Top Law Schools

Here is my list. I sent my apps last week. Law school predictor has me listed as considers or weak considers at every school on my list but Illinois, W&M and W&L. Anybody want to ease my mind a bit?

Case Western Reserve
University of Illinois
University of Mississippi
Northeastern University
Seattle University
Temple University
University of Utah
Washington and Lee University
William and Mary

BTW, my safe school, Mississippi, only has me listed as a consider. Was it safe enough?

Thanks,
Micah

It's going to be really tough to say. The military experience will be a boost, but it's almost impossible to quantify how much.

fwlan wrote:Here is my list. I sent my apps last week. Law school predictor has me listed as considers or weak considers at every school on my list but Illinois, W&M and W&L. Anybody want to ease my mind a bit?

Case Western Reserve
University of Illinois
University of Mississippi
Northeastern University
Seattle University
Temple University
University of Utah
Washington and Lee University
William and Mary

BTW, my safe school, Mississippi, only has me listed as a consider. Was it safe enough?

Thanks,
Micah

If you apply to enough considers, its fairly safe to say you'll get in 1. The military thing helps. Its probably the biggest boost outside of being a URM. Look at lawschoolnumbers.com and see if you can find a numbers twin whose in the military.

Curious, why are you going to law school?

You are in at Ole Miss.

I'm looking for a school with a strong international program to make use of the experience I already have in the military. I am planning on becoming a Judge Advocate.

It will be interesting to watch how this plays out. With the exceptions of W&M, W&L, and UIUC, I think that you stand a pretty decent shot at the other schools. Are you a resident of either Illinois or Virginia? Make some visits to these schools to let them know that you are really interested.

I'm a Utah resident. I'm actually torn between Utah (fledgling international program that is now heavily involved with issues in Iraq and Afghanistan) Temple, and Case. (Both of whom have top 20 international programs.) But I'll see where I get accepted and probably come back at y'all for advice then. Law schools are always just so "apply and see what happens" about their application process that it can be nerve wracking and financially draining to drop the $70 per application or so. TG for fee waivers.

Sup...fellow veteran here and we're pretty much the same age too. I have a suggestion that makes sense to me at least, if you are willing to go to Ole Miss I'm pretty sure you'd be open to going to LSU. LSP has you as a Consider (52% chance).

I'd recommend LSU because they make you take both Common and Civil Law classes and, if I'm not mistaken, most of Europe uses Civil Law. That might be beneficial for your desired career path I believe, then again I'm not sure how much JAGs need to know about Civil Law.

At the very least it's another decent school you'd have a shot at...good luck.

Thanks everyone. We'll see how it all plays out. I'll have to take a look at LSU. Thanks again.

fwlan wrote:I'm looking for a school with a strong international program to make use of the experience I already have in the military. I am planning on becoming a Judge Advocate.

Is the military paying for your education?

Drake014 wrote:

fwlan wrote:I'm looking for a school with a strong international program to make use of the experience I already have in the military. I am planning on becoming a Judge Advocate.

Is the military paying for your education?

I know they're not paying for mine! I do have some GI Bill left though Anyhow, Drake...it's been a while, hope you are enjoying Boalt!

The military will pay for law school for officers who have four or more years of commissioned experience. Other than that I don't think they do. But yes, there is the GI Bill.

Drake014 wrote:If you apply to enough considers, its fairly safe to say you'll get in 1.

ha, I like this reasoning.
fwiw, I'm only applying to considers, weak considers, and denies.

Predictions:
Case Western Reserve - In
University of Illinois - Out
University of Mississippi - In
Northeastern University - WL or Out
Seattle University - In
Temple University - Out
University of Utah - Out
Washington and Lee - Out or WL
William and Mary - WL

33 y/o black male veteran in at W&M with worse numbers than yours. I think you would have had a shot at all of those schools as a vet if you had have applied early in the cycle. Right now I'm not sure. I got a URM boost, but not much of one. The GPA is negated at a non-traditional candidate unless you just recently graduated. The rest depends on how you tell your story. I put together a pristine application and I have an MBA so I think a lot depends on how you tell your story with your package. Good Luck.

BTW I've never heard of a program where the military pays for law school unless your still in, and then they take maybe 6 people a year.

mhernton wrote:33 y/o black male veteran in at W&M with worse numbers than yours. I think you would have had a shot at all of those schools as a vet if you had have applied early in the cycle. Right now I'm not sure. I got a URM boost, but not much of one. The GPA is negated at a non-traditional candidate unless you just recently graduated. The rest depends on how you tell your story. I put together a pristine application and I have an MBA so I think a lot depends on how you tell your story with your package. Good Luck.

Totally different scenario then. ... not to say the OP doesn't have a decent shot at W&M. I think he does.

mhernton wrote: BTW I've never heard of a program where the military pays for law school unless your still in, and then they take maybe 6 people a year.

Agreed, I am a commissioned officer with 4+ years and the only program that will pay for law school in the Navy is the Law Education Program and it is super competitive and you have to start law school prior to the start of your 6th year of service. I believe the other services have similar programs.

As I recall, the AF and Army have similar programs. The MC said something about giving $7000 per year, but that sounds suspiciously close to reserve drill pay, so I am guessing that was what the recruiter was referring to.

Update:
No idea how uch my softs factored into their decisions, but:

Seattle U: in
Mississippi: in
Case Western: in
Northeastern: WL
Illinois: Out

Outstanding:
W&M
W&L
Utah
Temple

28 y/o Utah veteran here as well, also aiming for Judge Advocate. 161/3.68 Got waitlisted at W&L, still waiting on Utah and W&M. My Utah online application has said "in review" since 2/08/10. Hopefully we'll be getting that phone call soon...

fwlan wrote:Update:
No idea how uch my softs factored into their decisions, but:

Seattle U: in
Mississippi: in
Case Western: in
Northeastern: WL
Illinois: Out

Outstanding:
W&M
W&L
Utah
Temple

Temple - WL