Top Law Schools

Given that I am unable to attend any of them(figures with my luck), but am going to be able to visit all of my top choices...do you think missing those could negatively impact my decision? Or are they normally just more showy, social versions of individual visits?

I have heard that it doesn't matter at all

GULC and Cornell's were both incredibly fun. Can't speak for others but for me connecting with students and sitting in on classes was very helpful - essential no - but certainly will aid in my decision making process.

Sorry hijack the thread but I do have a question that is along the lines of the OP's. If you know where you are going, is it worth it to go to the school's open house?

Is your question about just ASDs or visiting at all? I wouldn't want to commit 3 years and thousands of dollars without seeing a place and experiencing it for myself, however, I don't think that necessarily has to be done on a ASD.

I've found all of the admitted students days that I've attended so far to be extremely helpful during my decision making process - you truly do get a sense of the school, and it's interesting to see the different things that the different law schools are emphasizing about their culture and curriculum. If you can't make it, though, then you can't make it, although it may be worthwhile to see if you can find people who attended the ASD's of the schools that you are considering (either on this site or elsewhere) and ask them about their experiences.

politics89 wrote:Is your question about just ASDs or visiting at all? I wouldn't want to commit 3 years and thousands of dollars without seeing a place and experiencing it for myself, however, I don't think that necessarily has to be done on a ASD.

What sort of things did you see that you found helpful? My thinking has basically been that even if, theoretically, a school is full of cutthroat assholes with horrible faculty, people are going to be behaving during ASDs. You're not really going to get a truly representative look at that stuff anyway. It's like a law school Potemkin village (or could be.) I mean, EVERY law school brags about how they're different; everyone is chill and friendly and happy to help each other.

My understanding is basically that the only factors worth considering in choosing a school are A) employment outcomes: do students from this school have a decent chance of getting the job you want, in the location you want? B) cost: can you attend without crippling yourself with insane debt? Nice facilities are great, but I can't see that stuff really swaying a decision.

TheSpanishMain wrote:

politics89 wrote:Is your question about just ASDs or visiting at all? I wouldn't want to commit 3 years and thousands of dollars without seeing a place and experiencing it for myself, however, I don't think that necessarily has to be done on a ASD.

What sort of things did you see that you found helpful? My thinking has basically been that even if, theoretically, a school is full of cutthroat assholes with horrible faculty, people are going to be behaving during ASDs. You're not really going to get a truly representative look at that stuff anyway. It's like a law school Potemkin village (or could be.) I mean, EVERY law school brags about how they're different; everyone is chill and friendly and happy to help each other.

My understanding is basically that the only factors worth considering in choosing a school are A) employment outcomes: do students from this school have a decent chance of getting the job you want, in the location you want? B) cost: can you attend without crippling yourself with insane debt? Nice facilities are great, but I can't see that stuff really swaying a decision.

Personal happiness greatly effects performance. Some people shut down in the winter/city/heat/country/etc. It also helps keep down debt if you can get an idea of what you will be paying in rent, flights, food etc. I wouldn't pick University of Hawaii over Yale, but there are plenty of reason, all things being the same, I might choose NYU over UChi, NU over Penn, or Duke over Berkeley.

politics89 wrote:Is your question about just ASDs or visiting at all? I wouldn't want to commit 3 years and thousands of dollars without seeing a place and experiencing it for myself, however, I don't think that necessarily has to be done on a ASD.

I visited all 3 of my final choice schools. Just not a single ASW. I figured if I couldn't attend one, that could skew things out of favor that way for something relatively minor. So I attended none.