Top Law Schools

Hello All,

Just a quick question... I scored a 157 on the June LSAT and I have a 3.7 gpa... I want to eventually be placed and work in Boston... Any suggestions on schools??? I'm looking at UNC, Maryland, American, George Mason... Do any of these schools place in Boston? I especially like UNC however I concerned about where they place.

Thanks!

I would strongly recommend going to a school in Boston. Boston is notoriously difficult to break into unless you are from a T14 school or went to school in Boston/MA (think BC, BU, Northeastern, Suffolk and so forth). For some reason, Bostonites seem to love their own. Do you have any great connections to Boston (raised there? Undergrad there?). That may help in placement from schools outside of the city or state.

Why not aim for Northeastern and Suffolk? Also, strongly consider retaking the LSAT...your GPA is good.

I agree with the previous poster. Also, I don't think your chances are great for those schools with a 157. Either re-take or apply to NUSL/NESL/Suffolk if you really want to practice in Boston.

I've thought about re-taking the LSAT this September but I don't think I can swing my class load and studying for this exam. My pre-law advisor thinks that I could get in at UNC and Maryland. How do these schools stack up compared to Northeastern? I have a thing for Boston because I grew up just outside of it. Is it impossible to make good money in Boston coming from say UNC?

Aristone wrote:I would strongly recommend going to a school in Boston. Boston is notoriously difficult to break into unless you are from a T14 school or went to school in Boston/MA (think BC, BU, Northeastern, Suffolk and so forth). For some reason, Bostonites seem to love their own. Do you have any great connections to Boston (raised there? Undergrad there?). That may help in placement from schools outside of the city or state.

Why not aim for Northeastern and Suffolk? Also, strongly consider retaking the LSAT...your GPA is good.

Agree... except Suffolk on down aren't actual schools... So I'd avoid those..

bmg06002 wrote:I've thought about re-taking the LSAT this September but I don't think I can swing my class load and studying for this exam. My pre-law advisor thinks that I could get in at UNC and Maryland. How do these schools stack up compared to Northeastern? I have a thing for Boston because I grew up just outside of it. Is it impossible to make good money in Boston coming from say UNC?

Your concern at this point should not be whether you can make good money, but whether you can get a job. As a poster above me said, the Boston legal market is notoriously hard to break into if you did not go to school in Boston, or if you did not go to a T14.

Retake or try for Suffolk.

bmg06002 wrote:I've thought about re-taking the LSAT this September but I don't think I can swing my class load and studying for this exam. My pre-law advisor thinks that I could get in at UNC and Maryland. How do these schools stack up compared to Northeastern? I have a thing for Boston because I grew up just outside of it. Is it impossible to make good money in Boston coming from say UNC?

Are you a NC resident?! Otherwise, I'd say UNC with that low of a LSAT and out of state, is far from guaranteed. Not to mention, even if you do get into UNC the job prospects in Boston are not great.

If you're dying to work on Boston, and don't have time to study for a retake right now, why don't you take a year off after UG to study and apply next cycle with a higher LSAT? A 3.7 is good GPA, with a 165+ you could be looking at BU or BC.

If you only want to work in Boston, go to school in Boston, focus your job searching on networking and getting to know lawyers and judges in the Boston legal market. Outside of the top schools in the city you are really going to need to get to know people and make contacts to land a decent job. OCI is not really an option at schools like Suffolk for most folks, The key will be getting to know people in the market so your not competing blind against applicants from higher ranked schools. Coonections will be key.

Why are people advising this poor op to go to suffok... Its a 4th tier shithole.. Just because it gets some love from a bunch of knuckle headed mouth breathers on this site, its no reason to send someone off to spend 200k going there... Op.. go to school in boston... not a boston toilettt factory...

reasonable_man wrote:Why are people advising this poor op to go to suffok... Its a 4th tier shithole.. Just because it gets some love from a bunch of knuckle headed mouth breathers on this site, its no reason to send someone off to spend 200k going there... Op.. go to school in boston... not a boston toilettt factory...

Suffolk has a part-time program, you can go at night and work PT or FT at a legal job to get experience and not borrow any money for it. Point is, as options go, if he want to work only in Boston he should look at all options there, including those that would not cost 200k. Night school, in this economy, ebven at a T4 is not something I would blow off. No debt plus experince is not a bad way to go.

Matthies wrote:

reasonable_man wrote:Why are people advising this poor op to go to suffok... Its a 4th tier shithole.. Just because it gets some love from a bunch of knuckle headed mouth breathers on this site, its no reason to send someone off to spend 200k going there... Op.. go to school in boston... not a boston toilettt factory...

Suffolk has a part-time program, you can go at night and work PT or FT at a legal job to get experience and not borrow any money for it. Point is, as options go, if he want to work only in Boston he should look at all options there, including those that would not cost 200k. Night school, in this economy, ebven at a T4 is not something I would blow off. No debt plus experince is not a bad way to go.

How do you figure no debt.... Are you assuming a) Full scholly; or b) a day job that will allow him to pay up front for LS and living expenses in Boston?

reasonable_man wrote:

Matthies wrote:

reasonable_man wrote:Why are people advising this poor op to go to suffok... Its a 4th tier shithole.. Just because it gets some love from a bunch of knuckle headed mouth breathers on this site, its no reason to send someone off to spend 200k going there... Op.. go to school in boston... not a boston toilettt factory...

Suffolk has a part-time program, you can go at night and work PT or FT at a legal job to get experience and not borrow any money for it. Point is, as options go, if he want to work only in Boston he should look at all options there, including those that would not cost 200k. Night school, in this economy, ebven at a T4 is not something I would blow off. No debt plus experince is not a bad way to go.

How do you figure no debt.... Are you assuming a) Full scholly; or b) a day job that will allow him to pay up front for LS and living expenses in Boston?

Day job, I went to an expeisve school PT, worked as a law clerk ran a small biz from home, paid as I went (except for subsidized Staffords, free money). Most of my classmates paid as they went as well and our tutiton was like $1100 a credit hour. Living expenses are probably more in Boston than here but I bought a 350k condo so I likley paid the same in rent somome in Boston would.

Unless you're a resident of NC, my initial thought on UNC is that you would get waitlisted at best.

Matthies wrote:

reasonable_man wrote:

Matthies wrote:

reasonable_man wrote:Why are people advising this poor op to go to suffok... Its a 4th tier shithole.. Just because it gets some love from a bunch of knuckle headed mouth breathers on this site, its no reason to send someone off to spend 200k going there... Op.. go to school in boston... not a boston toilettt factory...

Suffolk has a part-time program, you can go at night and work PT or FT at a legal job to get experience and not borrow any money for it. Point is, as options go, if he want to work only in Boston he should look at all options there, including those that would not cost 200k. Night school, in this economy, ebven at a T4 is not something I would blow off. No debt plus experince is not a bad way to go.

How do you figure no debt.... Are you assuming a) Full scholly; or b) a day job that will allow him to pay up front for LS and living expenses in Boston?

Day job, I went to an expeisve school PT, worked as a law clerk ran a small biz from home, paid as I went (except for subsidized Staffords, free money). Most of my classmates paid as they went as well and our tutiton was like $1100 a credit hour. Living expenses are probably more in Boston than here but I bought a 350k condo so I likley paid the same in rent somome in Boston would.

unless you were paying between 1000 and 2000 a month on rent alone... you werent paying the same amount... and suffolk is beyond expensive...

157 LSAT and out-of-state = rejection from UNC. Period.

Day job, I went to an expeisve school PT, worked as a law clerk ran a small biz from home, paid as I went (except for subsidized Staffords, free money). Most of my classmates paid as they went as well and our tutiton was like $1100 a credit hour. Living expenses are probably more in Boston than here but I bought a 350k condo so I likley paid the same in rent somome in Boston would.[/quote]


unless you were paying between 1000 and 2000 a month on rent alone... you werent paying the same amount... and suffolk is beyond expensive...[/quote]

More than 1k, but less than 2k. What does $1500 get you in Boston, here that gets you a 3/2 turn of the century row house downtown.

reasonable_man wrote:

Aristone wrote:I would strongly recommend going to a school in Boston. Boston is notoriously difficult to break into unless you are from a T14 school or went to school in Boston/MA (think BC, BU, Northeastern, Suffolk and so forth). For some reason, Bostonites seem to love their own. Do you have any great connections to Boston (raised there? Undergrad there?). That may help in placement from schools outside of the city or state.

Why not aim for Northeastern and Suffolk? Also, strongly consider retaking the LSAT...your GPA is good.

Agree... except Suffolk on down aren't actual schools... So I'd avoid those..

Worked in law offices in Boston, from Boston, have friends that go to law school in Boston. Suffolk definitely places a lot of students into jobs all over Boston, particularly if you're willing to go into government. I'd say it looks like a perfect fit for you if you have no intention of retaking.

Kiersten1985 wrote:

reasonable_man wrote:

Aristone wrote:I would strongly recommend going to a school in Boston. Boston is notoriously difficult to break into unless you are from a T14 school or went to school in Boston/MA (think BC, BU, Northeastern, Suffolk and so forth). For some reason, Bostonites seem to love their own. Do you have any great connections to Boston (raised there? Undergrad there?). That may help in placement from schools outside of the city or state.

Why not aim for Northeastern and Suffolk? Also, strongly consider retaking the LSAT...your GPA is good.

Agree... except Suffolk on down aren't actual schools... So I'd avoid those..

Worked in law offices in Boston, from Boston, have friends that go to law school in Boston. Suffolk definitely places a lot of students into jobs all over Boston, particularly if you're willing to go into government. I'd say it looks like a perfect fit for you if you have no intention of retaking.

OMG internet message board mistake number 1. Don’t you know you can’t counter conventional wisdom of people who have never had legal jobs in states they have never been to about schools they never attended with actual personal first hand experiences! This is the intertenz, only talking out of your ass counts as proof of anything.

OP, with a 157, I'm pretty sure you're out for U Md. (maybe your adviser was thinking of UBalt?) and George Mason. American would be a WL at best. Take a look at the Entering Class stats at each school's website and lawschoolnumbers.com to get a better idea of what LSAT score you need to get in.

reasonable_man wrote:unless you were paying between 1000 and 2000 a month on rent alone... you werent paying the same amount... and suffolk is beyond expensive...

That's quite an exaggeration, RM. In the last 4 years that I've been living in Boston, I've shared several apartments and never paid anywhere near that. My rent has ranged from $533 for a room in a 3BR to $750 to share a 2BR/2BA including utilities. If someone wants to add to their debt to get their own place or live in a fancy neighborhood, then well, that's their prerogative, but it's certainly not necessary while you're in law school.

"Reasonable man" is wrong. Suffolk places many students in many top Boston firms *every* year. If you excel there, you will be fine. They have the best facilities of any school in the city, and a good reputation there. The big firms all have a relationship with the school, and typically take at least one Suffolk student every year. Of course, there is a lot less room for error if you go there.

In fact, if you want IP, you should look at Franklin Pierce in NH. Very small, probably not ranked, but always rated as a top IP school, and large Boston firms involved in IP do pull from there. Scholarships are also more likely.

You should aim high, but don't pay attention to people that post sans any sort of facts or relevant knowledge.

I'm a little confused by the claim that 165+ and a 3.7 "could" get you into BU or BC. I would call that a pretty close to a guarantee, as it is at or near the 75th percentile in both cases.

Matthies wrote:

Kiersten1985 wrote:

reasonable_man wrote:

Aristone wrote:I would strongly recommend going to a school in Boston. Boston is notoriously difficult to break into unless you are from a T14 school or went to school in Boston/MA (think BC, BU, Northeastern, Suffolk and so forth). For some reason, Bostonites seem to love their own. Do you have any great connections to Boston (raised there? Undergrad there?). That may help in placement from schools outside of the city or state.

Why not aim for Northeastern and Suffolk? Also, strongly consider retaking the LSAT...your GPA is good.

Agree... except Suffolk on down aren't actual schools... So I'd avoid those..

Worked in law offices in Boston, from Boston, have friends that go to law school in Boston. Suffolk definitely places a lot of students into jobs all over Boston, particularly if you're willing to go into government. I'd say it looks like a perfect fit for you if you have no intention of retaking.

OMG internet message board mistake number 1. Don’t you know you can’t counter conventional wisdom of people who have never had legal jobs in states they have never been to about schools they never attended with actual personal first hand experiences! This is the intertenz, only talking out of your ass counts as proof of anything.

Yes. You're right. Being admitted to the NY bar and having lived and worked in New England and currently working with one or two Suffolk grads, I would have no idea about any of these issues. I bow to you.

I go to BU now, and I can say that the Boston market is rough. mmm... Boston Market.

SUFFOLK! A 157 will not get you in at Maryland/UNC unless your softs are amazing. Your options to getting into Boston are limited to Northeastern or Suffolk without a retake.

you gotta retake the lsat--I got rejected at Cardozo with a 163 and UNC is ranked higher than dozo.

[quote="barkingbug"]"Reasonable man" is wrong. Suffolk places many students in many top Boston firms *every* year. If you excel there, you will be fine. They have the best facilities of any school in the city, and a good reputation there. The big firms all have a relationship with the school, and typically take at least one Suffolk student every year. Of course, there is a lot less room for error if you go there.


I'm not a Suffolk hater, and they do have the best facilities AFTER Harvard (I'm sitting in Langdell Reading Room as "we speak"--Sargent Hall is nice but not quite in the same realm) for schools in Boston. And yes, a graduate(s) does place in all of the top Boston firms each year. However, you are talking about a school with 1,600 students! The 4th largest in the whole country! (I believe). Success story anecdotes about Suffolk can be misleading--very much a "some for few, little for many" situation as far as top jobs go. You can still make a living as a Suffolk lawyer, but don't expect BigLaw if you are outside of the top 3-5%.

Especially with the current climate, Northeastern is a much safer bet than Suffolk if you are unable to get into BC/BU. Co-op guarantees that you'll get 4 internships whereas at Suffolk you have no assurance of getting anything during either your 1L or 2L summer. NE also has a (slightly) better name in Boston and greater reach around new england.