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I go to school here and don't want to be outed, hence the anonymity. My question is basically -- What the fuck is going on with these numbers?

I spoke with career services and they said everyone is forced to fill out (or choose to leave blank, but sign) an employment questionaire before getting their diploma. At nine months, they said nearly everyone (97.3%, I guess) responds to their inquirers and they compile and transmit the data directly to NALP as is.

31% of the class doesn't want a job at graduation? 10% still doesn't want one nine months later?

I know that I'm in the non-trustfund group here, but wtf. I looked at other schools in sought after locations, including Pepperdine, USD, etc., and didn't find anything resembling this at all. Any comments on why this is the case and if it could possible hurt the value of my degree?

Class of 2010 Graduates-Class Breakdown at Graduation

Graduates whose employment status is unknown 6.6%
Graduates whose employment status is known 93.4%
Graduates known to be employed at graduation 57.4%
Graduates known to be enrolled in a full-time degree program 2.2%
Graduates known to be unemployed and seeking work 2.7%
Graduates known to be unemployed and not seeking work 31.1%

Class of 2010 Graduates-Class Breakdown at Nine Months

Graduates whose employment status is unknown 2.7%
Graduates whose employment status is known 97.3%
Graduates known to be employed nine months after graduation 82.5%
Graduates known to be enrolled in a full-time degree program 2.2%
Graduates known to be unemployed and seeking work 2.7%
Graduates known to be unemployed and not seeking work 9.8%

Sounds like the survey has some wiggle room as to what is meant by "not seeking."

Either that or employment is overrated.

I would imagine some part of both of those numbers are the people who are waiting until after the bar exam to start looking and then waiting until the February sitting to re-take because they are the 6% that failed their first time.

That's CU students for you.

the lower tier 1 is a harsh mistress. savage animals. all of us. i think this is about what you have to expect. 50% will have jobs lined up while in school. 50% will not.

Did they give everyone who agreed to say "not looking" a $50 Starbucks gift card or something? Did they count you as "not looking" if you hadn't filled out an application in the last 24 hours? Sounds like some shady shit to me.

I'd say 10 percent not looking nine months out is accurate for the culture here. 31 percent not looking at graduation is confusing though. Maybe the career service people told everyone that if they have a jerb lined up at PI, PD, or DA to just check unemployed and not looking instead of putting employed because technically they don't have a guaranteed offer as they have not passed the bar yet. This would explain how ASU can claim 90% employed at graduation, but schools like Hastings/Boulder only claim 40% and 57% respectively. Different instructions.

Lord Randolph McDuff wrote:I'd say 10 percent not looking nine months out is accurate for the culture here. 31 percent not looking at graduation is confusing though. Maybe the career service people told everyone that if they have a jerb lined up at PI, PD, or DA to just check unemployed and not looking instead of putting employed because technically they don't have a guaranteed offer as they have not passed the bar yet. This would explain how ASU can claim 90% employed at graduation, but schools like Hastings/Boulder only claim 40% and 57% respectively. Different instructions.

Yeah, career services usually tries to make their own school look worse then its peers.

What..? Or ASU cheated, and Hastings and Boulder tried to paint a more accurate picture?

It's like everyone has been programmed on this cite to ignore all chance for a noble outcome in life.

Lord Randolph McDuff wrote:What..? Or ASU cheated, and Hastings and Boulder tried to paint a more accurate picture?

It's like everyone has been programmed on this cite to ignore all chance for a noble outcome in life.

No, its that we arent naive. If a non-elite school is reporting 90%+ employment ITE, there is an almost irrebuttable presumption that they are being shady as hell. 30% reporting not looking for a job? That seems pretty sketch.

Lord Randolph McDuff wrote: It's like everyone has been programmed on this cite to ignore all chance for a noble outcome in life.

Anonymous User wrote:No, its that we arent naive.

I might cry for you.

Lord Randolph McDuff wrote: If a non-elite school is reporting 90%+ employment ITE, there is an almost irrebuttable presumption that they are being shady as hell. 30% reporting not looking for a job? That seems pretty sketch.

Agree with the first part. Literally. Like that is what I said.

The second part is a good question and I have no idea. I go to this school and I can tell you that there are cultural considerations that TLS completely wiffs on. I speculated it was because they didn't have firm offers... I dunno. There are people that go here without any intention of practicing law, and the fact that career services verified that this info was recorded directly from the students... hmm. I dunno obviously 31% is high. Maybe my explanation accounts for half, and the other half are trustafarians.

RMD, do you know how the survey was worded and when the survey was sent out? Could it be the 30% number is attributed to like, "Please state you are not currently seeking employment if you have not sent out a resume in the past 3 weeks," and 3L were focused on readings and finals?

Bikeflip wrote:RMD, do you know how the survey was worded and when the survey was sent out? Could it be the 30% number is attributed to like, "Please state you are not currently seeking employment if you have not sent out a resume in the past 3 weeks," and 3L were focused on readings and finals?

Yeah I doubt schools are that shady. That would also be all over abovethelaw.