University of Iowa C/O 2017 Applicants Forum

[Nova]

Has anyone else even bothered applying?

The morale is high ITT

[typ3]

48.6% of Graduates employed at graduation with median public salary being 50k 60k for private industry.

http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandr ... iowa-03059

^^^I can assure you that of the numbers provided above, fewer than about 1/4 of those people are in "real" lawyer jobs with decent salaries.

You can't even quote right. Why should you be trusted?

This wouldn't surprise me though, I don't think the person is lying. He just sounds like someone that is a recent graduate.

[jttoplawschools93]

just applied w/ a fee waiver

[Snowboarder1588]

I just had a 2nd in review date change. Has anyone kept track of how many date changes they received prior to getting a decision?

[mx23250]

I just had a 2nd in review date change. Has anyone kept track of how many date changes they received prior to getting a decision?

I had my second in review date change today also. I believe I've been in review for 3-4 weeks at this point. Hopefully this means the decision is approaching...

[Frothingslosh]

Tuition is being dropped 16% for all (in-state/out-of-state) incoming students in Fall 2014. Could be an important consideration if you are pretty set on heading to Iowa.
http://now.uiowa.edu/2013/12/university ... 16-percent

[jac101689]

[typ3]

I still don't know if dropping tuition 16% justifies the employment rate of 48.6% of graduates finding any work. Flip of the coin to even get a positive ROI.

[Domke]

I still don't know if dropping tuition 16% justifies the employment rate of 48.6% of graduates finding any work. Flip of the coin to even get a positive ROI.

Where are you getting 48.6%? According to LST it's 70.8

http://www.lstscorereports.com/?school=iowa

[Snowboarder1588]

I still don't know if dropping tuition 16% justifies the employment rate of 48.6% of graduates finding any work. Flip of the coin to even get a positive ROI.

Where are you getting 48.6%? According to LST it's 70.8

http://www.lstscorereports.com/?school=iowa

I was wondering the same thing. According to prior posts, it seems like the 48.6% referrs to an average public employment income figure. Not a % of PI jobs, but a % of people acquiring a certain salary. Let's not confuse that with Iowa's actual employment score. They seem to me as one of a few schools that are actually trying to do things the right way; cutting class size, and reducing tuition while trying to maintain their standards. Let's not make this into a debate though, I'm sure there are other threads to do that.

[typ3]

The 48% is the number employed at graduation. I haven't heard of many from last year's class that have found much after not getting offered before graduation. I don't know of any graduates who think the actual number is 70%. Everyone agrees it is much lower. I addressed the CSO at Iowa numbers game in a different thread and the things the Dean and administration is doing to take in more student loan money.

Also, I don't really think the administration is doing things to benefit graduates. The school was quoted at the regents board as wanting to get enrollment back up to pre-recession levels. The only reason class sizes were cut is because 50% of the class is required by law to be Iowa residents. Class sizes are completely tethered to how many qualified instate students apply. The school is cutting tuition because of enrollment problems.

Neither addressing class sizes nor tuition at Iowa addresses the structural problems of the legal profession and hiring environment in this economy nor their problem as being a Top 30 school outside of a major metro to hire graduates. I'm not trying to rain on anyone's parade in this thread, but the hiring environment for last year's grads and 2014 graduates coming out of Iowa even as top 20% is a rough uphill battle. If you guys want more information on what hiring is actually like for graduates you're more than welcome to ask and myself as well as a few other TLSers on here can share their experiences. Just don't go to Iowa being naive there are a lot of highly qualified and high ranking individuals (top 20%) in my class that are striking out on jobs, just so future applicants know.

[Domke]

Almost every one on this forum understands the state the legal market is in, or if they don't they should.

I'm not sure what more a school can do except reduce tuition and class size. If all schools did that than the legal market would become more stable.

I don't think there are many careers any more that you will be hired before graduation. I am a nurse and supposedly there is a huge demand for nurses (I can't count how many times people told me this when I was in school) yet when I graduated none of us were employed. I was one of the few that was hired in the first three months. When I went to open houses, where hospitals interviewed for new nurses, there was literally hundreds of new graduates applying for one or two jobs. This is the new world we live in now.

[typ3]

Almost every one on this forum understands the state the legal market is in, or if they don't they should.

I'm not sure what more a school can do except reduce tuition and class size. If all schools did that than the legal market would become more stable.

I don't think there are many careers any more that you will be hired before graduation. I am a nurse and supposedly there is a huge demand for nurses (I can't count how many times people told me this when I was in school) yet when I graduated none of us were employed. I was one of the few that was hired in the first three months. When I went to open houses, where hospitals interviewed for new nurses, there was literally hundreds of new graduates applying for one or two jobs. This is the new world we live in now.

I would contend that the market for new lawyers is worse than nurses. At least in heath care you have growing demand, third party payors, an ability to raise rates, and the work can't be outsourced.

In law there is no third party payor and you have slack demand with increasingly commoditized prices, outsourcing, displacement due to software and automation software. I am curious to know your angle of doing nursing + JD. I'm not really sure what the exit is for that other than going back to where you're working now. If that is the case, wouldn't doing something like picking up an MHA/MBA be better?

There is a big difference between there being too many nurses looking to work. Versus too many lawyers looking for work plus structural and disruptive changes that are killing demand / how services are provided.

[Domke]

Without going into to much detail, I want to do healthcare law, primarily trial work. The thing about the healthcare field is that your pay only depends on how long you have been working. I am a floor supervisor and I make less than somebody who works below me because they have been here 2 years more than me. I could go into management (MHA/MBA) but the thing is those people drive up the cost of healthcare without improving care. They are the reason healthcare is becoming so expensive. Where I work I am certain you could get rid of half of management without any decrease in care provided. Hospitals are now more about making money than providing care and I cannot become part of that and maintain my moral integrity (funny thing for a future lawyer to say).

If you have any more ?'s PM me. This isn't really the place for this conversation though I love talking about it.

[typ3]

All businesses, even law firms operate to make money- that's sort of the reason why people work and people in those businesses normally have a fiduciary duty to maximize profits. The practice of law is entirely about arguing over money. Usually this means that the paying jobs in the field are those that work to help keep the privileged and monied in power. So, if you don't like the fact that wealthy hospital executives are paid a lot for doing very little I don't see how this will change once you have a JD.

If you want to get paid doing "healthcare law" which I assume you mean medmal or health insurance work, the people who normally make the money are defense attorneys who are usually just as inefficient and work to preserve and maintain the status quo of inefficiency and privileged bloat. You should note that there really isn't a field such a thing as "healthcare law" per se. Normally you'll do tort and insurance work and have a healthcare provider as a client. Or, if you're working at a hospital you're going to do compliance / employment / contract / m&a work (depending on the consolidation in your home market)

Seems like your reasons for wanting to go to law school are idealistic. If you want to make more money then you need to either get into management at a company or move into sales. The problems and issues you discuss are going to be the same and or worse in law.

Also, regarding trial work, hardly any cases go to trial anymore- it's pretty much a joke. Almost everything settles. Normally if you're on the defense side you settle the good cases against you and try to bad cases (poor liability, causation etc.) No hospital network is going to let a case go to trial where there is considerable exposure. But this point is pretty moot considering in most states there is now limited liability for doctors and caps on pain and suffering for medical malpractice. The days of large verdicts for med mal are pretty much over with.

[BentleyLittle]

In with full tuition

[ThePiedPiper]

In with full tuition

Congratulations on the acceptance.

[Chriz]

Accepted with full scholarship.

[chneyo]

...

[jac101689]

So, I'm a bit confused. I was admitted on 11/27, but I still haven't gotten scholarship info. Do you think this is their way of saying "sorry, but at least we're reducing tuition?"

~3.4, 165, btw.

[Winston1984]

So, I'm a bit confused. I was admitted on 11/27, but I still haven't gotten scholarship info. Do you think this is their way of saying "sorry, but at least we're reducing tuition?"

~3.4, 165, btw.

I'm sure you'll get money, I'd just wait.

[workaholic82]

Same thing here. In 12/05, got an e-mail about the reduced tuition and two letters of congratulation in the mail today, but no scholarship info...

[Frothingslosh]

Also, the Iowa Bar Association Board of Governors just approved recommendation to drop the MBE in favor of the UBE (portable in 14 states) as well as allowing admittance to the Iowa bar without taking the state bar exam.

typ3 brought up some obviously good points that the tuition drop and similar moves shouldn't be seen as an altruistic effort on the school's part to do good by their students, but if you're already seriously considering Iowa/want to practice there, these are some fairly nice things to have on the table.

[isuperserial]

Just received my acceptance!

[JDByron31]

Just received my acceptance!

Just checking in!

When did you submit/go complete? And did you get your acceptance through e-mail or status checker (or snail-mail)? Sorry for the many questions, haha.