to improve my score, 157 is as good as it's going to get lol.

3) I've already taken a year off, this one, and am ready to go to law school.

4) I have written a LOCI to OSU.

5) I understand that none of my options are super desirable; there are plenty of people on this blog and others that say don't go unless you're in at a T14. However, I really need advice from people in similar situations or at least understand the law school search because my family hears the word free tuition and they're sold.

Thanks for the helpful advice so far.

LBall8287 wrote:Okay so to address a few different points:

1) At Ole Miss I will incur 10-15 over the course of three years (living expenses etc) At OU and Nebraska I would incur roughly 40-50 over the course of three years. The other schools I've applied to I've either been waitlisted or am in review still (including Illinois).

2) I have taken the LSAT three times, and even took a course to improve my score, 157 is as good as it's going to get lol.

3) I've already taken a year off, this one, and am ready to go to law school.

4) I have written a LOCI to OSU.

5) I understand that none of my options are super desirable; there are plenty of people on this blog and others that say don't go unless you're in at a T14. However, I really need advice from people in similar situations or at least understand the law school search because my family hears the word free tuition and they're sold.

Thanks for the helpful advice so far.

Do you want to live and practice in Mississippi?

Npret wrote:

LBall8287 wrote:Okay so to address a few different points:

1) At Ole Miss I will incur 10-15 over the course of three years (living expenses etc) At OU and Nebraska I would incur roughly 40-50 over the course of three years. The other schools I've applied to I've either been waitlisted or am in review still (including Illinois).

2) I have taken the LSAT three times, and even took a course to improve my score, 157 is as good as it's going to get lol.

3) I've already taken a year off, this one, and am ready to go to law school.

4) I have written a LOCI to OSU.

5) I understand that none of my options are super desirable; there are plenty of people on this blog and others that say don't go unless you're in at a T14. However, I really need advice from people in similar situations or at least understand the law school search because my family hears the word free tuition and they're sold.

Thanks for the helpful advice so far.

Do you want to live and practice in Mississippi?

OP this is the right question. If you go to Ole Miss, enjoy working in Mississippi for a small firm/solo/rural DA. Same goes for OU or NU. If you want small firm/solo/rural DA in Oklahoma or Nebraska, go there. If these are not the desired outcomes, then don't go. None of these schools will get you a job in a big city like Seattle/Chicago/NY. If you are fine working in middle of nowhere Miss, then go to Ole Miss. But if you aren't, these schools WILL NOT serve your goals. You need to wait and retake again in two years and actually study for this test. My diagnostic was a 142. I scored a 175+ on my third try. I am not good at standardized tests, you just have to want to succeed and put in the work.

LBall8287 wrote:Okay so to address a few different points:

1) At Ole Miss I will incur 10-15 over the course of three years (living expenses etc) At OU and Nebraska I would incur roughly 40-50 over the course of three years. The other schools I've applied to I've either been waitlisted or am in review still (including Illinois).

2) I have taken the LSAT three times, and even took a course to improve my score, 157 is as good as it's going to get lol.

3) I've already taken a year off, this one, and am ready to go to law school.

4) I have written a LOCI to OSU.

5) I understand that none of my options are super desirable; there are plenty of people on this blog and others that say don't go unless you're in at a T14. However, I really need advice from people in similar situations or at least understand the law school search because my family hears the word free tuition and they're sold.

Thanks for the helpful advice so far.

Yeah, none of this is really responding to the points people have brought up (none of which, incidentally, have involved the T14). The whole problem here is that you want to work in Chicago or Seattle, but none of your listed school choices are in Chicago or Seattle. You cannot go to any of these schools and work where you say you want to work.

Incidentally, your justification of already having taken a year off is pointless. You may feel ready, but you are certainly not in a good position to go to law school this cycle, and you are far too young to be rushing into it.

LBall8287 wrote:Okay so to address a few different points:

1) At Ole Miss I will incur 10-15 over the course of three years (living expenses etc) At OU and Nebraska I would incur roughly 40-50 over the course of three years. The other schools I've applied to I've either been waitlisted or am in review still (including Illinois).

2) I have taken the LSAT three times, and even took a course to improve my score, 157 is as good as it's going to get lol.

3) I've already taken a year off, this one, and am ready to go to law school.

4) I have written a LOCI to OSU.

5) I understand that none of my options are super desirable; there are plenty of people on this blog and others that say don't go unless you're in at a T14. However, I really need advice from people in similar situations or at least understand the law school search because my family hears the word free tuition and they're sold.

Thanks for the helpful advice so far.

How did you study for the LSAT? Did you drill questions, do practice tests.

LBall8287 wrote:Okay so to address a few different points:

1) At Ole Miss I will incur 10-15 over the course of three years (living expenses etc) At OU and Nebraska I would incur roughly 40-50 over the course of three years. The other schools I've applied to I've either been waitlisted or am in review still (including Illinois).

2) I have taken the LSAT three times, and even took a course to improve my score, 157 is as good as it's going to get lol.

3) I've already taken a year off, this one, and am ready to go to law school.

4) I have written a LOCI to OSU.

5) I understand that none of my options are super desirable; there are plenty of people on this blog and others that say don't go unless you're in at a T14. However, I really need advice from people in similar situations or at least understand the law school search because my family hears the word free tuition and they're sold.

Thanks for the helpful advice so far.

Don't spend three years getting a law degree that won't get you where you want to go, even if your tuition is free.

If you don't want to retake, you need to apply to law schools in the same geographic markets as Chicago and Seattle. Look for law schools that have a high percentage of their students employed in Washington and Illinois.

Sit out this cycle. Target schools in the next cycle that better fit your goals.

Only 51% of Ole Miss grads secured fulltime long term employment requiring a law degree within 9 months of graduation.
So a coin flip if you're going to work as a lawyer or not.

lawman84 wrote:
If you don't want to retake, you need to apply to law schools in the same geographic markets as Chicago and Seattle. Look for law schools that have a high percentage of their students employed in Washington and Illinois.

Sit out this cycle. Target schools in the next cycle that better fit your goals.

this. chicago and seattle wont believe youre committed to the market. you wont get biglaw, govt, or really anything other than shitlaw taking a flyer on you. fwiw, ive advised people to take more debt and go to shittier schools, so the debt nor schools scare me, they just dont overlap with your target markets at all.