Top Law Schools

I'm really curious as to what the TLS sentiment when it comes to attending a law school outside of the T14.

My test prep shows that I'll probably not break 170, so I'm looking at the T20. If you all could please offer your reasons as to why you've selected a particular non-T14 school worth attending at sticker, I'd be very thankful.

BU

EdmundBurke23 wrote:I'm really curious as to what the TLS sentiment when it comes to attending a law school outside of the T14.

My test prep shows that I'll probably not break 170, so I'm looking at the T20. If you all could please offer your reasons as to why you've selected a particular non-T14 school worth attending at sticker, I'd be very thankful.

None, but in a good economy maybe Vanderbilt for its portability. And maybe WUSTL since I love St. Louis and want to stay in the Midwest. But I wouldn't even pay sticker for G'town or Cornell ITE, let alone a non-T14.

What is your GPA?

UCLA, USC, william and mary, uc davies, basically anything that's in top 30 and locate in warm place. no fordham. i am not looking for big law jobs. and i believe life balance is important.

EdmundBurke23 wrote:I'm really curious as to what the TLS sentiment when it comes to attending a law school outside of the T14.

My test prep shows that I'll probably not break 170, so I'm looking at the T20. If you all could please offer your reasons as to why you've selected a particular non-T14 school worth attending at sticker, I'd be very thankful.

Well, I wouldn't pay sticker anywhere in this economy short of HYS, but that doesn't mean there aren't some great schools in the top 20 or 30 schools. In that range, my top choices would most definitely be BU, Vandy, GW, and BC.

just out of curiosity, how many people get scholarship for law school? i thought law school and business school usually don't give scholarships at all.

dakatz wrote:

EdmundBurke23 wrote:I'm really curious as to what the TLS sentiment when it comes to attending a law school outside of the T14.

My test prep shows that I'll probably not break 170, so I'm looking at the T20. If you all could please offer your reasons as to why you've selected a particular non-T14 school worth attending at sticker, I'd be very thankful.

Well, I wouldn't pay sticker anywhere in this economy short of HYS, but that doesn't mean there aren't some great schools in the top 20 or 30 schools. In that range, my top choices would most definitely be BU, Vandy, GW, and BC.

mz253 wrote:just out of curiosity, how many people get scholarship for law school? i thought law school and business school usually don't give scholarships at all.

dakatz wrote:

EdmundBurke23 wrote:I'm really curious as to what the TLS sentiment when it comes to attending a law school outside of the T14.

My test prep shows that I'll probably not break 170, so I'm looking at the T20. If you all could please offer your reasons as to why you've selected a particular non-T14 school worth attending at sticker, I'd be very thankful.

Well, I wouldn't pay sticker anywhere in this economy short of HYS, but that doesn't mean there aren't some great schools in the top 20 or 30 schools. In that range, my top choices would most definitely be BU, Vandy, GW, and BC.

If you look at lawschoolnumbers.com you can see the stats for each individual school as far as finanicial aid goes (Granted these stats are a couple years out of date, but should give you a good baseline for comparison.) Some schools are a lot more generous than others.

To answer the original question, even if you don't break the 170's, with a score in the mid to upper 160's and a good GPA you can easily get at least some scholarship money at some T30's/20's. No reason to pay full price for a school ranked 18 if you can get good money at a school ranked 23.

mz253 wrote:just out of curiosity, how many people get scholarship for law school? i thought law school and business school usually don't give scholarships at all.

dakatz wrote:

EdmundBurke23 wrote:I'm really curious as to what the TLS sentiment when it comes to attending a law school outside of the T14.

My test prep shows that I'll probably not break 170, so I'm looking at the T20. If you all could please offer your reasons as to why you've selected a particular non-T14 school worth attending at sticker, I'd be very thankful.

Well, I wouldn't pay sticker anywhere in this economy short of HYS, but that doesn't mean there aren't some great schools in the top 20 or 30 schools. In that range, my top choices would most definitely be BU, Vandy, GW, and BC.

Actually probably the opposite. Law schools seem to love throwing money at people, as long as their numbers are high enough. If you're good enough to get into the T20, you're going to get scholarships. I couldn't break the T14, but even with a bunch of the T30 schools I got into, I got some good offers.

Quite honestly, I would go to a cheap state-Tier 3, (most likely) dominate the competition, and gun for a prosecution job before I took out 150-200k for a non-T14 Tier 1.

wow, thanks for the information. but anyway, my top choice is UCLA because i really want to do entertainment law. since they are a state school and i'm international, they probably don't want to give me any money.

mz253 wrote:wow, thanks for the information. but anyway, my top choice is UCLA because i really want to do entertainment law. since they are a state school and i'm international, they probably don't want to give me any money.

what worries me is the fact that I'm international as well.

I want to secure employment in the United States, and I'm afraid that a non-t14 school will make that ever so difficult.

As to my GPA... it's 3.4

So even if I do get high 160s, I'm already out of the T14.

EdmundBurke23 wrote:As to my GPA... it's 3.4

So even if I do get high 160s, I'm already out of the T14.

IMO, with a 3.4, your best bet is to hit 166 for Illinois or 167 for WUSTL. T20s like UCLA, USC, Vandy, and Texas aren't particularly friendly toward low GPAs.

vandy. heard the chicks are hot.

youpiiz wrote:vandy. heard the chicks are hot.

This is true. Too bad I got rejected. Vandy girls are insanely attractive/friendly

chicoalto0649 wrote: This is true. Too bad I got rejected. Vandy girls are insanely attractive/friendly

met a couple who went there for ug and wasnt too impressed tho. im guessing thats self selection? only the less attractive ones would seek to exit vandyland?

I would only pay sticker for HYSCCN.

Vanderbilt. Maybe UCLA/USC if I was driven to work in California.

None. Killself is the best option in this situation

+1 for BU (even though they gave me 10k a year)

txhorn wrote:None. Killself is the best option in this situation

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The closest you can get to a sure thing anymore ITE is HYS. I don't think I'd really consider going sticker anywhere else.

OP, if you could score close to a 170, you may be able to score some decent $ at an LSAT-heavy school like Illinois or WUSTL.

My honest answer is either none or UCLA/Texas in-state.

Here's the thing, if you get into a good non-T14 school (let's say for the sake of discussion anything T30), you can pay the sticker price and probably be allright when it all shakes out. But getting into one of those schools means you're probably looking at some $$$ somewhere a little lower on the totem pole. ITE, it is worth compromising on ranking to drastically lower your debt load unless you're absolutely hell-bent on a federal clerkship or a biglaw job right out of the gate.

(Even then it's still probably a better idea to take the money, because there's no guarantee that your grades at a T15-30 will be what they need to be to get that clerkship/biglaw job).

SoftBoiledLife wrote:My honest answer is either none or UCLA/Texas in-state.

Here's the thing, if you get into a good non-T14 school (let's say for the sake of discussion anything T30), you can pay the sticker price and probably be allright when it all shakes out. But getting into one of those schools means you're probably looking at some $$$ somewhere a little lower on the totem pole. ITE, it is worth compromising on ranking to drastically lower your debt load unless you're absolutely hell-bent on a federal clerkship or a biglaw job right out of the gate.

(Even then it's still probably a better idea to take the money, because there's no guarantee that your grades at a T15-30 will be what they need to be to get that clerkship/biglaw job).

Good advice right there. Exactly what I did. Its worked out pretty well thus far.

With a solid LSAT 167+ you can get good $$ at Emory. Though talk to RadLaw, Vandy basically matched Emory for him.

SoftBoiledLife wrote:My honest answer is either none or UCLA/Texas in-state.

Here's the thing, if you get into a good non-T14 school (let's say for the sake of discussion anything T30), you can pay the sticker price and probably be allright when it all shakes out. But getting into one of those schools means you're probably looking at some $$$ somewhere a little lower on the totem pole. ITE, it is worth compromising on ranking to drastically lower your debt load unless you're absolutely hell-bent on a federal clerkship or a biglaw job right out of the gate.

(Even then it's still probably a better idea to take the money, because there's no guarantee that your grades at a T15-30 will be what they need to be to get that clerkship/biglaw job).

Yeah, pretty much my sentiments exactly. I might have considered Texas at sticker since I'm in-state.