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Hi All,

I used this forum a lot when I was deciding on law school. Happy to answer questions about Illinois law and campus in general.

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blurberz89 wrote:Thanks in advance...

I'm not sure what options were available to you when you were applying, but are you happy with your decision to attend UIUC? How about classmates that could have attended higher ranked schools?

Do you think IL will recover from the rankings drop within the next couple of years?

How are the professors and the building in general?

Finally, how is the job outlook looking for your class? From a brief glance at past data, it looks like around 25% of the class ends up in biglaw. Do you think that past trend will hold true for yours and the current IL and 2L classes?

I had some options at T20s for less money. I am happy with my decision cause I wanted to end up in Chicago/StL. I thought about transferring, but again glad I saved the money. A couple friends who struck out probably wish they had transferred, but I know ppl that transferred to NU and struck out.

I would think the rankings will recover cause the job numbers are pretty decent, but who knows. I would focus on job prospects and where you want to end up.

Professors overall are awesome. A couple crappy ones, but the vast majority are brilliant and small class sizes make them very accessible. The building is fine, but classrooms need updating. Supposedly renovations are happening soon.

Yeah, I think it is going to be about 25% for my class and from what I heard from 2Ls at OCI probably same for them. But that also includes IP students. IP students can get big law regardless of grades pretty much. So if you're not IP, definitely have a chance at big law if you are top 25-30%, but not a guarantee. Overall I think Illinois is better than most T1s in terms of job prospects though

Thank you for making this thread! So for the people who end up in Chicago that are not big law -- are they generally in the city or suburbs? Also what kind of jobs are they getting? Any anecdotes from your class / people you know would be amazing.

I’ve seen the numbers from the aba form, but it only specifies Illinois and not which cities that grads are going to. I really want to end up in Chicago and would be pretty unhappy with the rest of Illinois tbh.

Attrition wrote:Thank you for making this thread! So for the people who end up in Chicago that are not big law -- are they generally in the city or suburbs? Also what kind of jobs are they getting? Any anecdotes from your class / people you know would be amazing.

I’ve seen the numbers from the aba form, but it only specifies Illinois and not which cities that grads are going to. I really want to end up in Chicago and would be pretty unhappy with the rest of Illinois tbh.

It depends. From my friends that recently graduated, a lot seem to be going to insurance defense mills. Which aren't bad, but definitely not what I would want to do. They pay decent like 60-70k and I would say most are in the city. Others are working at IL Atty General's office as fellows either in Chicago or Springfield. A lot of people that are Public Interest gunners are in Cook County State's Atty or PD office. But those are hard to get so some have had to go to the outer counties or are doing clerkships with state judges to wait it out. A few people got in-house jobs with Allstate, McDonalds, Jimmy Johns, State Farm, etc. and those are awesome jobs that pay between 80k and 100k and are 9-5.

Others are "clerking" for $20 an hour or so for small firms until they pass the bar. Hopefully now that they passed the bar they'll get hired on salary. Vast majority of students are in Chicagoland. And a majority of them are in the city, but the suburbs have a decent number of 20-30 atty firms that are hiring and pay decent. If you want to be in Chicago, it is pretty easy to get there, it just might not be the exact job you want

bumping cause I am bored again

illini2013 wrote:bumping cause I am bored again

I don't presume you'd be much more privy to this than me, but I'll take a shot in the dark - especially since you're bored:

I heard a bit about IL falsifying their numbers. Do you know to what extent the numbers were falsified? I've read a few stories on the falsified figures and I haven't come across anything correcting the falsified figures, and I'm curious what the correct figures were.

Troianii wrote:

illini2013 wrote:bumping cause I am bored again

I don't presume you'd be much more privy to this than me, but I'll take a shot in the dark - especially since you're bored:

I heard a bit about IL falsifying their numbers. Do you know to what extent the numbers were falsified? I've read a few stories on the falsified figures and I haven't come across anything correcting the falsified figures, and I'm curious what the correct figures were.

The figures that were falsified were the LSAT scores of either the class of 2013 or 2014. If you go to law school transparency or any of those sites the correct figures are reflected now.

To your knowledge, are there a lot of law grads that practice law in Ohio? Asking because I'm from the Cleveland area and would like to go back after LS

slizerd wrote:To your knowledge, are there a lot of law grads that practice law in Ohio? Asking because I'm from the Cleveland area and would like to go back after LS

We do have several law firms from Ohio that come to OCI and do have some classmates from Ohio, but most of them are going to be in Chicago. It definitely is possible to get back to Ohio from Illinois law, but if all things are equal I would go with OSU instead. Obviously if it is a lot cheaper to go to Illinois then do that.

How can you be so bored during 3L?

zot1 wrote:How can you be so bored during 3L?

There are several hours of the day when the bars are closed

Yeah that's too bad we can't have alcohol at home... Oh well.

I am a social drinker only.

how's the outlook for those wanting to go back and work in Wisconsin? or are they better off at the UW or Marquette?

tyang wrote:how's the outlook for those wanting to go back and work in Wisconsin? or are they better off at the UW or Marquette?

I do have several classmates that are going to Foley, Quarles and some smaller firms in Milwaukee and Madison. But UIUC's main market is Chicago followed by St. Louis. You definitely can get back to Wisconsin from Illinois. But if all things are equal I would go with UW if Wisconsin was 100% where you wanted to be. Don't know if the same is true about Marquette though.

If you weren't 100% sure and thought you might want to end up in Chicago, then I'd go with Illinois because it would give you a way better chance at Chicago than UW and still would be able to get you back to Wisconsin.

What % of the class transfers out?

n1o2c3a4c5h6e7t wrote:What % of the class transfers out?

For my class out of 170, I think like 12 or 13 people transferred out and another 7 or 8 people transferred in. Not sure what the 2L class was like, but I assume probably similar

Do a lot of people at UoI study healthcare law?

So I've heard Chitown is the next less tier sensitive market after NYC/Cali/DC. What's the difficulty level of getting Chi BL from Illinois without pre-law school ties?
How is OCI? Do any NYC firms come? Are there a ton of IP kids propping up the numbers?

The BL rate puts it on par with any school outside the t14. If someone is looking for BL without paying sticker at a t14 does Illinois seem a good choice?

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railyard wrote:Do a lot of people at UoI study healthcare law?

Sorry for the delay. There are healthcare law classes, but people don't really specifically study healthcare law. I know a couple classmates are going to be going into health care work at firms or in house

mornincounselor wrote:So I've heard Chitown is the next less tier sensitive market after NYC/Cali/DC. What's the difficulty level of getting Chi BL from Illinois without pre-law school ties?
How is OCI? Do any NYC firms come? Are there a ton of IP kids propping up the numbers?

The BL rate puts it on par with any school outside the t14. If someone is looking for BL without paying sticker at a t14 does Illinois seem a good choice?

Chicago does like ties, but I have plenty of classmates from all over the country getting BL in Chicago. I think if you're from the midwest that is more than good enough. If you're from one of the coasts, probably a good idea to at least work 1L summer in Chicago to show you want to work in the city. I think firms just want to make sure you won't bolt for NYC as soon as you start.

Between 60 and 70 firms come to OCI, a little over half from Chicago, a sizable number from St. Louis and a smattering of firms across the rest of the country. As far NY firms go, not really except for the national firms that come to OCI and interview for all offices. I think there are 2 people from the entire class going to BL in NY.

I mean if someone is gunning for BL they shouldn't go to any school outside the t14. Illinois is definitely one of the best non-t14 schools for BL, but you still need to be top 25-30% to have a shot.

Nodbugger wrote:I'm currently at a T3/4 Chicago school. I've lived in Illinois nearly my entire life. Would you recommend trying to transfer to UIUC?

If you are at John Marshall now and you can transfer without paying sticker, yes. And in my class transfers generally did pretty well at OCI.

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