Top Law Schools

Hello fellows,

I am in a position where I have to choose between the following schools:

1- George Washington Law School

2- Boston University Law School

3- Notre Dame Law School

After graduation and passing the bar, I am going to work as an in-house counsel for a company back home. As far as money and debt goes, all the places are the same to me.

Unfortunately, I cannot travel to schools to see the best fit for me and as far as my interests in law, I will have to find it in school.

I will appreciate your help.

Is the job after graduation 100% guaranteed? If so, go to whichever school is the cheapest. If the cost doesn't matter then go wherever you'd like to live for three years.

The job is guaranteed assuming that I pass the bar and yep the cost is not an issue. So, I understand that I should choose the best place to live in?

Alhizami wrote:The job is guaranteed assuming that I pass the bar and yep the cost is not an issue. So, I understand that I should choose the best place to live in?

I'm not an expert so don't take this as gospel, but employment outcomes and cost tend to be the two most important factors for most people when they're deciding on schools. Since those aren't important for your situation then yeah, I'd say decide whether you'd rather live in DC, Boston or South Bend for three years.

blackmamba8 wrote:

Alhizami wrote:The job is guaranteed assuming that I pass the bar and yep the cost is not an issue. So, I understand that I should choose the best place to live in?

I'm not an expert so don't take this as gospel, but employment outcomes and cost tend to be the two most important factors for most people when they're deciding on schools. Since those aren't important for your situation then yeah, I'd say decide whether you'd rather live in DC, Boston or South Bend for three years.

Thank you!

gw's location is unbeatable, and it is beneficial for you to network. just run to gw!

andychen wrote:gw's location is unbeatable, and it is beneficial for you to network. just run to gw!

Thank you! I've been to DC and I like the location, but I am worrying about the huge number of students and the ratio to faculty. What do you think?

Alhizami wrote:

andychen wrote:gw's location is unbeatable, and it is beneficial for you to network. just run to gw!

Thank you! I've been to DC and I like the location, but I am worrying about the huge number of students and the ratio to faculty. What do you think?

I wouldn't be overly concerned. I went to GW and I had a good relationship with a number of faculty. Surprisingly, most students dont try to talk to faculty all that often so its fairly easy to get face time. By 2L and 3L, I was probably like 1 of 4 students per semester to go to professor's office hours.

Alhizami wrote:

andychen wrote:gw's location is unbeatable, and it is beneficial for you to network. just run to gw!

Thank you! I've been to DC and I like the location, but I am worrying about the huge number of students and the ratio to faculty. What do you think?

Gw law dean has announced to significantly cut the class size to come back to t20 which gw traditionally belows to, and both the number of 1l students and transfer students has dropped a lot. It seems that this trend will continue this cycle, so you can expect the decent ration to faculty and the great big law rate when these student gradute. The professors of Gw is the first class even compared some T14 law schools.

Thank you all! I'm leaning towards GW after what I read!

While it seems pretty likely you'll take this job that's given to you, you will have other jobs in the future, or may decide you want to practice some other type of law, and so the location and reputation of the schools you're considering do matter. If you want a network in DC, go to GW. If you want a network in Boston, BU, and ND for Chicago. I know relatively little about these schools but would've thought BU has a slightly better reputation; if that's the case, you should take that into consideration.

You should also do everything in your power to get as much as you can from each school. Use the best offer you have (factoring in both prestige and amount) to leverage better offers from these schools.

Does BU really have a better reputation than GW?

Alhizami wrote:Does BU really have a better reputation than GW?

i do not think so. The gw law alumni community is pretty stronger than bu. I think gw is more national reach and portable.

Do you think I should take the new rankings into account?