Top Law Schools

Sorry if this has been posted before, but would you guys say it is better to be a big fish (top 5%) at a lower ranked school located in the city that you want to work in, or a little fish (bottom 50%) at a much better school not in the city you want to work in? I was having this conversation with my sister who is thinking of applying next year and trying to work in chicago, just for context

bgoodrick wrote:Sorry if this has been posted before, but would you guys say it is better to be a big fish (top 5%) at a lower ranked school located in the city that you want to work in, or a little fish (bottom 50%) at a much better school not in the city you want to work in? I was having this conversation with my sister who is thinking of applying next year and trying to work in chicago, just for context

Big Fish. No question.

It depends. If the little fish attends a T-14 school, then it's probably better than being top 5% at a lower ranked school. To get a more accurate answer, though, you should probably check out Chicago firms' websites to see what law schools most of their attorneys attended. If the firms have a lot of recent law school grads from local schools, then a local school might be OK. However, keep in mind that you can't predict how well you'll do in law school.

bgoodrick wrote:Sorry if this has been posted before, but would you guys say it is better to be a big fish (top 5%) at a lower ranked school located in the city that you want to work in, or a little fish (bottom 50%) at a much better school not in the city you want to work in? I was having this conversation with my sister who is thinking of applying next year and trying to work in chicago, just for context

For Chicago even Loyola/IIT/DePaul top 5% is better than non HYS-NW/UofC/Michigan T14 from

But below median at Cornell isn't getting top 5% even at a T2. So stop this TTT line of thinking.

The problem is that a person is just as likely to end up as the little fish in the little pond. The reason people go to high ranked schools is to hedge their bets because they know they are likely to be median no matter where they go. That being said, you can't underestimate the value of local schools for networking opportunities. Of course a lot of students just join a few student organizations and don't actually get out in the community to network.

dextermorgan wrote:The problem is that a person is just as likely to end up as the little fish in the little pond. The reason people go to high ranked schools is to hedge their bets because they know they are likely to be median no matter where they go. That being said, you can't underestimate the value of local schools for networking opportunities. Of course a lot of students just join a few student organizations and don't actually get out in the community to network.

This. Obviously, being top 5% at a strong regional school gives you great opportunities, but there's a roughly 95% chance you won't achieve it. The reason to go to a top school is that if 10-20 students in your class do better than you in your first year, you don't have to panic. Being at the median at a TT or TTT is almost a death sentence if you have $200K in debt. That's something to keep in mind when you are deciding between two options. Once you choose a school, your only goal is to work as hard as you can to be in the top 5% of whatever school you choose.