I have taken a law school exam but I haven't taken one in Law school (parent was a former law professor). I wasn't implying the OP was going to be top 15% but they seemed pretty sure of themselves and their performance despite their mediocre numbers.chrisbru wrote:This is completely incorrect. Top 30% at Iowa will leave you much better employment prospects than top 15% at UNL. Top 30% at Iowa means potential for jobs in Chicago, with many options in Des Moines, St. Louis, Kansas City, and Minneapolis. Top 15% at UNL means... Lincoln? Omaha? Sioux Falls?typ3 wrote:
I don't understand the criticisms you've made in the last few threads. You seem really jaded.
You can take it as an insult or a compliment. If the average student at UNL is of lower acumen than the average student at Iowa, then yes, you would be more competitive at UNL.
While LSAT & GPA are not entirely indicative of law school performance, they are the BEST indicators of performance. It's up to you, but I personally would attend a school where I know I could without a doubt be top 15%
Coming out of Iowa top 30% would get you less attractive employment prospects than being top 15% at UNL.
PS - There is not a single school where any of us can "without a doubt be top 15%". Don't kid yourself, there are no guarantees. You've NEVER taken a law school exam, so how can you possibly say that "without a doubt"?
However, top 15% at UNL will get you over 100k starting in Omaha or Lincoln at a midsize firm or a midsize KC or Denver.
UNL doesn't place well in Sioux Falls but neither does Iowa that's pretty much dominated by USD same being said for Sioux City.
Iowa doesn't have great Minneapolis placement, that area is dominated by UofM, Hamline, Billy Mitchell, and St. Thomas, and right now it is saturated beyond belief- go check out the disgruntled WM & Ham grad threads in the employment forum. If you take the top 15% at all those schools and throw them into the market in Minneapolis there isn't much room for Iowa grads to come in- especially one who is only top 30%. It's even worse since you're competing against kids from Wisconsin who do place well in Minneapolis.
Also, top 30% won't get you a job in Chicago unless you plan on going small law- but even then it wouldn't matter where you went to school since small law isn't selective. Because that market is saturated with lawyers the way it is, you're not getting into the door at an upper level firm without having been top 10-15% at Iowa with solid WE / LR, there are way too many laid off lawyers and local grads there competing for positions.
When talking about regional schools, it doesn't matter where you go as much as how well you do. Firms out side of Iowa and Nebraska are going to look at your rank and involvement to determine whether they will offer you the job. Top 15% at UNL will get you law review. Top 30% at Iowa won't. You are already disadvantaging yourself.
Don't forget that most of the legal world doesn't cater to USNews rankings- the section that does isn't going to employ you anyway since you didn't go to HYS or CCN. Go somewhere you can stand out. The reasoning I hear from nearly all lawyers is, I went to (insert rank 15-50 school here) but it didn't matter. You all use the same damn case books.
Here's an analogy. If you graduate for Harvard undergrad with a 3.4 and someone else graduates from your local state school with a 3.8 + leadership involvement which one is a more attractive candidate for law schools assuming both have the same LSAT score (both pass the state bar)?
