Top Law Schools

Could someone direct me to, or assist me in creating a thread dedicated to discussion of all three of the Washington schools admissions, top-law-schools.com, experiences, job market after graduation, etc? I'm in the process of studying for a retake this October and want to get as best of feel for all of these schools and what they have to offer from a student's/prospect's perspective. Thanks!

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Here are my thoughts on these schools:

UW is obviously the number one law school in the state. It competes with T14 grads for the few biglaw jobs in seattle. It places some grads in govt jobs down in Olympia and and a few in midlaw jobs in Seattle and Tacoma. It is the state's flagship school so I'm sure it sends some grads over the mountains.

Seattle University is an expensive school in an expensive city. The tippy top grads get good gigs, but the vast majority get little to nothing. Their alumni network is supposedly pretty strong. A lot of grads seem to go solo or work in small law firms.

Gonzaga is an expensive school in a less expensive city. I prefer Gonzaga over SU because it has less competition for jobs. Few UW or T14 grads are going to want to come to Spokane. It places virtually no students in biglaw. The top students get midlaw jobs in Spokane or Boise.

These opinions are probably not 100 percent accurate. I'm from WA state and these are just the first thoughts that popped into my head.

Also, I think all these schools are pretty stingy with scholarship money. I had higher #'s than UW's medians and didn't get anything. I got less than a half ride from SU and Gonzaga, but got full-rides from schools ranked much higher than them.

El_Gallo wrote:Here are my thoughts on these schools:

UW is obviously the number one law school in the state. It competes with T14 grads for the few biglaw jobs in seattle. It places some grads in govt jobs down in Olympia and and a few in midlaw jobs in Seattle and Tacoma. It is the state's flagship school so I'm sure it sends some grads over the mountains.

Seattle University is an expensive school in an expensive city. The tippy top grads get good gigs, but the vast majority get little to nothing. There alumni network is supposedly pretty strong. A lot of grads seem to go solo or work in small law firms.

Gonzaga is an expensive school in a less expensive city. I prefer Gonzaga over SU because it has less competition for jobs. Few UW or T14 grads are going to want to come to Spokane. It places virtually no students in biglaw. The top students get midlaw jobs in Spokane or Boise.

These opinions are probably not 100 percent accurate. I'm from WA state and these are just the first thoughts that popped into my head.

Seems pretty accurate. There is more competition at SU because fewer people get firm jobs than at UW, and SU scholarships supposedly have class rank stipulations. Not to say SU doesn't place into big firms, there are plenty of SU grads out there, firms just tend to go deeper into the UW class. Gonzaga sounds like it feeds well into Eastern WA, but it also sounds like if you have good ties or interest in Eastern WA coming out of UW and SU you will be able to get a job on the east side.

I am at UW now and I would say it has a very collegial atmosphere, easy to make friends and everyone is great about helping each other when it comes to notes from missed classes, building outlines, studying, etc. There is also a great social scene and the school really helps facilitate that with events.

I would also affirm that UW is stingy with scholarship money, but they will give out scholarships if you have the right numbers and leverage your other offers.

Can't really speak to Gonzaga's Law School, but GU (undergrad at least) is very well respected in the inland NW/Northern Rockies (Eastern WA, ID, and Western MT). Spokane's COL is very, very low as well

What you guys have said is exactly what I've been reading elsewhere too in terms of the ranking of those three schools, UW, GU, then SU. What is it about SU that draws people there given the tuition being so high, the cutthroat attitude I've heard is characteristic of all their students, the harsh curve on which they're graded, AND the horrible job prospects? Just doesn't make sense, besides their supposed renowned legal writing program, what's so good about SU? Not denouncing it by any means, just trying to make sense of it if I'm going to seriously consider it.

The whole atmosphere/collegiate scene you guys describe is in large part what draws me to UW as a first choice (aside from it's being the top school in the Northwest for the numerous other reasons). What were your guys' numbers who were admitted to UW? And could you describe the scholarship situation in a little more detail as to what other schools offered opposed to UW? Was that why you chose not to attend, if you did indeed decide to go elsewhere?

If it came down to it, I'd gladly pay sticker for UW, it's always been a dream to attend and Seattle is where I plan to be for the rest of my life. Had even asked if they had early decision options but unfortunately don't. Is this the right mindset for a number one choice school? How do you guys figure grads from other schools like Minnesota or Wisconsin would fare in the Seattle market?

HuskyHopeful1 wrote:What you guys have said is exactly what I've been reading elsewhere too in terms of the ranking of those three schools, UW, GU, then SU. What is it about SU that draws people there given the tuition being so high, the cutthroat attitude I've heard is characteristic of all their students, the harsh curve on which they're graded, AND the horrible job prospects? Just doesn't make sense, besides their supposed renowned legal writing program, what's so good about SU? Not denouncing it by any means, just trying to make sense of it if I'm going to seriously consider it.

The whole atmosphere/collegiate scene you guys describe is in large part what draws me to UW as a first choice (aside from it's being the top school in the Northwest for the numerous other reasons). What were your guys' numbers who were admitted to UW? And could you describe the scholarship situation in a little more detail as to what other schools offered opposed to UW? Was that why you chose not to attend, if you did indeed decide to go elsewhere?

If it came down to it, I'd gladly pay sticker for UW, it's always been a dream to attend and Seattle is where I plan to be for the rest of my life. Had even asked if they had early decision options but unfortunately don't. Is this the right mindset for a number one choice school? How do you guys figure grads from other schools like Minnesota or Wisconsin would fare in the Seattle market?

My guess would be that most people really want to live in Seattle or do not want to leave Seattle. IME, lots of Westsiders could never imagine crossing the cascades

There is also a great social scene and the school really helps facilitate that with events.

Does anyone know if Gonzaga graduates have luck getting employment (not necessarily big law - any employment at all) in the Seattle area? I have family in Seattle and it's on my long list of cities where I'd enjoy living. I don't have the numbers to get a scholarship at UW and it would be a mild reach to even get in. Please don't just advice me to retake the LSAT - that's already on my mind!

lnh819 wrote:Does anyone know if Gonzaga graduates have luck getting employment (not necessarily big law - any employment at all) in the Seattle area? I have family in Seattle and it's on my long list of cities where I'd enjoy living. I don't have the numbers to get a scholarship at UW and it would be a mild reach to even get in. Please don't just advice me to retake the LSAT - that's already on my mind!

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Only 56% of Gonzaga grads securing full-time, bar-required jobs 9 months after graduation.

UW is definitely stingy with scholarship money, but keep in mind that if you're in-state you'll pay half of what you'd pay for sticker at a T-14.