Law School Discussion

Nine Years of Discussion
;
Discussion Discussion
Resources Resources

Show Posts

This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.

Messages - prelaw_undergrad

Pages: 1 2 [3] 4 5
21
Law School Applications / Re: Which job would be better?
« on: February 06, 2004, 10:24:41 AM »
I think that was a good decision (taking the management position) because it will show law schools that you have leadership skills. I wouldn't worry about you GPA, since your worked full time and have a pretty good LSAT score.

As far as your need to find "ways to demonstrate interest in law," I wouldn't worry about it.  Almost every 'typical' law school applicant tries to prove that s/he has a profound desire to work in the legal field, even though law school admissions committees prefer to have a diverse student body.  You just need to mention in your essay/personal statement to law schools why you want to attend law school.

22
Law School Rankings / Re: Do rankings really matter?
« on: February 06, 2004, 10:00:12 AM »
Quote from: dnw2007 on February 05, 2004, 11:05:21 AM
You can go over $100,000 in debt for the so called "Tier 1" degree or you can graduate debt free and still have wonderful opportunities- maybe better ones than the "Tier 1" grad pending on your class ranking.  The real key is to do well, whether you're at Harvard or Cooley.  Don't let an arbitrary ranking control where you will spend that next 3 years of your life. 

Harvard, Yale and Stanford are "so called 'Tier 1'" schools?!?! HAHA!  ;D

Not to start a 'fight,' dnw2007, but you must not have been accepted to one of those prestigious "so called 'Tier 1'" schools, otherwise you would not be combating  the "arbitrary ranking" system so passionately.

I do not rely on the ranking system; I rely on the statistics, especially the ones concerning employment.  Tier 1 law school graduates generally have a higher employment rate, are more likely to get an impressive judicial clerkship, and have a higher bar pass rate.

If someone was accepted to Harvard, s/he would be a complete dumbass for choosing Cooley, unless s/he had emergency family obligations (a close relative who lives with him/her is dying; NOT just spouse and kids to care for because one can move a healthy family to the Boston area) and lived within driving distance of Cooley.


Some information concerning a career after attending Thomas M. Cooley Law School:

Pass rate for first time Bar Exam takers: 63%
Students employed upon graduation: 31%
Students employed in 3 months: 88%
Average starting salary: $41,895


Here is the same information, only it is concerning a career after attending Harvard Law School:

Pass rate for first time Bar Exam takers: 95% 
Students employed upon graduation: 99%
Students employed in 3 months: 98%


Granted, I wouldn't choose Harvard over any of the UC law schools, most of the other tier 1 schools, or University of Houston (because I cannot stand the cold and I hate the Red Sox), but I DEFINITELY would choose HLS over Cooley!!  I don't hold anything against Cooley except the school's stats.

23
Law School Applications / Re: lawschoolnumbers.com
« on: February 06, 2004, 09:33:27 AM »
Quote from: wolfman1977 on February 06, 2004, 03:20:17 AM
You know what's weird about that site?  Half the people on it have applied to 25 schools (that's only a slight exaggeration.  That's like $2,000 in apps!).

Actually, I plan to apply to approx. 20-30 law schools (in a couple of years) and I won't have to pay most application fees.  I get financial aid, and if a person receives fin aid, law schools usually will give him/her a fee waiver.  I know that all of the public law schools (that I am considering) offer fee waivers and some private law schools offer fee waivers, as well. 

-----------------------------------------------------------

Quote from: bobfett33 on February 06, 2004, 04:33:36 AM
And, don't all law schools seem to admit more people than they could handle, because they know that (depending on the school) 25-75% of the students they admit won't even go there?

The way a school handles a waitlist and the number of students the school originally accepts varies.  For instance, of the 7% of the applicants accepted at Yale, 75% actually attend.  Whereas Stanford admits 8% of all applicants, only 44% actually choose to attend Stanford.  So, in that case, Stanford may accept more students (or have a larger waitlist) than Yale would because over half of all people accepted at Stanford turn the school down. 

Just so you know, Yale Law School has the most accepted applicants who actually attend (75%, remember?), even more than Harvard (only 64% of those with accepted applications attend).

Also, visit this discussion to see what Ivy_Hopeful had to say about the waitlist methodology:

http://www.lawschooldiscussion.org/prelaw/index.php/topic,635

24
Studying for the LSAT / Re: Kaplan: Isn't all that bad, is it?
« on: February 04, 2004, 10:07:51 AM »
Quote from: Ivy_Hopeful on February 03, 2004, 10:46:36 PM
I was wondering where you heard of that astonishingly depressing statistic the 40% stat.

I found that statistic in the front cover of one of Kaplan's LSAT test prep books.  The book admitted that "2 out of 5" students who use Kaplan's products (books/classes) do not have any improvement.  I've spoken to a few people who claim that Kaplan study guides actually LOWERED their score.  I've found difficulty in using Kaplan's LSAT test prep books, but I'd hope that the classes would be better than the books. 

I would advise you to read the review's of Kaplan's LSAT test prep books on www.amazon.com

25
Studying for the LSAT / Re: Kaplan: Isn't all that bad, is it?
« on: February 03, 2004, 07:28:31 PM »
Hey, how did ya'll get the free courses? I have an average (self-testing) score of 165+ and would like to improve.  Can you two tell me how you won the free classes?

OH! I say take the course.  If you find that Kaplan's methods aren't working for you (Kaplan admits their courses do not help 40% whose use them), then you can quit and keep the books they give you.

26
Where should I go next fall? / Re: Patent law related to science
« on: February 03, 2004, 07:19:45 PM »
From what I've read, and please don't bite my ass if I'm wrong, Boalt Hall has one of the best IP programs in the nation, and it is a tier one school. 

I'd recommend looking up "Intellectual property law school" in google to see what pops up.  I did a search like that and discovered that Franklin Pierce, Marquette University, and John Marshall also have IP programs.

27
Where should I go next fall? / Re: BU/Fordham/GW/(Georgetown?)
« on: February 03, 2004, 07:03:43 PM »
In response to chicken's question:

Quote from: chicken on February 03, 2004, 05:13:13 PM
if u guys had a choice between going to a local school that is ranked lower(but has a high chance of placing u in that city)

versus

 a higher ranked school out of state(which can still place u in the city u want but maybe it is not as high as the local school) but with a clearly superior education....which would u choose?

I would probably choose the school with the most financial aid because I don't rely too much on US News and World Report's so called "rankings."  Plus, if I went to a local school, I could stay where I'm at and not have to worry about making housing arrangements.

HOWEVER, if I had a choice between a "national" school (like Stanford, NYU, Harvard, Yale) or a "local" school (like Houston, UNC, Miami, Washington University, LSU) I would probably choose the national school.  Only because I'm not sure where I want to work after I finish law school.  Also, "national" schools are pretty good about finding jobs for their students.

Although, if a "local" school offered me a lot of scholarships or, even, a full tuition waiver, I would give it more consideration.

28
Where should I go next fall? / Re: BU/Fordham/GW/(Georgetown?)
« on: February 03, 2004, 02:50:29 PM »
I say Fordam (or NYU if you get accepted).  The best bet is to go to a good school in the area you want to work.

29
Wait List / Re: Dickinson Wait List
« on: February 03, 2004, 02:44:04 PM »
I recommend going to Duquesne, then, if you REALLY hate the school, you can transfer to Dickinson for your 2nd year.  This way you won't have to risk not having a law school to attend and you'll have your housing situation under wraps.

Ivy_Hopeful is correct about the waitlist.

30
Studying for the LSAT / Re: Applying Next Year
« on: February 03, 2004, 02:34:42 PM »
Well, I'm not sure, but if your personal statement is pretty good,  I'd say keep it.  I don't know about the LORs.

Pages: 1 2 [3] 4 5