Minnesota/Wash U/Illinois and Job Prospects Forum

[Dr. Strangelove]

Are people who want to work in New York or Chicago able to get jobs from these law schools (assuming that LS grades are reasonably high of course..)?
While I know there's Fordham (which I'm definitely applying to Early Action and would likely pick over these three schools), I've heard that these three schools are more splitter friendly and my chances of getting in one of these three is higher.

[DerrickRose]

What do you mean "get jobs"? Biglaw? Employment generally?

If you want Chicago, take the cheaper of WUSTL and Illinois.

If you want New York, apply to East Coast schools.

[Dr. Strangelove]

What do you mean "get jobs"? Biglaw? Employment generally?

If you want Chicago, take the cheaper of WUSTL and Illinois.

If you want New York, apply to East Coast schools.

Right now I'm leaning towards NY, but that's only because I've known New York my whole life and never have been to Chicago.
Some friends of mine have told me that I'd probably like Chicago better.

[romothesavior]

What do you mean "get jobs"? Biglaw? Employment generally?

If you want Chicago, take the cheaper of WUSTL and Illinois.

If you want New York, apply to East Coast schools.

TITCR.

OP, what are your numbers?

[Dr. Strangelove]

What do you mean "get jobs"? Biglaw? Employment generally?

If you want Chicago, take the cheaper of WUSTL and Illinois.

If you want New York, apply to East Coast schools.

TITCR.

OP, what are your numbers?

Currently my GPA is 2.8 (hopefully will be able to bring that up to a 3.0 by December), I don't have an LSAT score yet but practice tests have given me some confidence that I can score decently on it.

[romothesavior]

What do you mean "get jobs"? Biglaw? Employment generally?

If you want Chicago, take the cheaper of WUSTL and Illinois.

If you want New York, apply to East Coast schools.

TITCR.

OP, what are your numbers?

Currently my GPA is 2.8 (hopefully will be able to bring that up to a 3.0 by December), I don't have an LSAT score yet but practice tests have given me some confidence that I can score decently on it.

All three schools are splitter friendly. An LSAT over median at them will give you a great shot at all of them, and a few points over will get you some scholarship money. But if you aren't content working in the Midwest, don't go to any of them.

[Fast_Fingers]

They are indeed splitter friendly, but I don't know how my softs affected their decisions. I was a 3.1/169 and managed to get in UIUC and Minnesota (where I'm going) quite quickly (applied December 1st). I applied too late to Wash U to get in. Best of luck.

[Dr. Strangelove]

What do you mean "get jobs"? Biglaw? Employment generally?

If you want Chicago, take the cheaper of WUSTL and Illinois.

If you want New York, apply to East Coast schools.

TITCR.

OP, what are your numbers?

Currently my GPA is 2.8 (hopefully will be able to bring that up to a 3.0 by December), I don't have an LSAT score yet but practice tests have given me some confidence that I can score decently on it.

All three schools are splitter friendly. An LSAT over median at them will give you a great shot at all of them, and a few points over will get you some scholarship money. But if you aren't content working in the Midwest, don't go to any of them.

That's good to know! In case I don't want to work in the Midwest (which is a legit possibility), I'm hoping to be able to get into Fordham (not as splitter-friendly but not completely splitter-averse- I can easily write a "Why Fordham" essay).

[romothesavior]

Well, if you really want NYC, then Fordham is by far your best bet. But Fordham is very unfriendly to splitters, according to LSN. They are quite stingy to begin with (especially considering the outrageously high COL in NYC), but they are even more stingy with splitters. Even with a 170+, I'd be surprised if you got a dime.

WUSTL, UIUC, and UMinn, on the other hand, will all give you scholarships if you get a little above their median LSAT mark, and will likely give you admission if you at least hit it. Wash U in particular is very splitter friendly; look at LSN and notice that they gave just about everyone on their LSAT median an acceptance, regardless of GPA. If you score, say, a 168-170, you could get decent money at all of these schools.

Throw in the fact that they are much cheaper to attend than Fordham to begin with, a decent scholarship means you could be looking at a potential difference of anywhere from 50-100k for your law degree. Also, UIUC and WUSTL offer decent portability (not T14 portability, but still decent), whereas Fordham places over 90% in NYC. So you better make damn sure you want NYC before you take Fordham at sticker over one of these other schools for a discounted rate.

But this conversation is all moot if you don't get the right LSAT score, so go bust your ass to get that LSAT score.

PS. If you score over 170, I'd take two years off an ED to NW. But that's just me.

[Leeroy Jenkins]

Of the three Midwest schools you listed, WashU is best for NYC.

[DerrickRose]

Of the three Midwest schools you listed, WashU is best for NYC.

But its not better than GW, BC, BU, or Fordham. And I'm not really sure but Emory can't be far behind either.

[JCougar]

Of the three Midwest schools you listed, WashU is best for NYC.

But its not better than GW, BC, BU, or Fordham. And I'm not really sure but Emory can't be far behind either.

Emory seems to have a cutoff at exactly 3.0 though. They'll take you as a splitter as long as you're not in 2.x land. GW is also not a sure thing below 3.0 either.

Also, depending on how competitive next year's cycle is, the above schools may not be as splitter-friendly. WUSTL reduced its scholarship amounts for splitters. This year, the most they are getting is $10K/year, whereas last year, they were handing out $15K or even $20K in some cases. Illinois might follow suit, because they had such high yield this year they pretty much don't need to go to their waitlist at all.

[enygma]

i just wanna say that everyone is being a little too cavalier with their minnesota predictions. i got rejected w/ a better GPA, in state, and a 175. i definitely should have targeted that app better, i guess.

[OscarTheBear]

My roommate transferred from Illinois to a t6 school at the end of last year. Many people in the top 10% at illinois did not get anything close to big law offers (i.e., insurance defense, etc.) though some did. Illinois's career services are a total basket case. For comparison, in the past top 30% was usually a cut off for big law in Chicago at UIUC. This year it was closer to top 10% or even top 5%. Sidley and Kirkland only look to the top 5 people in the class.

NYC is much hotter now than Chicago. NYC has fairly large summer classes this year; chicago is hurting bad right now.

[Anonymous User]

My roommate transferred from Illinois to a t6 school at the end of last year. Many people in the top 10% at illinois did not get anything close to big law offers (i.e., insurance defense, etc.) though some did. Illinois's career services are a total basket case. For comparison, in the past top 30% was usually a cut off for big law in Chicago at UIUC. This year it was closer to top 10% or even top 5%. Sidley and Kirkland only look to the top 5 people in the class.

NYC is much hotter now than Chicago. NYC has fairly large summer classes this year; chicago is hurting bad right now.

What sort of effect do you anticipate the Blackhawks winning the Stanley Cup and Lebron moving to Chicago will have on their legal market?

[romothesavior]

My roommate transferred from Illinois to a t6 school at the end of last year. Many people in the top 10% at illinois did not get anything close to big law offers (i.e., insurance defense, etc.) though some did. Illinois's career services are a total basket case. For comparison, in the past top 30% was usually a cut off for big law in Chicago at UIUC. This year it was closer to top 10% or even top 5%. Sidley and Kirkland only look to the top 5 people in the class.

NYC is much hotter now than Chicago. NYC has fairly large summer classes this year; chicago is hurting bad right now.

What sort of effect do you anticipate the Blackhawks winning the Stanley Cup and Lebron moving to Chicago will have on their legal market?

It will help things, but it will be off-set by the Cubs finishing 14 games behind the Cardinals in the NL Central and Jay Cutler leading the Bears to a 7-9 season.

[09042014]

i just wanna say that everyone is being a little too cavalier with their minnesota predictions. i got rejected w/ a better GPA, in state, and a 175. i definitely should have targeted that app better, i guess.

You fucked up somehow. Im 2.8/176 and I got 16K/year.

[09042014]

My roommate transferred from Illinois to a t6 school at the end of last year. Many people in the top 10% at illinois did not get anything close to big law offers (i.e., insurance defense, etc.) though some did. Illinois's career services are a total basket case. For comparison, in the past top 30% was usually a cut off for big law in Chicago at UIUC. This year it was closer to top 10% or even top 5%. Sidley and Kirkland only look to the top 5 people in the class.

NYC is much hotter now than Chicago. NYC has fairly large summer classes this year; chicago is hurting bad right now.

What sort of effect do you anticipate the Blackhawks winning the Stanley Cup and Lebron moving to Chicago will have on their legal market?

It will help things, but it will be off-set by the Cubs finishing 14 games behind the Cardinals in the NL Central and Jay Cutler leading the Bears to a 7-9 season.

I want to respond to this, but its just too accurate.

Strangelove. If you want NYC, you gotta be t14 or bust. Next year apply to Uva ED then Mich ED. If you dont get it, try again the year after. Uva ED then Penn ED. Then after that NU ED and then you gotta resort to the waterman manuever, GULC ED, switch app to PT.

[enygma]

i just wanna say that everyone is being a little too cavalier with their minnesota predictions. i got rejected w/ a better GPA, in state, and a 175. i definitely should have targeted that app better, i guess.

You fucked up somehow. Im 2.8/176 and I got 16K/year.

same app got me into much better schools. no idear. sometimes shit happens.

[Dr. Strangelove]

My roommate transferred from Illinois to a t6 school at the end of last year. Many people in the top 10% at illinois did not get anything close to big law offers (i.e., insurance defense, etc.) though some did. Illinois's career services are a total basket case. For comparison, in the past top 30% was usually a cut off for big law in Chicago at UIUC. This year it was closer to top 10% or even top 5%. Sidley and Kirkland only look to the top 5 people in the class.

NYC is much hotter now than Chicago. NYC has fairly large summer classes this year; chicago is hurting bad right now.

What sort of effect do you anticipate the Blackhawks winning the Stanley Cup and Lebron moving to Chicago will have on their legal market?

It will help things, but it will be off-set by the Cubs finishing 14 games behind the Cardinals in the NL Central and Jay Cutler leading the Bears to a 7-9 season.

I want to respond to this, but its just too accurate.

Strangelove. If you want NYC, you gotta be t14 or bust. Next year apply to Uva ED then Mich ED. If you dont get it, try again the year after. Uva ED then Penn ED. Then after that NU ED and then you gotta resort to the waterman manuever, GULC ED, switch app to PT.

NYC is definitely my first choice- I know I'd love working in the city- especially since I've lived near it my whole life. This reminds me of how thankful I am that I have other viable career options besides law school (however.. none of them are things I want to do as much as be a lawyer).. nevertheless, the T14 or bust strategy wouldn't be detrimental to my professional future- meaning it's not absolutely essential I go to law school after UG, just preferable.