Law School Discussion

I like Albany and my time spent there very much; however, to answer the LI-er's question about how it places downstate in places such as the Island, be warned: the difference between placement in the Capital District and elsewhere is NIGHT AND DAY!!!!!!

Employers are MUCH more familiar with Albany Law in the Albany area and upstate in general than downstate.  Also, the competition is much stiffer, with 8 law schools in NYC, two in North Jersey, Yale in Connecticut, two in Long Island, and one in Westchester, in downstate NY.  Albany Law is the only law school in the Albany area, so we only compete with ourselves.

As for my own story, I searched exclusively downstate my 3L year and had no luck whatsoever.  I sent out minimal resumes to Albany-area employers, and obtained two offers very easily.  However, I got cold feet about moving to Albany (I'm from Westchester) and declined them both at the last minute.  I started working for a small firm December after my 3L year (downstate)

If you want to go back to LI, remember that employers there will gladly take just about any Brooklyn Law, St. John's, Hofstra, and maybe even Touro grad before looking at you (unless you are toward the top of your class).  My geographic ties to Westchester meant squat when applying for jobs in the Westchester area, and I imagine LI employers will think the same.

I know people at the top of the class who have no job because they are only interested in working downstate.

I know people who graduated toward the bottom of the class who have good jobs in Albany and the surrounding area.

I would've gone to St. John's if I had to do it over again.  If you like LI I would've recommended the same.

Good luck!

The higher the incoming GPA's and LSAT scores, the less the students' success has to do with the school, and the more it has to do with their natural strengths.  Therefore, my system divides the average 25th and 75th GPA's and LSAT scores by those of the schools, giving them a score for each of these categories.
This makes up half of the schools' quantitative scores.

Then, I divided each school's bar passage rate by the nationwide average bar passage rate, and did the same for employment after 9 months.  Employment at graduation is not too relevant, because no one can work while they are studying for the bar anyway.  This makes up the other half of the schools' quantitative scores.

This is limited to 10000 characters, so I could not show the actual numbers, just the total scores and ranks.
   Law School   Total
      
Tier 1      
1   U. of Wisconsin-Madison   1.0676
2   Marquette University   1.0645
3   U. of New Mexico   1.0614
4   Samford U. (Cumberland)   1.0579
5   Georgia State University   1.0569
6   U. of Minnesota-Twin Cities   1.0567
7   Mercer University (GA)   1.0520
8   U. of Alabama   1.0516
9   U. of Oklahoma   1.0506
10   Emory University   1.0492
11   Northeastern University   1.0486
12   U. of Montana   1.0485
13   U. of North Dakota   1.0466
14   Campbell University   1.0402
15   Baylor University   1.0387
16   U. of Memphis   1.0384
17   U. of Missouri-Columbia   1.0372
18   Washington U. in St Louis   1.0368
19   U. of Michigan-Ann Arbor   1.0366
20   Wake Forest University   1.0363
21   Ave Maria School of Law   1.0349
22   Northwestern University   1.0343
23   U. of Virginia   1.0343
24   Case Western Reserve U.   1.0334
25   Brigham Young University   1.0326
26   U. of Tulsa   1.0326
27   U. of Connecticut   1.0324
28   U. of Iowa   1.0322
29   U. of Georgia   1.0317
30   U. of Illinois-Urbana-Champ.   1.0311
31   Mississippi College   1.0310
32   U. of Pennsylvania   1.0309
33   Boston University   1.0307
34   Ohio State University (Moritz)   1.0304
35   U. of Mississippi   1.0299
36   U. of Colorado-Boulder   1.0298
37   Texas Tech University   1.0292
38   U. of Chicago   1.0287
39   Loyola U. New Orleans   1.0282
40   Cornell University   1.0279
41   St. John's University   1.0278
42   U. of Richmond   1.0277
43   U. of St. Thomas   1.0274
44   U. of Notre Dame   1.0273
45   Albany Law School Union U.   1.0268
46   U. of South Carolina   1.0268
47   Duke University   1.0256
48   U. of Missouri-Kansas City   1.0254
49   Boston College   1.0249
50   Valparaiso University   1.0246
      
Tier 2      
51   Loyola U. Chicago   1.0245
52   U. of Kentucky   1.0243
53   Florida Coastal   1.0234
54   North Carolina Central U.   1.0233
55   U. of Pittsburgh   1.0225
56   DePaul University   1.0216
57   U. of Louisville (Brandeis)   1.0212
58   Georgetown University   1.0204
59   Southern Methodist Univ.   1.0200
60   U. of Nebraska-Lincoln   1.0198
61   U. of Cincinnati   1.0192
62   St. Louis University   1.0189
63   New York University   1.0188
64   U. of Tennessee-Knoxville   1.0187
65   William Mitchell   1.0182
66   Brooklyn Law School   1.0181
67   Harvard University   1.0180
68   U. of Hawaii   1.0175
69   Drake University   1.0172
70   Indiana U.-Bloomington   1.0169
71   Temple University (Beasley)   1.0169
72   Ohio Northern University   1.0164
73   U. of California-Los Angeles   1.0162
74   U. of Utah (SJ Quinney)   1.0156
75   Penn State U. (Dickinson)   1.0154
76   Cardozo-Yeshiva University   1.0148
77   U. of Texas-Austin   1.0146
78   Fordham University   1.0144
79   Florida International U.   1.0135
80   Oklahoma City University   1.0128
81   American University   1.0125
82   Seton Hall University   1.0125
83   Quinnipiac University   1.0123
84   George Washington U.   1.0122
85   Columbia University   1.0122
86   St. Mary's University   1.0117
87   Washington and Lee U.   1.0114
88   Vanderbilt University   1.0111
89   Villanova University1.0110
90   College of William and Mary   1.0109
91   Southern Illinois-Carbondale1.0109
92   U. of Maine   1.0104
93   Seattle University   1.0099
94   U. of Kansas   1.0099
95   John Marshall   1.0094
96   U. of Idaho   1.0090
97   Yale University   1.0085
98   U. of Houston   1.0084
99   U. of Akron   1.0076
100   Illinois Inst. of Tech. (Kent)1.0071
      
Tier 3      
101   U. of Dayton            1.0067
102   Washburn University   1.0059
103   U. of Washington            1.0057
104   U. at Buffalo            1.0054
105   Florida State University   1.0048
106   U. of Toledo            1.0047
107   U. of California (Hastings)   1.0044
108   Stetson University            1.0038
109   U. of Florida (Levin)   1.0036
110   Louisiana State-Baton Rouge   1.0027
111   Suffolk University            1.0025
112   Creighton University   1.0023
113   U. of Oregon            1.0018
114   Rutgers State U.-Camden   1.0011
115   U. of Arizona (Rogers)   1.0004
116   Howard University            1.0003
117   U. of California-Berkeley   1.0001
118   Rutgers State U.-Newark   0.9999
119   George Mason University   0.9997
120   Tulane University            0.9975
121   Lewis & Clark (Northwestern)0.9974
122   Texas Wesleyan University   0.9955
123   U. of Maryland            0.9946
124   Northern Illinois University0.9943
125   Indiana U.-Indianapolis   0.9938
126   U. of San Francisco   0.9926
127   U. of Miami            0.9921
128   U. of Southern California   0.9918
129   Gonzaga University            0.9914
130   Vermont Law School    0.9911
131   Hamline University    0.9909
132   U. of Denver            0.9889
133   New York Law School   0.9884
134   Stanford University   0.9876
135   Loyola Law School            0.9873
      
Tier 4      
136   U. of N. Carolina-Chap. Hill0.9862
137   U. of Detroit Mercy   0.9848
138   Cleveland State U. (Marshall)0.9846
139   West Virginia U.            0.9839
140   Pace University            0.9830
141   U. of Wyoming            0.9822
142   South Texas Col. of Law   0.9820
143   U. of San Diego            0.9817
144   Pepperdine University   0.9808
145   Michigan State Univ-DCL   0.9797
146   Syracuse University   0.9794
147   Catholic U. of America   0.9772
148   Capital University            0.9759
149   U. of Arkansas-Fayetteville   0.9757
150   Hofstra University            0.9709
151   U. of Arkansas-Little Rock   0.9699
152   Appalachian School of Law   0.9689
153   U. of South Dakota            0.9684
154   Santa Clara University   0.9664
155   Regent University            0.9662
156   U. of the Pacific (McGeorge)0.9641
157   Western New England   0.9620
158   Franklin Pierce Law Center   0.9612
159   U. of California-Davis   0.9610
160   Widener University            0.9609
161   Southwestern Univ.            0.9607
162   Willamette University   0.9569
163   Arizona State University   0.9568
164   Nova Southeastern University0.9537
165   Barry University            0.9521
166   Duquesne University   0.9510
167   U. of the District of Columbia0.9481
168   Texas Southern University   0.9473
169   New England Sch. of Law   0.9456
170   U. of Nevada-Las Vegas   0.9428
171   Thomas M. Cooley             0.9403
172   Northern Kentucky U. (Chase)0.9402
173   U. of Baltimore            0.9388
174   Chapman University    0.9359
175   Touro College (Fuchsberg)   0.9343
176   California Western            0.9302
177   CUNY-Queens College   0.9252
178   Roger Williams University   0.9231
179   St. Thomas University   0.9136
180   Wayne State U.             0.9091
      
Below Tier 4      
181   Whittier Law School   0.9045
182   Southern University   0.8837
183   Thomas Jefferson            0.8477
184   Golden Gate University   0.8394