Top Law Schools

Depending on the degree to which our percentile cut-offs change from last semester, I will end up btw the top11 and 7%. I attend a T40 school. My primary short-term career goal is to land a federal clerkship or work at the USAO. I'd like to work in Biglaw afterward, but only for the purpose of paying down debt. My long-term goal is to become a state or federal court judge. With this in mind, if you were in my position, which T14 schools would you apply to? I have no strong geographical preference. I have compelling reasons to transfer to schools in the SF, Chicago, and NYC areas. TYIA

sanpiero wrote:Depending on the degree to which our percentile cut-offs change from last semester, I will end up btw the top11 and 7%. I attend a T40 school. My primary short-term career goal is to land a federal clerkship or work at the USAO. I'd like to work in Biglaw afterward, but only for the purpose of paying down debt. My long-term goal is to become a state or federal court judge. With this in mind, if you were in my position, which T14 schools would you apply to? I have no strong geographical preference. I have compelling reasons to transfer to schools in the SF, Chicago, and NYC areas. TYIA

Go to ND in good ole South Bend you wont regret it! It is not top 14 but maybe you could get some scholly $$$

stintez wrote:

sanpiero wrote:Depending on the degree to which our percentile cut-offs change from last semester, I will end up btw the top11 and 7%. I attend a T40 school. My primary short-term career goal is to land a federal clerkship or work at the USAO. I'd like to work in Biglaw afterward, but only for the purpose of paying down debt. My long-term goal is to become a state or federal court judge. With this in mind, if you were in my position, which T14 schools would you apply to? I have no strong geographical preference. I have compelling reasons to transfer to schools in the SF, Chicago, and NYC areas. TYIA

Go to ND in good ole South Bend you wont regret it! It is not top 14 but maybe you could get some scholly $$$

No.

stintez wrote:

sanpiero wrote:Depending on the degree to which our percentile cut-offs change from last semester, I will end up btw the top11 and 7%. I attend a T40 school. My primary short-term career goal is to land a federal clerkship or work at the USAO. I'd like to work in Biglaw afterward, but only for the purpose of paying down debt. My long-term goal is to become a state or federal court judge. With this in mind, if you were in my position, which T14 schools would you apply to? I have no strong geographical preference. I have compelling reasons to transfer to schools in the SF, Chicago, and NYC areas. TYIA

Go to ND in good ole South Bend you wont regret it! It is not top 14 but maybe you could get some scholly $$$

Haha. I would certainly consider going to ND w a significant scholly. Unfortunately, scholarships for transfer students are virtually unheard of. Do you have any info on ND's financial aid policy for transfers or are you just trolling for ND?

sanpiero wrote:

stintez wrote:

sanpiero wrote:Depending on the degree to which our percentile cut-offs change from last semester, I will end up btw the top11 and 7%. I attend a T40 school. My primary short-term career goal is to land a federal clerkship or work at the USAO. I'd like to work in Biglaw afterward, but only for the purpose of paying down debt. My long-term goal is to become a state or federal court judge. With this in mind, if you were in my position, which T14 schools would you apply to? I have no strong geographical preference. I have compelling reasons to transfer to schools in the SF, Chicago, and NYC areas. TYIA

Go to ND in good ole South Bend you wont regret it! It is not top 14 but maybe you could get some scholly $$$

Haha. I would certainly consider going to ND w a significant scholly. Unfortunately, scholarships for transfer students are virtually unheard of. Do you have any info on ND's financial aid policy for transfers or are you just trolling for ND?

God, Notre Dame trolls are the worst.

Honestly, I don't see a whole lot of benefit in transferring unless you want to be in a different market. Your grades have you in a good position for OCI, whereas median at a T20ish school won't. I know transferring has become all the rage these days, but it isn't always a wise decision.

romothesavior wrote: God, Notre Dame trolls are the worst.

Honestly, I don't see a whole lot of benefit in transferring unless you want to be in a different market. Your grades have you in a good position for OCI, whereas median at a T20ish school won't. I know transferring has become all the rage these days, but it isn't always a wise decision.

Sorry, I should've added that I DO NOT want to stay in my school's market. Also, my scholarship at my current school isn't great.

Blanket the top 17. Reap the rewards.

A'nold wrote:Blanket the top 17. Reap the rewards.

I wish I could afford to! I'd like to limit myself to five or six schools, and I'm considering simply focusing on T10 + NU. From a financial standpoint and in light of my scholly and rank at my current school, it probably isn't smart to transfer to a non-T10 school. I added NU to the list of schools I'm considering becuase of its strong NLJ placement. With my rank, I should have a good shot (~50%, maybe more) at midlaw in my school's region (salaries range from 80k-125k at the firms I've researched). Trouble is, I really don't want to practice in my school's region. The financial crapshoot then becomes whether the higher ranked school I transfer to gives me a better shot at mid and biglaw. Will I be treated as a median student? If so, it looks like a lot of the top schools barely placed 50% of their classes of 2009 in NLJ firms, and these folks were offered before the economy tanked. This makes me wonder whether the $70k or so incremental cost I'll incur at a higher ranked school would even be worth it. But then there's the Columbia and NYU data that came out and wasn't terrible (~70% of OCI participants landing SA gigs). But, do I even have a shot at CLS or NYU? Then there's Chicago and NU. The Chicago legal market was hit very very hard. The data shows there were only like 250 SA gigs in Chicago this summer. In view of this, is it even worth considering NU and Chicago? It seems like the Chicago market for Chicago/NU students is tougher to crack than the NYC market is for CLS/NYU students. I'm also thinking about applying to Boalt and GULC, but Boalt's deadline is right around the corner and GULC's huge class sizes doesn't really appeal to me. Ahhh I'm going nuts. And so little time before apps are due!

A'nold wrote:Blanket the top 17. Reap the rewards.

do you know where you're applying yet, A'nold?

sanpiero wrote:

A'nold wrote:Blanket the top 17. Reap the rewards.

do you know where you're applying yet, A'nold?

Michigan
Berkeley
Duke
Cornell
GULC- EA ft/pt deferred
Vanderbilt
UCLA
WUSTL
UW-Seattle
UC Hastings

Toying with the idea of apply to Minn. or UCI, but haven't decided yet.

Edit to add Notre Dame and Emory to my list.

What market do you want if you don't like your area (I wouldn't want to work in that area either, fwiw).

A'nold wrote:

sanpiero wrote:

A'nold wrote:Blanket the top 17. Reap the rewards.

do you know where you're applying yet, A'nold?

Michigan
Berkeley
Duke
Cornell
GULC- EA ft/pt deferred
Vanderbilt
UCLA
WUSTL
UW-Seattle
UC Hastings

Toying with the idea of apply to Minn. or UCI, but haven't decided yet.

Edit to add Notre Dame and Emory to my list.

What market do you want if you don't like your area (I wouldn't want to work in that area either, fwiw).

That's a great list. Which school(s) are your favorites? Can't blame ya for not being interested in my region. I want to work in Chicago, NYC, or SF.

sanpiero wrote:

A'nold wrote:

sanpiero wrote:

A'nold wrote:Blanket the top 17. Reap the rewards.

do you know where you're applying yet, A'nold?

Michigan
Berkeley
Duke
Cornell
GULC- EA ft/pt deferred
Vanderbilt
UCLA
WUSTL
UW-Seattle
UC Hastings

Toying with the idea of apply to Minn. or UCI, but haven't decided yet.

Edit to add Notre Dame and Emory to my list.

What market do you want if you don't like your area (I wouldn't want to work in that area either, fwiw).

That's a great list. Which school(s) are your favorites? Can't blame ya for not being interested in my region. I want to work in Chicago, NYC, or SF.

I'm just not a fan of extreme heat, thus no "your region."

I have many favorites on my list, but my all time dream school is Michigan.

Berkeley would be awesome for a lot of reasons. Vandy, WUSTL, and Notre Dame have definitely moved up on my list too, for various reasons.

Anyone else with recommendations as to where i should apply under the circumstances???

OK grades are finalized. Now awaiting GPA cut-offs. I should be exactly at the top 10% cut-off. As such, is it even worth the application fee to apply to CCN? What about NU? Remember, my school is T40.