Top Law Schools

Hi everyone! I've been prepping for the September LSAT and am currently scoring between 160-165. My GPA is 3.5ish, probably a little higher by the time I actually apply. I am not really interested in biglaw and would rather work for the government. My question is for employment/QOL (tbh I'm a girl and want to get married/have a fam some day)/costs, which one of these schools would be better? For reference, I actually have residency in both states--my parents live in AZ and I went to undergrad at UF and I'm pretty sure I will be accepted to both/+FSU. My parents currently live in downtown PHX and will live there for one year before moving to Florida to retire and said I could live with them for 1L (effectively offsetting cost difference between UF and ASU) and my dad is a CEO of a big branch of business which gives him a lot of connections to the area and to ASU (which is why I'm pretty certain of admission) . However, the rest of my family lives in the SE of the U.S. and I really would like to practice down there if possible. BUT ASU Law is ranked higher and the COA would basically be the same. Is it even possible to go to law school at ASU and practice in the SE? I honestly have no preference between locations, besides the fact that I'm super tired of Gainesville which is why I'm considering FSU. Sorry if this is kind of rambling, but can anyone offer their own advice?

Gainesville sucks. ASU seems like an awesome place to spend three years. But if you want to practice in the southeast, it doesn't make much sense to go to ASU. Outside of the top schools, the rankings don't mean much. Outside of biglaw, they mean even less. Non-biglaw lawyers in the southeast aren't going to know or care that ASU is ranked higher than UF or FSU. They may actually assume that it's a worse school.

As for COA, that will be influenced by the scholarship offers you get. It's certainly possible to go to school at ASU and get a job in the southeast, but you'll likely need to work connections for that. However, going to ASU because it's ranked higher to get a job in the southeast is a bad idea.

Well, you say that you don't have a preference, but would ultimately rather practice in the southeast if possible. If you really do have a slight preference of practicing in Florida, you're going to be a lot better off going to UF/FSU than ASU. ASU's higher ranking isn't going to be relevant for employers in Florida, who would look much more favorably at UF grads.

Your stats should be good enough for admission to all 3 schools; I doubt your dad's business connections will have any effect on admissions. Rankings don't really matter when comparing regional schools from different regions because for the most part they are not competing for the same applicants and their grads are not competing for the same jobs. If you do go to ASU but want to practice in the southeast your Florida ties will help you but it will be more difficult to network during law school.

Yeah, your dad's connections won't mean anything. But as pointed out, don't go to ASU if you want to practice in the Southeast. Do you have an idea of what kind of law you want to practice?

stego wrote:Your stats should be good enough for admission to all 3 schools; I doubt your dad's business connections will have any effect on admissions. Rankings don't really matter when comparing regional schools from different regions because for the most part they are not competing for the same applicants and their grads are not competing for the same jobs. If you do go to ASU but want to practice in the southeast your Florida ties will help you but it will be more difficult to network during law school.

They could matter but not on the OP's name value alone.

Eliminate ASU and pick either FSU or UF depending on which school has the lowest COA