Lowest Ranked School Worth Considering Forum

[lawjag2015]

Over and over I hear this chat of how all the schools below a certain rank are worthless. I am not saying that I disagree with that assertion. I just want your opinion, setting aside what you have scored or will score in LSAT, what do you think is the lowest US News ranked school worth considering? Please do mention your reasons, if possible.

I think this exercise will be very useful for a lot of people.

[071816]

depends

[Mullens]

The rankings are entirely meaningless after about T14-20. Everything after that is a regional school. Where a person is from, their career goals, and the COA is the only thing that matters at that point.

[A. Nony Mouse]

I'm pretty sure this question has been asked here a bunch of times already. But: It's not about rankings, it's about costs and personal goals. If you're from Wisconsin and want to work in a small firm or local government in Madison, U of Wisconsin with a full ride could be a great option for you. It would certainly be a better option than UCLA even though USNWR ranks UCLA higher. If you want to do M&A work at a huge firm in NYC, you probably want to go to the T14, but Cornell at a full ride could arguably be a better choice than Columbia at sticker, even though Columbia is ranked higher.

[ballcaps]

The rankings are entirely meaningless after about T14-20. Everything after that is a regional school. Where a person is from, their career goals, and the COA is the only thing that matters at that point.

[romothesavior]

depends

Yep. This question is impossible to answer because there are so many factors that enter into the "Is this law school worth it for me?" equation.

[lawjag2015]

I'm pretty sure this question has been asked here a bunch of times already. But: It's not about rankings, it's about costs and personal goals. If you're from Wisconsin and want to work in a small firm or local government in Madison, U of Wisconsin with a full ride could be a great option for you. It would certainly be a better option than UCLA even though USNWR ranks UCLA higher. If you want to do M&A work at a huge firm in NYC, you probably want to go to the T14, but Cornell at a full ride could arguably be a better choice than Columbia at sticker, even though Columbia is ranked higher.

So you do not think that a good regional can afford someone a chance of doing M&A work in Manhattan.

[ymmv]

I'm pretty sure this question has been asked here a bunch of times already. But: It's not about rankings, it's about costs and personal goals. If you're from Wisconsin and want to work in a small firm or local government in Madison, U of Wisconsin with a full ride could be a great option for you. It would certainly be a better option than UCLA even though USNWR ranks UCLA higher. If you want to do M&A work at a huge firm in NYC, you probably want to go to the T14, but Cornell at a full ride could arguably be a better choice than Columbia at sticker, even though Columbia is ranked higher.

So you do not think that a good regional can afford someone a chance of doing M&A work in Manhattan.

Sure, if they're first in their class or close to it. But betting on these odds is DAF. Just retake if you're really set on biglaw for whatever reason.

[romothesavior]

So you do not think that a good regional can afford someone a chance of doing M&A work in Manhattan.

What's a "good regional?"

A chance? Sure. But the odds are so low they aren't worth paying for.

[sublime]

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[A. Nony Mouse]

I'm sure there are people who do get jobs from a good regional doing M&A at a big firm in NYC, but if that's what you know you want to do, no, I wouldn't go to a regional school. But like everyone says, it depends. How do you define good regional?

[lawjag2015]

I'm pretty sure this question has been asked here a bunch of times already. But: It's not about rankings, it's about costs and personal goals. If you're from Wisconsin and want to work in a small firm or local government in Madison, U of Wisconsin with a full ride could be a great option for you. It would certainly be a better option than UCLA even though USNWR ranks UCLA higher. If you want to do M&A work at a huge firm in NYC, you probably want to go to the T14, but Cornell at a full ride could arguably be a better choice than Columbia at sticker, even though Columbia is ranked higher.

So you do not think that a good regional can afford someone a chance of doing M&A work in Manhattan.

Sure, if they're first in their class or close to it. But betting on these odds is DAF. Just retake if you're really set on biglaw for whatever reason.

Why is it that in classes selected based on merit, e.g., Harvard class of 2018 should be much "smarter" than UF class of 2018, it should be harder to be in the top 10% at UF than in the top 50% at Harvard, with both possibilities leading to pretty satisfactory career starts?

[lawjag2015]

I'm sure there are people who do get jobs from a good regional doing M&A at a big firm in NYC, but if that's what you know you want to do, no, I wouldn't go to a regional school. But like everyone says, it depends. How do you define good regional?

A regional school in top 50, perhaps?

[ymmv]

I'm pretty sure this question has been asked here a bunch of times already. But: It's not about rankings, it's about costs and personal goals. If you're from Wisconsin and want to work in a small firm or local government in Madison, U of Wisconsin with a full ride could be a great option for you. It would certainly be a better option than UCLA even though USNWR ranks UCLA higher. If you want to do M&A work at a huge firm in NYC, you probably want to go to the T14, but Cornell at a full ride could arguably be a better choice than Columbia at sticker, even though Columbia is ranked higher.

So you do not think that a good regional can afford someone a chance of doing M&A work in Manhattan.

Sure, if they're first in their class or close to it. But betting on these odds is DAF. Just retake if you're really set on biglaw for whatever reason.

Why is it that in classes selected based on merit, e.g., Harvard class of 2018 should be much "smarter" than UF class of 2018, it should be harder to be in the top 10% at UF than in the top 50% at Harvard, with both possibilities leading to pretty satisfactory career starts?

No. Being "smart" has only a marginal relationship to law school success, if any. And admissions are predominantly a factor of LSAT score, which is an entirely learnable, gameable exam with close to zero relationship to intelligence.

[A. Nony Mouse]

I'm sure there are people who do get jobs from a good regional doing M&A at a big firm in NYC, but if that's what you know you want to do, no, I wouldn't go to a regional school. But like everyone says, it depends. How do you define good regional?

A regional school in top 50, perhaps?

I went to one. No one is doing M&A in NYC. A couple of people are at CA firms, that's as close as it gets.

And as for the top 10%/top 50% - it's harder to be in the top 10% because 90% of the class won't get there, whereas only 50% of the class won't make top 50%. You can't know ahead of time where you're going to land on the curve.

This has all been discussed here a LOT.

[romothesavior]

Not only that, but it is far, far, FAR easier to get a better LSAT score than kill it in law school.

If your goal is to do high end M&A, go to an elite school. if that requires a retake, retake. Period.

[Rigo]

I'm sure there are people who do get jobs from a good regional doing M&A at a big firm in NYC, but if that's what you know you want to do, no, I wouldn't go to a regional school. But like everyone says, it depends. How do you define good regional?

A regional school in top 50, perhaps?

Is this a NYC regional like Fordham or University of Utah?

[lawjag2015]

I'm sure there are people who do get jobs from a good regional doing M&A at a big firm in NYC, but if that's what you know you want to do, no, I wouldn't go to a regional school. But like everyone says, it depends. How do you define good regional?

A regional school in top 50, perhaps?

Is this a NYC regional like Fordham or University of Utah?

Say, University of Florida, University of Maryland, University of Utah, etc.

[romothesavior]

Pick a random V100. Do a search for grads from any of those schools.

Also take a look at Law School Transparencys data for those schools.

I think you'll find an incredibly small number of people from those schools in NYC doing what you wanna do.

[sublime]

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[Rigo]

Say, University of Florida, University of Maryland, University of Utah, etc.

Practically a zero chance of doing NYC M&A and you should proceed as such.

Yeah. I have friends at NYC regionals (think Brooklyn/Cardozo/Rutgers) and even there it's a super slim chance of NYC biglaw (<10%). And those schools would surely have better NYC biglaw placement than the schools you listed, despite the lower rankings.
Please do not take this as an endorsement for Brooklyn/Cardozo/Rutgers though. They're all pretty TTT.

[sublime]

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[lawjag2015]

How about placement in biglaw in DC?

[Rigo]

How about placement in biglaw in DC?

LJL. That's hard for everyone. Try Yale.

[sublime]

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