Thomas Jefferson in San Diego Forum

[Mr. Matlock]

The mayor of Los Angeles went to People's College of Law. Having famous politicians go to your law school doesn't mean your law school teaches you anything. I agree with other posters that you should only pay full price at TJ if you REALLY REALLY REALLY want to be a lawyer / use your law degree and if you are a type 'A' person with a drive to succeed.

no i disagree. i think the low ranking of a school is a result of the low quality of the student body. if a member of that student body makes it big it isn't because of connections or prestige. it might mean that person was naturally gifted and chose not to go to a better school. it might mean that person was a very late bloomer. it might mean the lsat failed to represent that persons potential. but i think in any of these cases the person got a legal education sufficient to succeed in the world.

Isn't that pretty much what he was getting at?

[Teapot]

The mayor of Los Angeles went to People's College of Law. Having famous politicians go to your law school doesn't mean your law school teaches you anything. I agree with other posters that you should only pay full price at TJ if you REALLY REALLY REALLY want to be a lawyer / use your law degree and if you are a type 'A' person with a drive to succeed.

no i disagree. i think the low ranking of a school is a result of the low quality of the student body. if a member of that student body makes it big it isn't because of connections or prestige. it might mean that person was naturally gifted and chose not to go to a better school. it might mean that person was a very late bloomer. it might mean the lsat failed to represent that persons potential. but i think in any of these cases the person got a legal education sufficient to succeed in the world.

Isn't that pretty much what he was getting at?

no, he said just because you have famous people doesn't mean your law school teaches you anything. i thing it means it does teach you something

[SamSeaborn2016]

On the bright side, didn't they find a wooly mammoth in their basement?

[RVP11]

no i disagree. i think the low ranking of a school is a result of the low quality of the student body. if a member of that student body makes it big it isn't because of connections or prestige. it might mean that person was naturally gifted and chose not to go to a better school. it might mean that person was a very late bloomer. it might mean the lsat failed to represent that persons potential. but i think in any of these cases the person got a legal education sufficient to succeed in the world.

Or it might simply mean that there are enough Hispanic voters in LA to elect Villaraigosa.

[CE2JD]

no i disagree. i think the low ranking of a school is a result of the low quality of the student body. if a member of that student body makes it big it isn't because of connections or prestige. it might mean that person was naturally gifted and chose not to go to a better school. it might mean that person was a very late bloomer. it might mean the lsat failed to represent that persons potential. but i think in any of these cases the person got a legal education sufficient to succeed in the world.

Or it might simply mean that there are enough Hispanic voters in LA to elect Villaraigosa.

First of all, a legal education is NEVER sufficient to succeed in the real world. You can be at the top of your class at Yale and get fired from every job you get because people think you're an asshole.

And secondly, a lot of famous politicians are dumbasses (see: our last President). So I wouldn't be proud of the fact that you have someone who went to your law school who holds a high office.

[Mulliganstew]

And I have friends there who really enjoyed their education at TJ.

Let's face it, CE2JD, you have a history of snobbery towards lower ranked schools (which is hilarious when you got so defensive about your UG institution.).

If by snobbery you mean realism, then yes. There's a reason why I would never go to TJ even if they paid me my current salary to go there all 3 years. I'm not going to put on some shit-eating grin and tell you all it'll be okay and that TJ is a 'good' law school. It's not. It blows.

CE2JD is right and the sooner you doubters figure it out the better off you will be.

Oh thank god. I don't know what I would have done without you guys jumping into our lives and telling us that lower ranked schools are useless. CE2JD, the sooner you realize that no one asked you to go into every lower ranked school thread and proclaim what a waste it is, the better you'll be in life. Let people make their own 'mistakes.' In the meanwhile, there ARE people who disagree with you who ACTUALLY GO THERE so I think they'd know better than you what the school offers. In other words, stop taking shots at TJ and go troll a Harvard thread. You're not offering anything of use to people whose only law school options are lower ranked schools for one reason or another.

[CE2JD]

The OP asked this:

Has anyone heard about Thomas Jefferson in San Diego?

I had heard of TJLS, so I offered my opinion based on what I have heard about the school. TLS doesn't have a rule that you can only say positive things about schools to which threads are dedicated. And I think it's useful to hear about law schools from all kinds of different people. OF COURSE people who go to TJ are going to generally speak more positively about the school than those who go to other schools. I think it's useful to have UNBIASED opinions mixed with the usually positive opinions of people who attend the law school you are interested in.

[Mulliganstew]

You say unbiased, I hear uninformed.

[CE2JD]

You say unbiased, I hear uninformed.

Perhaps. But then again, the vast majority of opinions on the Internet are uninformed.

[Mulliganstew]

I mean, I can talk about Texas at Austin all day long, but I wouldn't take my word over someone that goes there. When it comes to a lower ranked, lesser known law school, this goes double. After all, they have little to no reason to pimp their school if it isn't helping them. The exact opposite is true, really.

[CE2JD]

So if you have no reason to pimp your school, what are you doing right now?

[Mulliganstew]

Huh? I don't go to TJ either. I'm actually still applying around and waiting on my Feb LSAT.

I just think the elitist version of "advice" given out here is uncalled for.

[CE2JD]

How is my advice elitist?

[Mulliganstew]

I've yet to see you admit any regional school is worthwhile for one. Not to mention, you seriously use the term TTT, which is honestly kind of offensive.

[CE2JD]

I've yet to see you admit any regional school is worthwhile for one. Not to mention, you seriously use the term TTT, which is honestly kind of offensive.

I never meant TTT to be offensive, it's used as an arbitrary classification of law schools, originally by USNRW. I have no beef with anyone who attends a regional school. Several of my relatives and closest friends attended regional law schools, and some of them have great careers!

Bottom line: I don't want to offend anyone or make anyone feel like an idiot for going to a Tier 3 (TTT) or Tier 4 (TTTT) school, I just want to provide a realistic perspective about schools. You seem like a nice guy, so why not avoid taking what I say personally and / or just ignore me if I bother you?

[senorsombrero]

Anyone from San Diego (even non lawyers) can tell you that TJ has a horrible rep. That's not elitist, just the way it is.

[djshack]

FWIW, there's a law clerk at the firm I work at who got his JD at Thomas Jefferson. He's taken the California bar four times to date without passing. One can draw many conclusions from this fact. Below are some examples:

1) Even Stanford grads can fail the bar (yes, but will they?).
2) TJ Law doesn't prepare its students for the bar very well (probably one of the correct conclusions).
3) My co-worker is a moron (likely, given the firm I work at; what's that say for TJ students?).
4) He's the exception to the rule (more likely, however, he's the norm at TJ).

Finally, the above aside, an institution of education that exists for the sole purpose of paying dividends to investors (i.e. making profits) is--simply put--sketchy. Law school (or any school for that matter) should NOT be for profit. The students' best interests should be the goal of the school--not charging them way too much and spending little enough so that there is money left over to hand out as profits to the schools corporate investors.

[iliketothinkiamcool]

What is the bar passage rate at Thomas Jefferson?

[jcl2]

Would you go to a law school named in honor of a guy who said the following about Native Americans? (I'm assuming the school is named after the 3rd president)

"This unfortunate race, whom we had been taking so much pains to save and civilize, have by their unexpected desertion and ferocious barbarities justified extermination and now await our decision on their fate."

Wow some of our founding fathers were really genocidal assholes.

[jcl2]

Sorry, that is not related to the law school at all, I just found that quote and felt the urge to post it somewhere.

[Teapot]

all TTT will have people who fail at life. all will have people who can't pass the bar. this is because the accept everyone. if you are smart and take a lot of money from a school like this to stay in an area you like you should be better off than the people who went there with no actual potential.

[A'nold]

Would you go to a law school named in honor of a guy who said the following about Native Americans? (I'm assuming the school is named after the 3rd president)

"This unfortunate race, whom we had been taking so much pains to save and civilize, have by their unexpected desertion and ferocious barbarities justified extermination and now await our decision on their fate."

Wow some of our founding fathers were really genocidal assholes.

UGH! As a history major that comment just made me sick (yes, I am talking about your post, not the quote). Way to put our 21st century values and reformed societal beliefs on our "founding fathers" as you call them. The U.S. was one of the most civilized countries in the world when TJ was president and we still had freakin' slavery. One of the first things my very distinguished Ancient History professors told us was that he would ding us big time if we ever even made any comment that showed a modern bias in our writing or presentations.

[jcl2]

Would you go to a law school named in honor of a guy who said the following about Native Americans? (I'm assuming the school is named after the 3rd president)

"This unfortunate race, whom we had been taking so much pains to save and civilize, have by their unexpected desertion and ferocious barbarities justified extermination and now await our decision on their fate."

Wow some of our founding fathers were really genocidal assholes.

UGH! As a history major that comment just made me sick (yes, I am talking about your post, not the quote). Way to put our 21st century values and reformed societal beliefs on our "founding fathers" as you call them. The U.S. was one of the most civilized countries in the world when TJ was president and we still had freakin' slavery. One of the first things my very distinguished Ancient History professors told us was that he would ding us big time if we ever even made any comment that showed a modern bias in our writing or presentations.

I should have put the "founding fathers" in quotes too, I think it is somewhat silly.

I understand that it was a very different time, but I do not see the need for complete historical-cultural relativism. It is not possible, and I think not entirely necessary or productive, to completely divorce ones self from a modern understanding of morality or other biases when analyzing the past.

I think that the events and people of the early part of this country's history are often excessively glorified and the unpleasant details are usually left out. This quote is also an interesting example of how genocide has only very recently become universally unacceptable in Western European/American culture.

[SlipperyPete]

.

[iliketothinkiamcool]

On jdunderground I seem to recall a thread about a law firm that had two TJ graduates hired along with Stetson graduates and such. So I mean it is possible to get a job after you graduate from TJ, although I imagine you need to be ranked Top 10%?