Top Law Schools

Sooooo after a couple of glasses of wine I’ve decided to try to gather some information so I can hopefully make the most informed decision possible about where to go to law school next year. I’m from CA graduating from a UC but am completely flexible attending law school and practicing anywhere in the US as long as the cost of living is lower that LA and the school has decent job prospects for the median student and also has big law oppertunitites. Since every school outside of the T-14 is a regional school- I’ve been making my decision based on the two best scholarship offers I’ve recieved and their employment stats that I’ve recieved- full tuition at UIUC and $30,000 at SMU.

Obvious pros for UIUC is the full scholarship, higher ranking, and quality of faculty. However I am concerned that the Chicago legal market is too crowded and being located in Champaign will hinder getting a job in Chicago. SMU’s pros are a higher median starting salary ($1000,000 at SMU vs. 80,000 at UIUC), cheaper cost of living in Dallas, and that it seemingly amazing placement in Dallas given the schools poor ranking.

I would appreciate any advice on either the Chicago or Dallas legal market and how those schools fair, the repuation of either school, the quality of the education, the career services of either school, or anything else you think could help my decision!

$30k at SMU leaves you with a total cost of over a quarter million dollars. That's not worth it in any universe.

Illinois is a decent option at this price iff you're really sure you want to move to the Midwest, probably to stay for the next few decades.

Thanks for the advice! I’ve looked at how much my total debt would be after 3 years and SMU would put me $160,392 in debt while UIUC would be $68,469. Which is definetly a considerable difference, I’m just having a hard time balencing potential employment stats (which I think SMU has a slight advantage) vs. total cost (where UIUC is much more affordable). Which do you think is more important?

I guess I'm wondering what you consider "decent job prospects" for median students. What salary do you anticipate making if you don't get biglaw, and what kind of work do you actually want to do?