Law School Discussion

Hey all,

I have a Kaplan LSAT 180 book that I haven't used, so the only wear on it might be from just shipping it around.  (That means, no wear really.)  Anyone interested in buying it?  I thought maybe I'd keep it for fun (yeah, I'm masochistic), but it looks like the money might better be used towards food instead.

Here's a question for all you folks:

Considering (or perhaps not considering) how every school has different grading systems and different cut-offs for cum laude, magna cum laude and summa cum laude, what do you think would be the more important/impressive on a law resume?  Having the latin honors?  Being top X%?  Having a high GPA?  What would be the least valuable?  Some schools only give the cum laude distinction for the top 15% of the class, while others have a top 40% cut-off mark.  As a hypo, would being top 20% be more important than being cum laude?

My guess is that GPA is the most worthless of the 3 (obviously), but I'm not sure about the other two.  Any thoughts, anyone?

EDIT

Hey all,

Any insight on these two schools would be much welcomed!

They're both 2nd Tier, but location and cost varies tremendously.  I've listed some info (figures based on previous year) for each of them:

Cardozo - $56,320/year (~169k) - 110k median salary - 80%/98% job rate
Temple - $39,870/year (~120k) - 71 or 92k?? median salary - 64%/91% job rate

I'm considering public interest law but as everyone has pointed out, I shouldn't limit my options in case I want to try BigLaw.  Ideally, I'd like to work either in San Fran, NYC or Boston -- basically any big cities with good diversity.  My pick of the two has been Cardozo, due to its location and much better placement rate.  However, it also happens to be the most expensive by far.  Am I correct that if I want to practice BigLaw in NYC, Cardozo should be my choice hands down?  Temple seems to limit my work possibilities to Pennsylvania, and their expected salary is a bit lower (though that's probably just from their associated lower cost of living).  Oh yeah, Temple has offered me almost $20k in scholarship money (over 3 years, not per year), and I might be able to save some more money by getting the in-state tuition rate since I attended college in Philly for 4.5 years.

Ideally, Boston U would accept me and I wouldn't have to worry about picking from these four, but after recently receiving a postcard telling me they're missing my dean's certification (dang it, must have been lost somewhere in between my school's career services office and their admissions office), I'm about to give up hope.

Also, what if a school like Fordham, UCHastings or William & Mary were to accept me?  So far, Cardozo has given me the best overall impression so I feel a little iffy about going to a school that is relatively unknown to me.

Thanks SOOOO very much in advance.