Top Law Schools

Assuming you can get into any school you want, and that you must pay sticker at each school, including COL, what is your personal Top 20. Not which schools are the best 20, but which schools are the best 20 for you, to meet your goals, to get a job in your market etc etc.

And yes this is because I'm really bored at work.

I want to practice in Chicago and am leaning towards IP, so here is mine.

Yale
Stanford
Harvard
Chicago
Berkley
Columbia
Michigan
Northwestern
NYU
Penn
UVA
Duke
Georgetown
Cornell
UIUC
WUSTL
Minnesota
UCLA
USC
UT

I also think I want to practice in Chicago.
1. Yale
2. Harvard
3. Stanford
4. Columbia/Chicago
5. Berkeley
6. NYU
7. Northwestern
8. Michigan/ Penn/UVA
9. Duke
10. Gtown/Cornell
11. Wustl/Vandy
12. UIUC
13. ND
14. Minnesota
15. GWU
16. UW-Madison
17. IU-Bloomington/Iowa
18. Chi-Kent
19. Loyola
20. Depaul

Becuz I am really bored too:

1. Yale
2. Harvard
3. Stanford
4. Columbia
5. Chicago
6. Michigan
6. NYU
6. Penn
9. Virginia
10. Northwestern
11. Berkeley
12. Duke
13. Cornell
14. Georgetown
15. Vanderbilt
15. Texas
17. UCLA
18. USC
19. Boston
19. Boston College
19. Notre Dame
19. WUSTL

I want biglaw/clerkships with a pretty strong east coast bias.

Joga Bonito wrote:I also think I want to practice in Chicago.
1. Yale
2. Harvard
3. Stanford
4. Columbia/Chicago
5. Berkeley
6. NYU
7. Northwestern
8. Michigan/ Penn/UVA
9. Duke
10. Gtown/Cornell
11. Wustl/Vandy
12. UIUC
13. ND
14. Minnesota
15. GWU
16. UW-Madison
17. IU-Bloomington/Iowa
18. Chi-Kent
19. Loyola
20. Depaul

Dude, you have three schools listed at #8 and then move right on to #9.

Yale
Harvard
Stanford
Columbia
NYU
Chicago
Penn
UVA
Northwestern
Berkley
Michigan
Duke
Georgetown
Cornell
Vandy
BU
BC
UCLA
Texas
WUSTL

And yes this is because I'm really bored at work.

+1

Here are mine in not-the-exact order of desire to attend

Harvard
Yale
Stanford
UT Austin
UVA
Northwestern
Berkley
William and Mary
Notre Dame
Cornell

Helmholtz wrote:

Joga Bonito wrote:I also think I want to practice in Chicago.
1. Yale
2. Harvard
3. Stanford
4. Columbia/Chicago
5. Berkeley
6. NYU
7. Northwestern
8. Michigan/ Penn/UVA
9. Duke
10. Gtown/Cornell
11. Wustl/Vandy
12. UIUC
13. ND
14. Minnesota
15. GWU
16. UW-Madison
17. IU-Bloomington/Iowa
18. Chi-Kent
19. Loyola
20. Depaul

Dude, you have three schools listed at #8 and then move right on to #9.

I know, I hate the way US news does it where like 5 schools are tied at say 10 and the next school is ranked like 16 although its really about as good as the number 10 or 9 school. It seems deceptive to me.

omega_watts wrote:

And yes this is because I'm really bored at work.

+1

Here are mine in not-the-exact order of desire to attend

Harvard
Yale
Stanford
UT Austin
UVA
Northwestern
Berkley
William and Mary
Notre Dame
Cornell

I'm no math major, but this looks like less than 20...

1. UC Berkeley
2. Stanford
2. UVa
4. Yale
5. UC Davis
6. UC Hastings
8. U Texas
8. UCLA
9. UC Irvine
10. USC
11. Cornell
11. U of Chicago
11. Northwestern
14. Columbia
14. NYU
18. Fordham
18 U Penn
18. Michigan
19. U San Diego
20. William & Mary

Berkeley
Cornell
Georgetown
Virginia
UCLA
Boston University
USC
Boston College
UF

Barring a serious financial aid offer, I'm going to the highest school on that list. If I had a 180/4.0 URM and cured cancer, I'd still take Berkeley over anywhere, even Yale.

Raskolnikoff wrote:

omega_watts wrote:

And yes this is because I'm really bored at work.

+1

Here are mine in not-the-exact order of desire to attend

Harvard
Yale
Stanford
UT Austin
UVA
Northwestern
Berkley
William and Mary
Notre Dame
Cornell

I'm no math major, but this looks like less than 20...

Did you mean to say that you are not a math major? (trollin' a troll)

TheWire wrote: Did you mean to say that you are not a math major? (trollin' a troll)

no, what i said was exactly what i meant to say.

1. Cornell
2. Stanford
3. Duke
4. Berkeley
5. Michigan
6. Virginia
7. Northwestern
8. Chicago
9. Penn
10. Georgetown
11. Harvard
12. Yale
13. BC
14. William and Mary
15. Illinois
16. Minnesota
17. GW
18. Iowa
19. Colorado-Boulder
20. Vermont

work is boring. I'll play.

1. Harvard
2. Yale
3. Columbia
4. Stanford
5. NYU
6. Michigan
7. Penn
8. Berkeley
9. Chicago
10. UVA
11. Duke
12. Georgetown
13. Cornell
14. Northwestern
15. UCLA
16. Wash U
17. BU

considering I didn't apply to more schools than that it seems silly to rank more. But it would probably be 18. USC, 19. Vandy, 20. Illinois

1. stanford
2. yale
3. harvard
4. berkeley
5. michigan
6. columbia
7. nyu
8. uva
9. duke
10. gtown
11. penn
12. ucla
13. northwestern
14. cornell
15. usc
16. notre dame
17. UT
18. chicago
19. wustl
20. emory

no real reasons other than reputation and what i get from reading viewbooks. On major differences, chicago just sorta rubs me the wrong way and i really like the way ND comes across. and i think going out to cali would be fun

1. Harvard
2. Yale
3. Columbia
4. Stanford
5. Chicago
6. Penn
7. NYU
8. Duke
9. Northwestern
10. Michigan
11. UVA
12. Georgetown
13. Vandy
14. Boalt
15. Cornell
16. Texas
17. Notre Dame
18. UCLA
19. BU
20. BC

Cupidity wrote:Barring a serious financial aid offer, I'm going to the highest school on that list. If I had a 180/4.0 URM and cured cancer, I'd still take Berkeley over anywhere, even Yale.

Haha same here.


My list (not quite 20):
Berk
Stanford
Harvard
Columbia
Chicago
Michigan/Penn/NYU
Duke/Virginia/Northwestern
Cornell/USC/UCLA/UT

(I'm interested in biglaw/clerkships and i want to end up in CA)

kwhitegocubs wrote:1. Cornell
2. Stanford
3. Duke
4. Berkeley
5. Michigan
6. Virginia
7. Northwestern
8. Chicago
9. Penn
10. Georgetown
11. Harvard
12. Yale
13. BC
14. William and Mary
15. Illinois
16. Minnesota
17. GW
18. Iowa
19. Colorado-Boulder
20. Vermont

This is the weirdest list I've ever seen. You may be the only person on earth who prefers GULC or Cornell to HY.

More power to you.

boilercat wrote:This is the weirdest list I've ever seen.

I disagree. It's tough to top the Cooley rankings.

1) Stanford
2) Yale
3) Harvard
4) Berkeley
5) Duke
6) Northwestern
7) Penn
8 ) U Chicago
9) Virginia
10) Michigan

Cupidity wrote:Berkeley
Cornell
Georgetown
Virginia
UCLA
Boston University
USC
Boston College
UF

Barring a serious financial aid offer, I'm going to the highest school on that list. If I had a 180/4.0 URM and cured cancer, I'd still take Berkeley over anywhere, even Yale.

Out of curiousity, why?

Raskolnikoff wrote:

boilercat wrote:This is the weirdest list I've ever seen.

I disagree. It's tough to top the Cooley rankings.

Core wrote:

Cupidity wrote:Berkeley
Cornell
Georgetown
Virginia
UCLA
Boston University
USC
Boston College
UF

Barring a serious financial aid offer, I'm going to the highest school on that list. If I had a 180/4.0 URM and cured cancer, I'd still take Berkeley over anywhere, even Yale.

Out of curiousity, why?

I don't know about him, but I personally like the journals, the laid-back atmosphere, a good law & econ program, the campus, the grading system, and, for me, CA > any other state

TheWire wrote:

Raskolnikoff wrote:

omega_watts wrote:

And yes this is because I'm really bored at work.

+1

Here are mine in not-the-exact order of desire to attend

Harvard
Yale
Stanford
UT Austin
UVA
Northwestern
Berkley
William and Mary
Notre Dame
Cornell

I'm no math major, but this looks like less than 20...

Did you mean to say that you are not a math major? (trollin' a troll)

Sorry, boss was walking by so I had to cut it short. I also noticed that my T20 pretty much mirrors the USNW T20 so... yeah.

Harvard
Yale
Michigan
Duke
UVA
GULC
Stanford
Northwestern
Chicago
NYU
Penn
Columbia
Cornell
Berkeley
WUSTL
Notre Dame
Illinois
Vandy
Emory
Minnesota