Top Law Schools

I got into Yale, Harvard, and NYU’s LLM programs. I also got into UC Berkeley’s JSP PhD, UChi’s Ph.D Political Science Program, and Yale’s Ph.D in Law Program.

I’m selecting UC Berkeley’s JSP Program because of a combination of reasons: academic interests, tenure track placement, flexibility, and location. I ultimately want to be a law professor.

Here are my numbers:

Attended T1 Law School (Vandy,UCLA, UT Austin range, not T14).
On Journal, but not law review.
Did Moot Court, but dropped out after I got class credit.
GPA: 3.858
Also, I have a masters degree in public policy from high ranking public policy school.

Here is some other potentially useful info: I developed really close relationships with 3 professors, 2 of which are really big deals in their respective legal fields. I got great LORs from them.

I wrote a great personal statement and research agenda (some programs combine the two, others don’t). I had several professors read them I painstakingly crafted them and went through several drafts.

I also had a very refined/polished writing sample that I wrote in a legal seminar. (I didn’t use my note because it sucked). I also tied my writing sample to my research agenda and how it related to the work of several faculty members at the programs I applied to.

In addition, although I put a ton of work into my application materials, I still procrastinated and send my applications in hours/minutes before the deadline (don’t make this bonehead mistake). However, my key takeaway based on my acceptances is that there is no rolling in process.

Hope this info helps potential applicants!

Are you required to pay tuition and/or fees for any of the programs to which you were accepted ?

you should go to yale for the PhD. Not even sure this is a close call. Maybe Chicago if you want to do more quant stuff.

Qtc wrote: ↑

Tue Apr 12, 2022 2:10 pm

you should go to yale for the PhD. Not even sure this is a close call. Maybe Chicago if you want to do more quant stuff.

I agree, what's OP's reasoning for choosing UCB's PhD?

PhD (or equivalent) programs are the exception to the rule that you don’t pick a law school based on the faculty. It may be that UCB has the better faculty in what the OP wants to write about, which is hugely important. Berkeley’s JSP program is also a lot older and has more of a track record than Yale’s PhD law program, which is tiny and may not fit the OP’s interests (there’s also a school of thought out there that law doesn’t really have an academic methodology and is a weird thing to get a PhD in).

And they also referenced tenure-track placement, which is also incredibly important. I’m sure Yale doesn’t have a bad track record, but again, it’s newer and tiny, so harder to compare.

nixy wrote: ↑

Tue Apr 12, 2022 2:39 pm

PhD (or equivalent) programs are the exception to the rule that you don’t pick a law school based on the faculty. It may be that UCB has the better faculty in what the OP wants to write about, which is hugely important. Berkeley’s JSP program is also a lot older and has more of a track record than Yale’s PhD law program, which is tiny and may not fit the OP’s interests (there’s also a school of thought out there that law doesn’t really have an academic methodology and is a weird thing to get a PhD in).

And they also referenced tenure-track placement, which is also incredibly important. I’m sure Yale doesn’t have a bad track record, but again, it’s newer and tiny, so harder to compare.

Sure, but UChi's PS PhD is still prob better than UCB JSP. In any event, OP, did you have any publications? If so, where (besides your note in the non-LR journal)?

Jchance wrote: ↑

Tue Apr 12, 2022 2:45 pm

nixy wrote: ↑

Tue Apr 12, 2022 2:39 pm

PhD (or equivalent) programs are the exception to the rule that you don’t pick a law school based on the faculty. It may be that UCB has the better faculty in what the OP wants to write about, which is hugely important. Berkeley’s JSP program is also a lot older and has more of a track record than Yale’s PhD law program, which is tiny and may not fit the OP’s interests (there’s also a school of thought out there that law doesn’t really have an academic methodology and is a weird thing to get a PhD in).

And they also referenced tenure-track placement, which is also incredibly important. I’m sure Yale doesn’t have a bad track record, but again, it’s newer and tiny, so harder to compare.

Sure, but UChi's PS PhD is still prob better than UCB JSP. In any event, OP, did you have any publications? If so, where (besides your note in the non-LR journal)?

Sure, if you want to do PS (and probably hard core quant PS) rather than the interdisciplinary thing that JSP is going to be. Better is relative here.