Top Law Schools

Just took the LSAT. I PT'd around 165 consistently, but did poorly on the 9/27 LG. I'm expecting 159 to 162 and I'm looking for advice. I've been in the military the past 13 years (will be getting out in April). I'm probably going to retake in December, so an idea of what minimums to shoot for would be helpful.

Interested in:

University of Virginia
William & Mary
George Mason
Washington University in SL

Worth noting is that as honorably discharged military i'd qualify as an in-state resident. Post 9/11 GI bill pays full ride (plus $2,200/mo housing in the VA area) for public schools as resident.

Kill the retake. Aim for a 180. Worry about this once you have a better score.

This is an (indirect) response to this thread and your thread asking for advice on your PS. What do you want out of law school? Do you want to go work for a big firm? Do you want to try to go JAG and hit retirement? Do you want to work as a prosecutor in a specific geographic area? This all matters in shaping the advice you get. TLS advice would usually be for you to retake and blanket the T14. This would usually be good advice, but you're coming from a different place. Also, crucially, you (should) have the benefit of the GI bill+YRP, which dramatically changes the nature of the game.

If you don't know what your exact goals are, I'd urge you to stay in and hit your 20. If you do know, put them up here and you'll get better advice.


eta: don't worry about the instate thing. YRP will get you free or close to free tuition at a ton of great schools.

TheUnicornHunter wrote:This is an (indirect) response to this thread and your thread asking for advice on your PS. What do you want out of law school? Do you want to go work for a big firm? Do you want to try to go JAG and hit retirement? Do you want to work as a prosecutor in a specific geographic area? This all matters in shaping the advice you get. TLS advice would usually be for you to retake and blanket the T14. This would usually be good advice, but you're coming from a different place. Also, crucially, you (should) have the benefit of the GI bill+YRP, which dramatically changes the nature of the game.

If you don't know what your exact goals are, I'd urge you to stay in and hit your 20. If you do know, put them up here and you'll get better advice.


eta: don't worry about the instate thing. YRP will get you free or close to free tuition at a ton of great schools.

Thanks for the response. I looked into the YRP and it would certainly be a factor in the rest of the T14 if I thought I had a shot (which, upon retake, i may).

I can't say I know what my exact intentions are, but civil rights law interests me very much. I know my four schools seem almost random....here's my reasoning, though I admit now they may be somewhat unique. I've always been a history buff, and Thomas Jefferson is somewhat of a personal hero of mine. I mean, DOI, mentor of the person who wrote much of the constitution and bill of rights, etc etc....what's not to love? It's not a passing interest....its something I've wanted for over a decade now. A law degree from a law school he built would mean a great deal to me personally, enough so that it weighs heavily on my choice of schools.

UV: Founded by TJ, public, T14.....plus it's the University of Virginia
W&M Law: Founded by TJ (the law part....but he did attend W&M as well prior to that).
Washington in SL: Near my current assignment, a top school, and most importantly, my wife could keep her well paying job as a CPA (and just transfer to SL).
George Mason: Public, in VA, top 50, and in an area with plenty of well paying accounting jobs for my wife.

As for finishing my 20.... I have always been proud of what I've done, but I've never been passionate about it. Law and politics have always been what I'm passionate about. I know the employment landscape for graduates right now and I'm going into it well informed. I'm in a secure place financially (we have saved a substantial amount for this and the AF may pay me another $65k to walk away).

If you have not already done so, you might want to check out the veteran thread.

http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 2&t=170257

sarge wrote:

TheUnicornHunter wrote:This is an (indirect) response to this thread and your thread asking for advice on your PS. What do you want out of law school? Do you want to go work for a big firm? Do you want to try to go JAG and hit retirement? Do you want to work as a prosecutor in a specific geographic area? This all matters in shaping the advice you get. TLS advice would usually be for you to retake and blanket the T14. This would usually be good advice, but you're coming from a different place. Also, crucially, you (should) have the benefit of the GI bill+YRP, which dramatically changes the nature of the game.

If you don't know what your exact goals are, I'd urge you to stay in and hit your 20. If you do know, put them up here and you'll get better advice.


eta: don't worry about the instate thing. YRP will get you free or close to free tuition at a ton of great schools.

Thanks for the response. I looked into the YRP and it would certainly be a factor in the rest of the T14 if I thought I had a shot (which, upon retake, i may).

I can't say I know what my exact intentions are, but civil rights law interests me very much. I know my four schools seem almost random....here's my reasoning, though I admit now they may be somewhat unique. I've always been a history buff, and Thomas Jefferson is somewhat of a personal hero of mine. I mean, DOI, mentor of the person who wrote much of the constitution and bill of rights, etc etc....what's not to love? It's not a passing interest....its something I've wanted for over a decade now. A law degree from a law school he built would mean a great deal to me personally, enough so that it weighs heavily on my choice of schools.

UV: Founded by TJ, public, T14.....plus it's the University of Virginia
W&M Law: Founded by TJ (the law part....but he did attend W&M as well prior to that).
Washington in SL: Near my current assignment, a top school, and most importantly, my wife could keep her well paying job as a CPA (and just transfer to SL).
George Mason: Public, in VA, top 50, and in an area with plenty of well paying accounting jobs for my wife.

As for finishing my 20.... I have always been proud of what I've done, but I've never been passionate about it. Law and politics have always been what I'm passionate about. I know the employment landscape for graduates right now and I'm going into it well informed. I'm in a secure place financially (we have saved a substantial amount for this and the AF may pay me another $65k to walk away).

Ok. Now like I said earlier, you're in a different place than most on this board, so a lot of the advice you'll get is not very relevant to your situation. Still, I'd really suggest you spend a lot of time poking around this site. Like haus said, the veteran's thread is a great place to start. However, don't stop there.

The legal employment forum is definitely worth a read. As is almost any post by Paul Campos (I'd really recommend his bookfor a frank discussion of the employment options coming out of law school.)

The fact is, what you've described is a set of interests that don't really mesh well with the realities of legal employment. Things like civil rights law are really the domain of a select few attorneys in the country, most of whom come out of Yale. The obvious exception is serving as a public defender, where you are actively protecting your clients right to due process, but that doesn't sound like what you want to do.

Again, your circumstances are unique, and law school may be right for you. All I'm suggesting is that you a) think about what you really want from it, b) do some research to see how likely an acceptable outcome would be and c) look into some alternatives like MPP programs, which sound like they may align more with your interests anyway.