Illinois Law - 3L answering Qs Forum

[Philipsssssss]

UIUC Law 3L here. Any questions, please ask.

[timmyd]

I always thought Illinois got a bad rep because of some scandal. Employment stats look pretty good, on par with Notre Dame and WUSTL. Do many of your classmates have good outcomes?

[Philipsssssss]

I always thought Illinois got a bad rep because of some scandal. Employment stats look pretty good, on par with Notre Dame and WUSTL. Do many of your classmates have good outcomes?

The scandal is unfortunate but honestly I didn't see any effect on employment. Approx. 15% or so (maybe more) are in BigLaw through OCI, some folks even got Big Law outside OCI, so that brings the total % up. I can tell you that OCI attracts many employers here at the school, in fact, the OCI is open to rising 3Ls as well, although the selection of employers drops, since OCI is mainly a rising 2L thing.

Also, 15-20% are in Big Law, but many others are in Large and Medium size firms (120 attorney firm is considered nowadays a Medium Size firm). So the overall employment stats are good.

The career office is fantastic, there are so much more then OCI. The school has many programs to get you connected with employers. Many students secure jobs.

Also, many students take the opportunity to take classes during Spring of their 3L in Chicago, basically the school allows you to spend you last semester in Chicago so you can work and take classes there which are taught by Law Firms and in other locations as well.

Again, yes, the scandal sucks, but the school is recovering from it from a standpoint of reputation for the sake of US News ranking (U of I back into the 30s not), when I went in they were 22.

[Carnal]

Thanks for doing this; I will be attending come fall. How is the culture at UIUC? Competitiveness? Diversity? Also any tips you would have wanted to know before you went in? Thanks.

[chicubs88]

Recently graduated 3L here. I agree that the scandal was a temporary setback because it didn't really have a negative impact on Illinois' reputation with employers We're already rising back up in the rankings, and the school is taking steps to keep that trend(ex; reducing class size and offering more scholarships....allegedly). However, I would hesitate to describe our employment prospects as "good." Its true that ~20% get biglaw, which is pretty good, however that leaves 80% of the class to find employment through government, medium firms, etc.....Frankly, there aren't enough good jobs in the state to accommodate that 80% in addition to the people graduating from the other in-state schools. Career services isn't bad, but I wouldn't say they are fantastic. There's only so much they can do outside of OCI. As someone who went here for both undergrad and law school, I would say that Illinois is a solid option if you want to live and work in Illinois and you have a scholarship. No way would I advise someone to come here at sticker price, there simply aren't enough high paying employment options for an Illinois grad ITE to justify being $150,000 in debt.