To those familiar with law school/the admissions process...

[nickg1532]

excellent post..thanks

[OtisTheMarsupial]

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Come on, be honest now. You're not really a marsupial, are you?

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You miss PokerJo, don't you?

[CollinEstes]

Hey you might want to look at the Boston College Law School Matrix. You can input your GPA and LSAT and then it will show you which are the highest tier schools where you have a good/great chance of being accepted.

As for schools be overrated I have heard that alot of people really don't like the University of Chicago's professors. Most people have said they would rather go to Northwestern even though UC has such a good rep. I currently go to South Texas School of Law in Houston but did well in my first yearand was able to transfer and start at University of Houston in the fall. I started out in much worst shape then you I had a 3.0 GPA and a 161 LSAt but I always intended on going to UH, when I didn't get in I was told to go to South Texas and do well and I would have good shot at a transfer since alot of students quit after L1, and I did.

Some schools I have heard some great things about are: University of Texas, George Washington in D.C. (sweet campus), Vanderbilt, and Northwestern in Chicago. Those are some in the top 25 I think that I have had friends tell me they really like.

One thing to think about is this. I have a friend was an attroney at a large firm in Houston (Fulbright & Juworski) and he graduated in the top 10% from Baylor. He said when he started there he was working with guys from Yale, Harvard, and the other really expense top tier schools. And he said you know what they graduated in the top 25% of those schools and got the same job I got making the same amount a year with the same oppurtunity to move up in the firm, the only difference is I was in debt about 1/10 as much as they where from school loans. I think he point is law school is what you make of it.

Where you want to practice law should be a consideration too, you can always take a prep course in another state and pass the state bar but it just means that much more work, than if you go to school in the state you want to practice law in.

One more thing, stay the hell out of Louisania. Don't go to Tulane unless you want to live in New Orleans. Their laws are all messed up.

Good Luck

[nickg1532]

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I think he point is law school is what you make of it.



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I have found this to be true certainly at the undergraduate level. As your friend points out, this very well might be the case at law school too.

I may have to do some research on Houston. I'm not sure if I want to move that far south, but it might be worth considering. I have heard that it is a pretty good school.

Anyways, thanks for the response.

[Shajen]

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Come on, be honest now. You're not really a marsupial, are you?

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You miss PokerJo, don't you?

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No, but I do need some excitement in my life.

[rtrombone]

Why do you want to go to law school? It's not a good idea for most people. You incur a shitload of debt and have to get a shitty-ass job to get out from under it. Job satisfaction isn't exactly high among attorneys and the attrition rate at firms is staggering.

I went to a good school and worked at one of the most prestigious firms in the country. I don't recommend it to any of my friends.

That said, you should check out the Greedy Associates boards at infirmation.com. At the very least you'll get an idea of what kind of [censored] coworkers await you.

[bogey]

Apply to schools in the area you want to practice. This is more important than rankings unless you can get into a top 10 school. It may also be better to go to schools ranked 10-20 than one where you want to practice but its a closer decision. With only knowing your scores I think you will have a hard time getting into top 10 schools but will have a good shot at some in the 10-20 range. Only really the top 10 schools have true national recruiting programs and even with a lot of these its harder to get jobs in certain parts of the country. If you know where you want to practice I highly recommend you try and go to school there.

[lucas9000]

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Why do you want to go to law school? It's not a good idea for most people.

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this is true.

[nickg1532]

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Why do you want to go to law school? It's not a good idea for most people. You incur a shitload of debt and have to get a shitty-ass job to get out from under it. Job satisfaction isn't exactly high among attorneys and the attrition rate at firms is staggering.

I went to a good school and worked at one of the most prestigious firms in the country. I don't recommend it to any of my friends.

That said, you should check out the Greedy Associates boards at infirmation.com. At the very least you'll get an idea of what kind of [censored] coworkers await you.

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I appreciate your concern, and I agree with much of what you have said. It is not for most people, as there are downsides to picking this career path. However, I have given this a lot of thought, and I'm pretty confident this is what I want to do. I have talked to many lawyers who genuinely enjoy their jobs, so I hope that will be me in a few years. There's no way of knowing for sure, but I think this is the right direction for me to head.

[CollinEstes]

A JD can open many doors other than being a practicing attorney. I am actually applying for the MBA/JD progam at UH and hope to be able to graduate with both degrees in two years.

Princeton review has a list of schools that they rank in order of best education for the money.

I really wanted to go to George Washington, not really sure why, I think the idea of living in D.C. for 3 years was appealing to me but in hindsight I am glad that I didn't get the score needed to get in there because I really don't think the cost is worth it in the long run.