Should I give up on T6? Forum

[ihenry]

Well yeah, but a university's reputation is more or less represented by, or at least tied to, its undergrad reputation. When lay people say University A is better than University B, they often really mean University A is ranked higher than University B in terms of its undergrad quality. Especially for foreigners, most people are not really made aware of various law or borderline law related programs in U.S. (believe it or not, criminal justice, pre law and legal studies are American "law majors" to a great many Chinese people, and we are talking about academics in top tier universities in large cities, holding PhD's in their respective non-law fields). There are occasions where a university makes one of its programs so prestigious that it trumps its overall university ranking, like CMU in the field of CS, and to a lesser extent, NYU in the field of business, but while an NYU JD is impressive, to say that it overshadows its relatively weak undergrad (and hence "overall") ranking is still a bit farfetched. Granted, all these are volatile and subjective and might ve silly, but that's how things in many places work. I'm really of the opinion that T6 is a solid tier for employment in the U.S., but T5 is really for internationals to consider.

[BizBro]

Well yeah, but a university's reputation is more or less represented by, or at least tied to, its undergrad reputation. When lay people say University A is better than University B, they often really mean University A is ranked higher than University B in terms of its undergrad quality. Especially for foreigners, most people are not really made aware of various law or borderline law related programs in U.S. (believe it or not, criminal justice, pre law and legal studies are American "law majors" to a great many Chinese people, and we are talking about academics in top tier universities in large cities, holding PhD's in their respective non-law fields). There are occasions where a university makes one of its programs so prestigious that it trumps its overall university ranking, like CMU in the field of CS, and to a lesser extent, NYU in the field of business, but while an NYU JD is impressive, to say that it overshadows its relatively weak undergrad (and hence "overall") ranking is still a bit farfetched. Granted, all these are volatile and subjective and might ve silly, but that's how things in many places work. I'm really of the opinion that T6 is a solid tier for employment in the U.S., but T5 is really for internationals to consider.

This would be wrong. Maybe Columbia, but Chicago wouldn't necessarily have this international lay-person branding you speak of.

[buntort]

ihenry, aren't you a fucking 0L? Maybe you should hold off on giving us your enlightened opinions about how legal hiring works, at least until you've stepped foot inside a law school classroom.

[BizBro]

ihenry, aren't you a fucking 0L? Maybe you should hold off on giving us your enlightened opinions about how legal hiring works, at least until you've stepped foot inside a law school classroom.

[ihenry]

where did I talk about how legal hiring works?

[A. Nony Mouse]

Presumably the only reason why a law school's prestige matters at all is for legal hiring.

[buntort]

where did I talk about how legal hiring works?

I'm really of the opinion that T6 is a solid tier for employment in the U.S., but T5 is really for internationals to consider.

I can tell you're going to excel in law school.

[ihenry]

Yes, I was talking about prestige, but that's at most partly related to the employment prospect, still not how the hiring works. Nice try.

[ihenry]

Presumably the only reason why a law school's prestige matters at all is for legal hiring.

Also useful in impressing your friends, pleasing your parents and, oftentimes, when you switch career.

[buntort]

Yes, I was talking about prestige, but that's at most partly related to the employment prospect, still not how the hiring works. Nice try.

You sure showed me. Boy do I look like a fool.

[Tiago Splitter]

Presumably the only reason why a law school's prestige matters at all is for legal hiring.

TBF OP said he is concerned because he wants to be a politician in his home country. Otherwise I agree that lay prestige is generally overrated when we're talking about the ability to get a legal job elsewhere. People doing legal hiring aren't lay people.

[A. Nony Mouse]

Presumably the only reason why a law school's prestige matters at all is for legal hiring.

Also useful in impressing your friends, pleasing your parents and, oftentimes, when you switch career.

I'll give you that occasionally it matters if you switch careers (but I suspect its importance is inversely related to your actual pertinent skills for the new career), but as for the rest, eh.

[kingpin101]

Presumably the only reason why a law school's prestige matters at all is for legal hiring.

Also useful in impressing your friends, pleasing your parents and, oftentimes, when you switch career.

You egregiously forgot to mention its usefulness in getting laid.

[BizBro]

Presumably the only reason why a law school's prestige matters at all is for legal hiring.

Also useful in impressing your friends, pleasing your parents and, oftentimes, when you switch career.

You egregiously forgot to mention its usefulness in getting laid.

THis only works when you drop dat H bomb

[ObiWahooKenobi]

Divergence, focus on LSAT. Even as a 3.5, you can get in if you do well on LSAT. Columbia's avg. GPA is 3.68, so you wouldn't be pulling it down much. NYU not too different. Plus, it's easier to find 3.8+'s than 171+'s, so focus there and keep your chin up even if you can't change your grades. You will be able to explain yourself and situation in your applications, too.

[divergence]

Divergence, focus on LSAT. Even as a 3.5, you can get in if you do well on LSAT. Columbia's avg. GPA is 3.68, so you wouldn't be pulling it down much. NYU not too different. Plus, it's easier to find 3.8+'s than 171+'s, so focus there and keep your chin up even if you can't change your grades. You will be able to explain yourself and situation in your applications, too.

Thank you for your encouraging comment. I'll study my head off for the LSAT

[Mack.Hambleton]

ihenry, aren't you a fucking 0L? Maybe you should hold off on giving us your enlightened opinions about how legal hiring works, at least until you've stepped foot inside a law school classroom.

Why are you so mad hothead

[dumdeedum]

.

[Tiago Splitter]

Yup internationally nyu isn't a thing

Internationally meaning Europe or Asia? My roommate is an attorney in my current country. She has confirmed that people hiring in law in Vietnam, Japan, Taiwan, and Korea think of NYU as a humongous deal.

That's because people hiring in law around the world know the general strengths of American law schools.

[jbagelboy]

Yup internationally nyu isn't a thing

Internationally meaning Europe or Asia? My roommate is an attorney in my current country. She has confirmed that people hiring in law in Vietnam, Japan, Taiwan, and Korea think of NYU as a humongous deal.

That's because people hiring in law around the world know the general strengths of American law schools.

That also highlights the irony here in this 0L's pronouncements; NYU is arguably better regarded internationally than the warped high school virgin juniors-before-their-AP Calc BC-exam mindset that typifies this subset of the TLS demographic.

[ihenry]

Yup internationally nyu isn't a thing

Internationally meaning Europe or Asia? My roommate is an attorney in my current country. She has confirmed that people hiring in law in Vietnam, Japan, Taiwan, and Korea think of NYU as a humongous deal.

That's because people hiring in law around the world know the general strengths of American law schools.

Yes, in any case NYU is a very respectable school. It's just that when talking to foreigners especially in non-legal fields, you may be getting more nods (or compliments, etc.) from Columbia than their difference in employment outcomes (if any) would warrant.

ETA: in case anyone still takes issue with the fact that I'm a 0L: I'm just referring to the responses I got when I was chit-chatting with people in my country regarding the schools I'm considering. In my humble opinion, this is relevant to OP's situation and probably does not have much to do with whether I've been to a law school classroom or not.

[jbagelboy]

Yup internationally nyu isn't a thing

Internationally meaning Europe or Asia? My roommate is an attorney in my current country. She has confirmed that people hiring in law in Vietnam, Japan, Taiwan, and Korea think of NYU as a humongous deal.

That's because people hiring in law around the world know the general strengths of American law schools.

Yes, in any case NYU is a very respectable school. It's just that when talking to foreigners especially in non-legal fields, you are likely getting more nods (or compliments, etc.) from Columbia than their difference in employment outcomes (if any) would warrant.

That might be true, but this is sort of a mellow walk-back. Besides, it's the reasoning that's troubling more than the result.

I take back my "0L" throw-away. It was unnecessary.