Top Law Schools

I was offered 14k per year at Saint Louis. Is that worth it when I've been accepted at Denver? Should I be interested?

Here's the response you're going to be receiving (a lot):

Do you want to practice in St. Louis or Denver? Both schools are regional and place well in their respective markets, but are very limited outside of those markets. It's your call.

sluguy14 wrote:Here's the response you're going to be receiving (a lot):

Do you want to practice in St. Louis or Denver? Both schools are regional and place well in their respective markets, but are very limited outside of those markets. It's your call.

That's what Im asking, basically: will graduating of St. Louis get me a good job?

scionb4 wrote:

sluguy14 wrote:Here's the response you're going to be receiving (a lot):

Do you want to practice in St. Louis or Denver? Both schools are regional and place well in their respective markets, but are very limited outside of those markets. It's your call.

That's what Im asking, basically: will graduating of St. Louis get me a good job?

short answer, no. outside of graduating in the top 10%, you are likely shut out of big law. then again, i would say the same for denver.

chadwick218 wrote:

scionb4 wrote:

sluguy14 wrote:Here's the response you're going to be receiving (a lot):

Do you want to practice in St. Louis or Denver? Both schools are regional and place well in their respective markets, but are very limited outside of those markets. It's your call.

That's what Im asking, basically: will graduating of St. Louis get me a good job?

short answer, no. outside of graduating in the top 10%, you are likely shut out of big law. then again, i would say the same for denver.

I have 0% interest in Big Law. I'm going public interest or the prosecuter's office.

scionb4 wrote:

chadwick218 wrote:

scionb4 wrote:

sluguy14 wrote:Here's the response you're going to be receiving (a lot):

Do you want to practice in St. Louis or Denver? Both schools are regional and place well in their respective markets, but are very limited outside of those markets. It's your call.

That's what Im asking, basically: will graduating of St. Louis get me a good job?

short answer, no. outside of graduating in the top 10%, you are likely shut out of big law. then again, i would say the same for denver.

I have 0% interest in Big Law. I'm going public interest or the prosecuter's office.

It matters less then, but in this economy, even a job in a local prosecutor's office is very hard to come by. Most municipalities / states have razor thin budgets and have really cut back in this area.

yeah, but "good" doesn't necessarily equate to BigLaw. Surprisingly enough to the TLS community, a lot of law students (and potential students) don't want to go into BigLaw and see other alternatives as much more desirable.

I'm not an expert on Denver by any means, but I can tell you that SLU has a very favorable position in the St. Louis market. The alumni network is huge and doesn't have a lot of competition (many WUSTL grads choose to practice elsewhere). I'm not saying that you're going to be making six figures in a posh office straight out of law school, but you'll find a decent job. And if you can manage to get a scholarship (SLU tends to be fairly generous), that might sweeten the deal a bit. But again, its your call based on which city/area you'd rather be in. Neither school gives you a good shot at BigLaw, but both schools can provide decent (or even "good") work after graduation.

EDIT: OP beat me to it with not wanting BigLaw. And you might also consider negotiating your scholarship at SLU depending on what other schools give you.

sluguy14 wrote:yeah, but "good" doesn't necessarily equate to BigLaw. Surprisingly enough to the TLS community, a lot of law students (and potential students) don't want to go into BigLaw and see other alternatives as much more desirable.

I'm not an expert on Denver by any means, but I can tell you that SLU has a very favorable position in the St. Louis market. The alumni network is huge and doesn't have a lot of competition (many WUSTL grads choose to practice elsewhere). I'm not saying that you're going to be making six figures in a posh office straight out of law school, but you'll find a decent job. And if you can manage to get a scholarship (SLU tends to be fairly generous), that might sweeten the deal a bit. But again, its your call based on which city/area you'd rather be in. Neither school gives you a good shot at BigLaw, but both schools can provide decent (or even "good") work after graduation.

I don't want to make that much $. I have no desire for it.

I will concur that SLU has a very favorable position in the St. Louis market. In placment, they clearly have Mizzou beat out (which still strikes me as odd).

chadwick218 wrote:I will concur that SLU has a very favorable position in the St. Louis market. In placment, they clearly have Mizzou beat out (which still strikes me as odd).

No kidding. I wonder why?

chadwick218 wrote:I will concur that SLU has a very favorable position in the St. Louis market. In placment, they clearly have Mizzou beat out (which still strikes me as odd).

48% of attorneys in St Louis... went to St Louis.

scionb4 wrote:

chadwick218 wrote:I will concur that SLU has a very favorable position in the St. Louis market. In placment, they clearly have Mizzou beat out (which still strikes me as odd).

No kidding. I wonder why?

This is puzzling b/c on a #'s basis, Mizzou is a little bit harder to get into than SLU. Looking at placement statistics, mizzou seems to place far better in KC than STL, but placement statistics in STL were pretty abysmal. perhaps this is b/c of self-selection.

chadwick218 wrote:

scionb4 wrote:

chadwick218 wrote:I will concur that SLU has a very favorable position in the St. Louis market. In placment, they clearly have Mizzou beat out (which still strikes me as odd).

No kidding. I wonder why?

This is puzzling b/c on a #'s basis, Mizzou is a little bit harder to get into than SLU. Looking at placement statistics, mizzou seems to place far better in KC than STL, but placement statistics in STL were pretty abysmal. perhaps this is b/c of self-selection.

I really do think it is partially self selection. But you have to remember that there are only 4 schools in MO:

Saint Louis does quite well in St Louis. And it isn't bad in the rest of the state, just not viewed the way Mizzou is. It's worth noting that Saint Louis sees itself as THE school for Saint Louis. They know that most Wash U folks leave town, and they have a bigger network in StL than Mizzou.

UMKC does better than you might think in KC, as they are the only school there, and does okay throughout the rest of the state.

Wash U is the only school with a pseudo-national reach. Most of them don't end up in MO. But the ones that do usually stay in StL. And they generally do very well in StL.

Mizzou really is the school to go to for most of MO. They have a strong network throughout the state and really try to take care of each other. Only downside is that I don't think they associate/integrate quite as well with other schools in general. There are drawbacks to mainly taking care of your own too.