Does prestige really matter after T-6? Forum

[El Rey Negro]

With USNews basically having the legal ranking system by its nuts, prestige now plays a huge factor in the legal community. This tends to make some people subconsciously view Yale grads as more accomplished than Columbia grads, Harvard grads more elite than Stanford grads & NYU grads not even close to their neighbors up the island. I know Im not the only one who's seen those silly "arguments". Does it really matter where you go to school after you reach T-6? If you're dedicated, disciplined & willing to go further than your peers, would it really be that much of a factor on your career if you went to Chicago instead of Harvard?

[Adjudicator]

Identify the region that you want to work in, and find out which schools place well in that region. That's my take, at least.

[rayiner]

Yes. Yale is still more prestigious than Harvard, and Harvard is more prestigious than Columbia/NYU. There is probably a bigger difference in placement between YLS/SLS and CLS than between CLS and say Penn.

[PDaddy]

Anyone who takes the time to dissect the T6 and pick based solely - or even mostly, for that matter - on how they are ranked deserves the miserable life they are headed for. There's not much difference between Harvard and Chicago, or the schools in-between. And the rest of the so-called top-10 can make the same argument. Harvard has plenty of idiots. Find your best fit! Prestige should matter only after one has worked out the more pragmatic issues: location of the school and where graduates work. For the top-6, that's pretty much everywhere. Yes, the only true "national schools" are Harvard and Yale, but the others do just fine.

[bk1]

I think employment prospects beg to differ whether there isn't difference between HLS and UChi.

[PDaddy]

I think employment prospects beg to differ whether there isn't difference between HLS and UChi.

Something that gets lost is employment after 5 years. I'd love to see that tracked. My guess is that, after that point, grads from the elite schools shake out pretty much the same. The Harvard name won't help you much if you're major a F-up with entitlement issues. Many (not all) Harvard grads tend to be just that.

[El Rey Negro]

I think employment prospects beg to differ whether there isn't difference between HLS and UChi.

Something that gets lost is employment after 5 years. I'd love to see that tracked. My guess is that, after that point, grads from the elite schools shake out pretty much the same. The Harvard name won't help you much if you're major a F-up with entitlement issues. Many (not all) Harvard grads tend to be just that.

My sentiments exactly. How long can one live off of the brand of the institution he graduated from? Wont he/she eventually have to "put up" & show that the respect they've garnered is well-deserved? I believe that prestige plays a large factor initially but, I think its becomes more focused on the individual after the first few years. Do you really think the POTUS' career trajectory wouldve went any differently if he graduated from Columbia or Chicago Law instead of Harvard?

[romothesavior]

Anyone who takes the time to dissect the T6 and pick based solely - or even mostly, for that matter - on how they are ranked deserves the miserable life they are headed for. There's not much difference between Harvard and Chicago, or the schools in-between. And the rest of the so-called top-10 can make the same argument. Harvard has plenty of idiots. Find your best fit! Prestige should matter only after one has worked out the more pragmatic issues: location of the school and where graduates work. For the top-6, that's pretty much everywhere. Yes, the only true "national schools" are Harvard and Yale, but the others do just fine.

This is idiotic (as are most things you say on this site). Yale, Harvard, and Stanford stand head and shoulders above everyone else, especially for academia and clerkships. And I would much, much, MUCH rather be in the bottom third at HYS than bottom third anywhere else.

Choosing a school within the subtiers of HYS or between CCN based solely on "fit" makes some sense, because the differences between Chicago/Columbia or Stanford/Harvard has a lot to do with locational preference, class size preferences, etc. But anyone taking NYU over Yale should realize they are choosing a clearly inferior school (and I do not mean any slight to NYU, because it is a fantastic institution). The individual should simply recognize that they are likely closing or limiting certain opportunities by taking NYU over Yale. Such a decision is not always a bad thing overall (maybe they REALLY want NYC and they have a full ride to NYU), but they should still be aware of the sizable gap nonetheless.

[romothesavior]

My sentiments exactly. How long can one live off of the brand of the institution he graduated from? Wont he/she eventually have to "put up" & show that the respect they've garnered is well-deserved? I believe that prestige plays a large factor initially but, I think its becomes more focused on the individual after the first few years. Do you really think POTUS career trajectory wouldve went any differently if he graduated from Columbia or Chicago Law instead of Harvard?

1. Welcome to law. It is a prestige-whoring field.
2. Yes, I definitely think Obama's chances at POTUS would become severely limited if he didn't go to HLS. There are few networks (if any) that are as powerful as Harvard's. And if you want to focus on elite legal positions besides elected politics, take a look at SCOTUS and count the number of non-Harvard/Yale grads. Shouldn't take you too long to count them, because there aren't any. Why is this? Because making it to SCOTUS takes a lot more than simply "putting up" and producing; your school DOES matter.

[jayn3]

i'm impressed that not only is this duplicate posted, but that the URM version got more attention.

[El Rey Negro]

Anyone who takes the time to dissect the T6 and pick based solely - or even mostly, for that matter - on how they are ranked deserves the miserable life they are headed for. There's not much difference between Harvard and Chicago, or the schools in-between. And the rest of the so-called top-10 can make the same argument. Harvard has plenty of idiots. Find your best fit! Prestige should matter only after one has worked out the more pragmatic issues: location of the school and where graduates work. For the top-6, that's pretty much everywhere. Yes, the only true "national schools" are Harvard and Yale, but the others do just fine.

This is idiotic (as are most things you say on this site). Yale, Harvard, and Stanford stand head and shoulders above everyone else, especially for academia and clerkships. And I would much, much, MUCH rather be in the bottom third at HYS than bottom third anywhere else.

Choosing a school within the subtiers of HYS or between CCN based solely on "fit" makes some sense, because the differences between Chicago/Columbia or Stanford/Harvard has a lot to do with locational preference, class size preferences, etc. But anyone taking NYU over Yale should realize they are choosing a clearly inferior school (and I do not mean any slight to NYU, because it is a fantastic institution). The individual should simply recognize that they are likely closing or limiting certain opportunities by taking NYU over Yale. Such a decision is not always a bad thing overall (maybe they REALLY want NYC and they have a full ride to NYU), but they should still be aware of the sizable gap nonetheless.

Maybe I shouldve worded it better. The question I want to ask is, is a person's success more attributed to the institution he attended or his work ethic/individual drive? If the latter is true, would it really matter if you went to Yale or Columbia, considering you would've been a successful from either. If the former is true, is prestige that important that it can change a relatively unimpressive candidate into a whale?

[bk1]

i'm impressed that not only is this duplicate posted, but that the URM version got more attention.

Blame PDaddy.

[vanwinkle]

Double post, does not belong in URM forum.

http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 2&t=128088