Top Law Schools

Currently, I'm at DePaul in the top 5% and, obviously, got an invitation to law review. My question is whether I should transfer to Notre Dame. My aspirations are purely regional and I have no intention of working anywhere but Chicago. Also, money for tuition is not a concern. So, is Notre Dame worth leaving top 5% and LR?

Thanks in advance.

What is a DePaul, and is it near where you want to work? If so, stay. If not, and ND (what's an ND?) is, then go. Being near where you want to work trumps LR, but LR trumps almost any ranking differential unless you can jump to a national or quazi-national school.

What the shit? Why didn't you try for northwestern or Chicago or even michgan. Hell, even any t14. It would give you such better job prospects. And top five percent there would give you an okay shot if not good. Depaul is swan diving like the old spice guy. And their campus is a miserable small depressing campus.

Well shit. Sorry for hatin so hard. Just confused. I don't see too much benefit from noted dame

stinger35 wrote:Depaul is swan diving like the old spice guy.

180

I did try for Northwestern and Chicago but I wasn't accepted. My only options at this point are staying at DePaul or going to ND.

This is tough. I'm inclined to believe that you may be better off being in the city, in the top 5% and on law review, than in South Bend. Clearly ND is having it's own problems right now...

I don't know. This is, honestly, one of the tougher "should I transfer" threads that I've seen.

I wish you the best.

if your aspiration is ND, don't bother. apply to better schools.

I would say stay...DePaul top 5% and LR is more impressive than ND and no honors. Then again domers seem to blindly hire their own so if you know any ND grads that might be something to consider.

disco_barred wrote:Being near where you want to work trumps LR, but LR trumps almost any ranking differential unless you can jump to a national or quazi-national school.

Not trying to jack the thread, but trying to get some info for my own decision. Would you say NYU > Cardozo (top 1-2% + LR + $) by this rationale?

^ I'm not discobarred and I didn't invent a specific rationale, but in your case I'd transfer since either way you'll be in a shitload of debt due to NYC cost of living.

Also, I've heard Cardozo's OCI has dropped off considerably. Firms down the street don't even want to bother with it. Therefore, if you transfer to NYU you'll be granted an audience with interviews -- and likely offers because of your excellent grades. At 'dozo, I don't think you'll get the exposure you deserve.

All this advice seems counterintuitive. 25% of Notre dame students have lsats above 167. Depaul likely only has a handful of students per class above that. How could even the top student at depaul compete with the top quarter of Notre dame?

may be overstating the significance of the lsat here

ITEGodknows wrote:All this advice seems counterintuitive. 25% of Notre dame students have lsats above 167. Depaul likely only has a handful of students per class above that. How could even the top student at depaul compete with the top quarter of Notre dame?

Lol. With no disrespect. Just cause Notre Dame students did well on the LSATs it does not mean that they are "smarter" than everyone at DePaul. Pocket Herc said it dead on- you are totally over stating the significance of the lsat. Lsat is just a test that shows whether a student is likely to do well in law school. It does not end all be all. I got a 160 on my lsats, and I know tons of students at my school with 165's, and I outperformed all of them. Law school is a different beast than the LSAT.

OP. you should talk to the law career services at your school, and see if it is attainable to reach your goal through your current school. And if not, then if it would behoove you to go to ND. Do what makes you most happy, and do what you think will put you in the best position attain your career goals.

Well sure, the LSAT isn't particularly reliable in specific cases but it does work well over large sample sizes. A student body with a median LSAT of 166 will be considerably more intelligent than a student body with a median of 159. That doesn't mean that every student at the better school will be smarter than every student at the worse school; however, the trend will be very pronounced.

ITEGodknows wrote:Well sure, the LSAT isn't particularly reliable in specific cases but it does work well over large sample sizes. A student body with a median LSAT of 166 will be considerably more intelligent than a student body with a median of 159. That doesn't mean that every student at the better school will be smarter than every student at the worse school; however, the trend will be very pronounced.

LSAT Score =/= IQ Level or General Intelligence

Sure, not equal but a high correlation. I've gotten a 99% on just about every single standardized test I've ever taken. Surely, they are all somewhat correlative and, thus, likely correlate with a third source, namely general intelligence. For somewhat flimsy support, Mensa accepts the LSAT for membership.

ITEGodknows wrote: For somewhat flimsy support, Mensa accepts the LSAT for membership.

Nice hedge, I am fairly certain the MENSA membership threshold is set at 95%.

On a related note, general intelligence as a conceptual notion seems vague. Your case would seem to support the idea that you are good at standardized tests, and as you pointed out earlier:

ITEGodknows wrote:Well sure, the LSAT isn't particularly reliable in specific cases but it does work well over large sample sizes.

If OP is top 1-2% and we are willing to go from specific cases to generalizations, then I would think he has 'how to succeed at law school' pretty-well figured out.

ITEGodknows wrote:All this advice seems counterintuitive. 25% of Notre dame students have lsats above 167. Depaul likely only has a handful of students per class above that. How could even the top student at depaul compete with the top quarter of Notre dame?

/facepalm

I transferred from a median 162 school to UChicago (Median god only knows, but probably over 170). If I'm not the #1 person in my class at Chicago, I'm awfully close; and I know for a fact that I'm at least top 5%. LSAT is meaningless.

/facepalm /facepalm

That said, I would stay put. ND isn't going to give you many options on its own. Top 5% + law review + being in the city >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> ND. Sorry that you didn't make it in to Northwestern--I'm not surprised by the Chicago ding, but the NW ding is odd. So it goes.

Stay at DePaul, IMO. Good luck and congrats on the grades!

ToTransferOrNot wrote:

ITEGodknows wrote:All this advice seems counterintuitive. 25% of Notre dame students have lsats above 167. Depaul likely only has a handful of students per class above that. How could even the top student at depaul compete with the top quarter of Notre dame?

/facepalm

I transferred from a median 162 school to UChicago (Median god only knows, but probably over 170). If I'm not the #1 person in my class at Chicago, I'm awfully close; and I know for a fact that I'm at least top 5%. LSAT is meaningless.

/facepalm /facepalm

That said, I would stay put. ND isn't going to give you many options on its own. Top 5% + law review + being in the city >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> ND. Sorry that you didn't make it in to Northwestern--I'm not surprised by the Chicago ding, but the NW ding is odd. So it goes.

You just epically suck at LG which throws off the validity of the LSAT for you.

But the LSAT is not so predictive that the a couple points make such a huge difference.

OP will do very well at ND. However top5% at ND isn't even doing good at OCI, transferring there would be stupid.

Just got into Illinois. Should I go there?

The LSAT's hardly meaningless, though it may have proved meaningless in TTON's case.

ITEGodknows wrote:Just got into Illinois. Should I go there?

No. Not worth giving up Law Review and top 5% for, in my opinion.

traydeuce wrote:The LSAT's hardly meaningless, though it may have proved meaningless in TTON's case.

I think EVERYONE can basically agree that if you did well on the LSAT and well in law school, then LSAT is not only an accurate predictor of law school success but also a accurate measure of ones intelligence. For those who did not do well on the LSAT and then did well on law school or vice versa or whatever, it is meaningless.