Law School Discussion

I was thinking the other how I wished I would have broken 170 on the actual lsat, or traded in my crappy rhetoric major for some nice gpa-boosting history classes -- all so that I could have something to throw back at those who wanted to label me as an AA admit. And ... you know what?

It's not going to do DARN THING.

Quote from: Alcibiades on January 15, 2005, 12:35:12 AM

Quote from: Infoolio on January 14, 2005, 08:46:53 PM

West coast vs. East coast culture (that's a lot in itself).  Yale likes to prepare a lot more people for judicial clerkships compared to Stanford which has more corporate lawyers turned out.  Most people agree that either school opens the same doors for corporate positions (not forgetting Harvard), although if you want to practice east coast, law firms will subconsciously give preference to one of their own (Yale) over a west coast "surfer/hippie" as we are seen

Well, I've been doing a lot research on the subject lately, and this is not entirely correct.  I wouldn't say that Yale likes to prepare people for judicial clerkships more than Stanford...it just happens that Yale produces more clerks.  It would probably be more accurate to say that Yale pushes people towards public interest more than Stanford, but a plurality of Yale graduates still go into biglaw.  Also, I have heard that the paucity of Stanford grads on the east coast might actually give them a slight advantage in the job search here.

From what I have gathered, the basic differences in the two boil down to the following:

New Haven v. Palo Alto
Lax grading system v. regular grading system
Prestige advantage for Yale (everywhere except the west coast, where the two are probably equal)
Less of a public interest focus at Stanford

There might be other things, but I'm not in the mood to think of them at the moment. Probably the two main factors for most people deciding between the two are a.) east coast v. west coast preference, and b.) whether you can forego the opportunity to attend what is widely considered the #1 law school in America.

What Infoolio calls a cultural difference you call "New Haven v. Palo Alto." His wording explains the idea where as you only list two cities.

What he calls an east coast preference for Yale, you call "Prestige advantage for Yale (everywhere except the west coast, where the two are probably equal)."

What he calls Yale's focus on preparation for clerkships, you call "Less of a public interest focus at Stanford." His is specific and implies evidence (the higher number of judicial clerkships.) Yours is relatively vague and implies no evidence.

The only thing you add is the lax vs. regular grading system.

I prefer Infoolio's post, which is written in a concise and easy to understand manner.

I'd love to hear from Yale and Harvard.  I would be hard pressed to turn down Yale for Stanford if afforded that opportunity, but choosing between Stanford and Harvard would be extremely difficult.  However, Stanford is definitely a tip-top choice.