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Somebody recently pointed out to me that URM's even get a boost in job placement (when discussing the surprisingly good job placement seen by students at Howard at large firms). If this is true, I have a question.

Would it make more sense to attend a lower ranked school with full-tuition, or a higher ranked school with some (or even a lot of debt)? I'm a AA male, btw.

I have a full tuition offer from St. John's, nearly full from Cardozo (these were my two safety schools), and a half tuition offer from Washington and Lee (and I'm still waiting to hear back from Georgetown and Ala, but doubt they would give me more than W&L if I were to be admitted). Any opinions?

Howard is a unique case. Remember, it concentrates black students in a way that no other school does.

It's pretty clear that for AA applicants, the t-14 is almost a guarantee of employment so long as your grades are not total shit. Since your chances of scoring employment are so good, you don't necessarily have to be as debt averse in your calculations, though you should be very aware that I don't think AAs last very long in big law as a rule. Honestly, the way I see it, I'd much rather be one of 44 black folks at Georgetown, where firms DO come to recruit rather than at St. John's for free trying to scramble for something with the few firms who do come through.

So, my advice is if you want biglaw, get your LSAT to a place where you are going to have some serious t-14 options and don't go until you get some. W&L at even half tuition does not seem like a good bet.

wjlaw wrote:Somebody recently pointed out to me that URM's even get a boost in job placement (when discussing the surprisingly good job placement seen by students at Howard at large firms). If this is true, I have a question.

Would it make more sense to attend a lower ranked school with full-tuition, or a higher ranked school with some (or even a lot of debt)? I'm a AA male, btw.

I have a full tuition offer from St. John's, nearly full from Cardozo (these were my two safety schools), and a half tuition offer from Washington and Lee (and I'm still waiting to hear back from Georgetown and Ala, but doubt they would give me more than W&L if I were to be admitted). Any opinions?

AA Male here. Howard is over-recruited due to the large number of AA candidates, and the top of the Howard class is in decent shape. But much of the class isn't. You don't want to run that gamble. For your purposes, assume that your level of success will bare a resemblance to your non-urm peers. You may get a boost, but you don't want to be at a TTT hunger gaming for oci interviews, and if you have bad grades, you're as screwed as everyone else. You need to retake to get at least into a T1 with a decent scholarship in the area you want to practice. Where the boost may come into play decision time is between offers in the T14, I got significantly more money at a lower t14 near where I wanted to practice than a t6 and have been happy with my choice, and all my AA friends have done relatively well securing employment.

I'm Mexican American, do MA candidates see increased prospects at big law placement?

SD619 wrote:I'm Mexican American, do MA candidates see increased prospects at big law placement?

It counts for 1L diversity SA positions at least. Feel free to PM if you have questions!

lc39 wrote:

SD619 wrote:I'm Mexican American, do MA candidates see increased prospects at big law placement?

It counts for 1L diversity SA positions at least. Feel free to PM if you have questions!

I most definitely will- thanks in advance for the help!

Howard gives employers a reliable pool to get diverse candidates that have placed highly within their class.