Top Law Schools

I am 95% sure I will be going to the U next year and thought I would start the thread. My grandfather graduated from the U in 1951 thought I would keep the tradition alive!

Stop calling it "The U".

Your great grandfather went to the University of Coral Gables when the legal market was much better. Go there now and you'll end up as one of those ticket clinic people on U.S. 1.

With your numbers you have a shot at FSU. Hell, you have a shot at a lot of better schools. You can do better than UMiami.

Don't listen to random ppl on the Internet...go where you want...

dukivich10 wrote:Don't listen to random ppl on the Internet...go where you want...

Also dumb advice.

leefair123 wrote:My grandfather graduated from the U in 1951 thought I would keep the tradition alive!

If he or one of his buddies can employ you, go. If not, don't. FL legal market is absolute shit right now. Thanks a lot mortgage crisis.

wow guys ...you are a opinionated bunch. I want to stay in florida it seems to be the best fit unless I get into NYU, which I don't have the numbers for. I have a job outside of law school in South Florida through family. But I don't feel FSU is that much better of a school from what I have seen in the job market. It seems avoid Florida is the best bet, but I am from Coral Gables so I am pretty sure I will be going there. I have friends there everyone says it is a great education.

p.s. everybody calls it the U even my 90 yr old grandfather lol

If youre from Coral Gables, then you should know that there is an absolute glut of lawyers in south florida. Not the best environment to find legal jobs.

Like radlaw said, if you have a guaranteed job through a family member or friend then go to UMiami. If you're going just to go because you "want to keep the tradition alive", save yourself the $100k+ and dont go.

UF and FSU, UF especially, far outperform UMiami when it comes to employment. Seriously consider those schools because your numbers give you a decent shot at them.

leefair123 wrote:wow guys ...you are a opinionated bunch. I want to stay in florida it seems to be the best fit unless I get into NYU, which I don't have the numbers for. I have a job outside of law school in South Florida through family. But I don't feel FSU is that much better of a school from what I have seen in the job market. It seems avoid Florida is the best bet, but I am from Coral Gables so I am pretty sure I will be going there. I have friends there everyone says it is a great education.

p.s. everybody calls it the U even my 90 yr old grandfather lol

There are a lot of schools that do better than FL in between Miami and NYU. That's silly.

As to the bold, I'm sure the education that's fine, it's the job prospects that are bad.

Well, despite all the negativity in this thread I'm almost positive I'll be going to miami next year and I'm pretty excited about it. I'm still waiting on a couple schools but I know I'm going to end up here

kfw89law wrote:Well, despite all the negativity in this thread I'm almost positive I'll be going to miami next year and I'm pretty excited about it. I'm still waiting on a couple schools but I know I'm going to end up here

Ask career services for more specific employment statistics than what's advertised. Seriously. 2008 advertised salary stats are based on an atrocious 29% of grads.

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Hope it's gonna be cheap. Best of luck.

gdane5, are you at Miami now? If so, I'd love to hear your thoughts about the school. Job prospects for your fellow classmates, quality of education, etc. etc.

Miami has always been my top choice, primarily because I grew up and live in the area and intend to stay here. Scholarship, however, is a major factor so we'll see what happens...

Question for you guys:

I applied to Nova. My numbers are 15 points above their 75th percentile. I know they are generous with full scholarships for people with these numbers. I work with a few people who were offered full rides. I realize Nova is a shit school, but with a full ride & graduating with zero debt (already living in the area so I don't need to worry about the cost of living), would that make it worth it?

I'm not a Miami law student. I live in Miami though. The legal market here is terrible. The small number of major firms here, like greenberg traurig, have indefinitely cut their summer associate programs and have laid off hundreds of attorneys in the last few years. Miami Dade county isnt really hiring new attorneys. The incoming governor, Rick Scott, claims he wants to slash the state budget so there are likely going to be hiring freezes in some areas of the state government. Legal hiring might be one of these areas. The housing market in Florida is in shambles and we still have one of the highest unemployment rates in the country.

Florida is a mess right now. If you want to go to law school, its in your best interest to go to UF or FSU, UF preferably. You'll have a much better shot of landing a decent legal job going to UF than if you go to UMiami. Not to mention that UF costs much less than UMiami.

As for Nova. If you cant get into any other schools and they offer you a full ride, go for it. However, understand that your job prospects coming out of Nova are absolutely terrible. It would probably be better to dedicate three years of your life to something better.

gdane5 wrote:The incoming governor, Rick Scott, claims he wants to slash the state budget so there are likely going to be hiring freezes in some areas of the state government. Legal hiring might be one of these areas.

About time! I'm glad someone is finally reigning in all those extravagant South Florida assistant prosecutors and assistant public defenders making $40k a year, running around town with their fancy Hyundais, wearing their ostentatious imported Chinese suits.

Yeah, Florida is pretty much fucked.

Royal wrote:

gdane5 wrote:The incoming governor, Rick Scott, claims he wants to slash the state budget so there are likely going to be hiring freezes in some areas of the state government. Legal hiring might be one of these areas.

About time! I'm glad someone is finally reigning in all those extravagant South Florida assistant prosecutors and assistant public defenders making $40k a year, running around town with their fancy Hyundais, wearing their ostentatious imported Chinese suits.

Yeah, Florida is pretty much fucked.

Welcome to a bad economy, bad housing market, and declining tax revenues, genius.

rad law wrote:

Royal wrote:

gdane5 wrote:The incoming governor, Rick Scott, claims he wants to slash the state budget so there are likely going to be hiring freezes in some areas of the state government. Legal hiring might be one of these areas.

About time! I'm glad someone is finally reigning in all those extravagant South Florida assistant prosecutors and assistant public defenders making $40k a year, running around town with their fancy Hyundais, wearing their ostentatious imported Chinese suits.

Yeah, Florida is pretty much fucked.

Welcome to a bad economy, bad housing market, and declining tax revenues, genius.

Florida has been, and will always be, a TTT state. But hey, at least it's not Alabama. HTH.

Royal wrote:

rad law wrote:

Royal wrote:

gdane5 wrote:The incoming governor, Rick Scott, claims he wants to slash the state budget so there are likely going to be hiring freezes in some areas of the state government. Legal hiring might be one of these areas.

About time! I'm glad someone is finally reigning in all those extravagant South Florida assistant prosecutors and assistant public defenders making $40k a year, running around town with their fancy Hyundais, wearing their ostentatious imported Chinese suits.

Yeah, Florida is pretty much fucked.

Welcome to a bad economy, bad housing market, and declining tax revenues, genius.

Florida has been, and will always be, a TTT state. But hey, at least it's not Alabama. HTH.

Birmingham is actually hiring right now.

HTH.

Miami has an excellent tax law program and the location is killer! I don't think Miami is as bad as many of you are making it out to be. I'm considering going there myself. Florida is probably a slightly better school; FSU and Miami are neck and neck.

jacob_c84 wrote:Miami has an excellent tax law program and the location is killer! I don't think Miami is as bad as many of you are making it out to be. I'm considering going there myself. Florida is probably a slightly better school; FSU and Miami are neck and neck.

FL > UM, even in Miami. Seriously. FSU and Miami are more or less equal in South FL, but I'd still much rather go to FSU because there's a larger area of FL open to you. Miami isn't worth much outside of South FL.

I know I am being a hypocrite here...but isn't this thread for members of UMiami c/o 2014? Let's try to keep the warnings about the market and criticisms of the law school in a different forum and thread.

Oh and FTR, I agree about most of what has been said here.

Anyone else been accepted yet?

I believe the purpose of this thread is to foster discussion among people who will be attending Miami in the fall. A number of people here have been accepted. See this thread: http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 7&t=133721

And re: discussion of the legal market in Miami, criticism of the school, etc., I don't see why those topics can't be addressed here among people who are presumably attending Miami in the fall. I'll be there and I'm more than open to hearing critiques of the school. And the good stuff as well, of course.

I have been accepted and I would like to hear other things than don't go there Miami sucks. Does any one have anything good to say?

I just paid my deposit and am going to Miami. I got into FSU but Miami offered enough scholarship to where it would be cheaper to go to UM. Also I am originally from north miami and went to FSU for undergrad. All these people saying go to FSU probably have a good point but there are certain things that the city of Tallahassee cant offer in terms of quality of life that I have had a hard time living without the past 4 years. Plus it is essentially a college town going nowhere. On a good note, my cousin is a 2l at miami and just got a 160k job offer at a major firm and I know many alums who are doing perfectly well. On the other side my friend just graduated fsu and has been unemployed for almost a full year despite being highly ranked in his class. If you are going to law school because you think your guaranteed a job then you should alter your expectations, A legal degree for me is just a prerequisite for my career goals but am not solely relying on it for survival.

if you do not go to a higher ranked school you will get aids, and die.

that seems a little harsh...

I dont actually feel that way I was simply drawing a parallel from sentiment in this thread to a scene from mean girls